Rentokil Initial (RTO)

Sector:

Support

Index:

FTSE 100

471.70p
   
  • Change Today:
    -0.80p
  • 52 Week High: 655.20p
  • 52 Week Low: 392.50p
  • Currency: UK Pounds
  • Shares Issued: 2,524.54m
  • Volume: 8,439,679
  • Market Cap: £11,908m
  • RiskGrade: 127

Rentokil Initial reports 'good' Q1, disinfection decline continues

By Josh White

Date: Thursday 22 Apr 2021

LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Rentokil Initial reported a "good start" to the year on Thursday, with group ongoing revenue growing 15.4% at constant currency to £711.3m in the first quarter, of which 9.4% was organic and 6% was from acquisitions.
The FTSE 100 pest control and hygiene company said its hygiene operations delivered a 48.5% increase in ongoing revenue, supported by a revenue contribution of £75.7m from one-time disinfection services, reducing by about 25% on the high watermark level of £100m in the fourth quarter of 2020 as expected.

Pest control delivered ongoing revenue growth of 10.5%, and saw a return to organic growth of 1.2% in the first quarter.

Rentokil said recovery in its core businesses, particularly pest control, demonstrated growing momentum over the quarter, with the firm exiting March with group organic growth of 2.5% excluding disinfection, and organic growth in pest control of 6.3%.

The company signed seven acquisitions in the first quarter, with six of those in pest control, and one in 'Protect & Enhance'.

It said the acquisitions were made in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, with combined annualised revenues in the year prior to acquisition of around £13m.

Rentokil said it had built a "substantial" pipeline of opportunities, and remained confident in its targeted spend of £400m in 2021.

Looking ahead, the board said the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic presented "obvious and continued" uncertainty.

It said that while progress had been made in controlling the virus in certain countries, aided by the roll-out of vaccines, other countries were seeing rising case numbers and the reintroduction of lockdowns.

The path to normality was thus set to be uneven, the board said, reflecting regional and country variances, the emergence of new strains, and vaccine hesitancy.

Notwithstanding that, the firm said it continued to expect 2021 to be a "year of transition" with its core services building momentum, as demonstrated by its performance in the first quarter, and with disinfection volumes and prices reducing "materially" from the start of the second quarter, leading to a "significant" unwind through the rest of the year.

"I am very pleased with the performance our colleagues delivered in the first quarter, in particular the growth momentum achieved by our pest control business, and we remain confident in delivering further operational and financial progress in 2021," said chief executive officer Andy Ransom.

At 0811 BST, shares in Rentokil Initial were down 2.23% at 500.57p.

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:


Note 1: Prices and trades are provided by Digital Look Corporate Solutions and are delayed by at least 15 minutes.

Note 2: RiskGrade figures are provided by RiskMetrics.

 

RTO Market Data

Currency UK Pounds
Share Price 471.70p
Change Today -0.80p
% Change -0.17 %
52 Week High 655.20p
52 Week Low 392.50p
Volume 8,439,679
Shares Issued 2,524.54m
Market Cap £11,908m
RiskGrade 127

RTO Star Ratings

Compare performance with the sector and the market.
more star ratings
Key: vs Market vs Sector
Value
98.01% below the market average98.01% below the market average98.01% below the market average98.01% below the market average98.01% below the market average
91.11% below the sector average91.11% below the sector average91.11% below the sector average91.11% below the sector average91.11% below the sector average
Price Trend
33.37% below the market average33.37% below the market average33.37% below the market average33.37% below the market average33.37% below the market average
46.53% below the sector average46.53% below the sector average46.53% below the sector average46.53% below the sector average46.53% below the sector average
Income
80.3% below the market average80.3% below the market average80.3% below the market average80.3% below the market average80.3% below the market average
81.54% below the sector average81.54% below the sector average81.54% below the sector average81.54% below the sector average81.54% below the sector average
Growth
56.31% above the market average56.31% above the market average56.31% above the market average56.31% above the market average56.31% above the market average
48.00% above the sector average48.00% above the sector average48.00% above the sector average48.00% above the sector average48.00% above the sector average

What The Brokers Say

Strong Buy 4
Buy 4
Neutral 6
Sell 1
Strong Sell 2
Total 17
neutral
Broker recommendations should not be taken as investment advice, and are provided by the authorised brokers listed on this page.

RTO Dividends

  Latest Previous
  Final Interim
Ex-Div 04-Apr-24 03-Aug-23
Paid 15-May-24 11-Sep-23
Amount 5.93p 2.75p

Trades for 28-Mar-2024

Time Volume / Share Price
16:35 2,589,955 @ 471.70p
16:35 1,259 @ 471.70p
16:35 4,009 @ 471.70p
16:35 2,760 @ 471.70p
16:35 2,010 @ 471.70p

RTO Key Personnel

CEO Andy M. Ransom
Chair Richard Solomons
CFO Stuart Ingall- Tombs

Top of Page