TOP NEWS: Rentokil Hygiene, Pest Control units help boost 2020 revenue

(Alliance News) - Rentokil Initial PLC on Thursday said its annual profit declined after a ...

Alliance News 4 March, 2021 | 9:42AM
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(Alliance News) - Rentokil Initial PLC on Thursday said its annual profit declined after a disposals gain the year before, though revenue was higher thanks to good Hygiene and Pest Control growth.

Shares in Rentokil were down 2.4% at 465.60 pence in London in morning trading.

The pest control company's pretax profit for 2020 was GBP229.8 million, down 32% from a GBP338.5 million profit the year before.

The Surrey-headquartered company posted higher revenue, up 4.4% at GBP2.83 billion from GBP2.71 billion in 2019 and ongoing revenue increased 6.3% to GBP2.85 billion. This includes 37% growth in ongoing Hygiene revenue as well 1.0% growth in ongoing Pest Control revenue. Protect & Enhance revenue fell 12%.

Rentokil said its ongoing figures "represent the performance of the continuing operations of the group (including acquisitions) after removing the effect of disposed or closed businesses".

The company, however, reported no net gain on disposals in 2020, having made a GBP103.8 million gain in 2019. This was the primary cause of Rentokil's profit drop. On top of which, finance costs rose 38% to GBP78.5 million from GBP56.8 million and further hurt profit.

Rentokil has recommended resuming dividends with a 5.41p per share dividend. In 2019, the company paid dividends totalling 5.15p per share.

Chief Executive Andy Ransom said: "2021 will be a year of transition as we cross the bridge from the worst of the crisis in 2020 to, hopefully, a post-pandemic 2022. Thanks to the significant and swift actions we took in 2020, we are strongly positioned for the coming year, and expect to see further progress from our core Pest Control, Hygiene and Protect & Enhance categories. We will continue to provide disinfection services as part of the crisis response, but expect volumes and prices to significantly unwind as the year progresses and the crisis hopefully abates.

"While the obvious uncertainty presented by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic remains, we are confident of delivering further operational and financial progress in 2021."

Rentokil announced the appointment of Sarosh Mistry, current chair of Sodexo SA's North American services and CEO of its global Home Care Services business, as a non-executive director effective April 1.

By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Rentokil Initial PLC 412.20 GBX 0.41

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