Reckitt Benckiser Shares Drop After Guidance Cut
July 30 2019 - 3:07AM
Dow Jones News
By Anthony Shevlin
Shares in Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (RB.LN) slid in early
trading after the FTSE 100 company lowered its full-year net
revenue guidance despite saying the second half of the year should
be stronger.
The consumer-goods company revised downward its 2019 net revenue
guidance growth to between 2% and 3% on a like-for-like basis. The
company previously expected growth of between 3% and 4%.
The company behind brands such as Cillit Bang cleaning products
and Nurofen painkillers said pretax profit for the six months ended
June 30 was 1.26 billion pounds ($1.55 billion), compared with
GBP1.11 billion a year prior.
At GMT 0715, shares in Reckitt Benckiser traded 5.2% lower at
6330 pence.
The company acknowledged it made a slow start to the year but
said growth levels should return to normal in the second half.
"Our like-for-like performance in 1H was [plus] 1%, somewhat
below our expectations," said Rakesh Kapoor, the company's outgoing
chief executive.
Analysts at Citi said the company's second-quarter results were
disappointing and showed the need for Reckitt to regain strategic
flexibility.
"This set of results is making a strategic rethink, and
portfolio changes in line with [the] RB 2.0 [strategy], even more
pressing," Citi said.
Write to Anthony Shevlin at anthony.shevlin@dowjones.com;
@anthony_shevlin
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 30, 2019 03:52 ET (07:52 GMT)
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