Reckitt beat third-quarter like-for-like net sales growth estimates, helped by its health business, which makes Nurofen pain pills and Strepsils lozenges.
The company, owner of the Dettol and Lysol cleaning brands, said it was on track to meet full-year targets.
Reckitt's quarterly like-for-like net sales fell 0.5%, ahead of the 1.7% decline analysts had expected in a company-supplied poll.
"Health delivered sequential improvement in the quarter and Hygiene delivered a solid quarter of growth despite a more competitive market backdrop in developed markets," CEO Kris Licht said.
Quarterly Highlights
Price/mix, a metric that reflects how much Reckitt sold its products for, rose 0.9% while volumes declined 1.4%, weakened by Reckitt's nutrition business. Analysts expected the price/mix to rise by 1.4% and volumes to fall by 3.1%.
A roughly 14% sales volume decline in Reckitt's nutrition business was driven by 'the combination of lapping high market shares experienced during the US competitor supply shortage and the impact from the Mount Vernon tornado, which destroyed both finished goods and raw materials and impacted short-term supply to customers in the third quarter,' the company said.
