Equity Research, Broker Reports, and media content on Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc

  • Access the latest forecasts, broker valuations, multiples, and video content from the city about Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • See live updates from analysts, company announcements, and other news in a personalised/single dashboard
  • 28 Feb 20
Weak finish to FY19, Health outperformance remains elusive!

Reckitt reported largely in line revenue and a marginal bottom-line beat. The segmental performance was similar to that seen in the last couple of quarters: disappointing Health and robust HygieneHome. The company also announced a surprise £5bn write-down in the IFCN business. For FY 20, management expects growth above FY 18 (+0.8%) and a margin contraction of 350bp, thanks to the investment to drive volume growth. We will revise our estimates downwards to factor in the soft FY 20 guidance.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 19 Nov 19
Weak health leads to FY19 guidance cut

Reckitt Benckiser’s Q3 19 revenue came in at £3.29bn, up 1.6% lfl, largely in line with street estimates but marginally above our estimates. The growth in IFCN (+7%) and HygieneHome (+4.5%) was offset by weakness in OTC (-6.8%) and ‘Other Health’ (-2.5%). The management cut its FY 19 guidance to 0-2% growth (vs 2-3% earlier) and an operating margin decline (vs flat earlier) compared to FY 18. Given the slower than expected recovery in Health, we will trim our estimates marginally.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 05 Aug 19
Weak Health outweighs HyHo strength

Reckitt Benckiser reported a mixed set of H1 19 numbers – the top line missed while profits beat estimates. Revenue came in at £6.24bn, up 1% lfl – led by HygieneHome (+3%) which offset weak health (-1%). Adjusted operating profit came in at £1.48bn, with the associated margin at 23.6%. Q2 top-line numbers also missed expectations. Looking ahead, management cut its top-line guidance (+2-3% vs +3-4% earlier) while re-iterating margin guidance. Factoring in the weak performance, we will be reducing our estimates.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 07 May 19
Weak Q1, in line with expectations

Reckitt Benckiser’s Q1 19 revenue missed the street’s estimates but was in line with our expectations. Revenue was up by 1% on a lfl basis – driven by strong growth in IFCN/baby food and HygieneHome, which was partly offset by weakness in OTC. Management reiterated its FY 19 guidance (3-4% lfl growth and operating margin – of 26.7% – similar to FY 18). Given the in line numbers, we do not expect any major change in our estimates or recommendation.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 19 Feb 19
Good finish to 2018

RB reported strong Q4/FY 18 numbers, trumping ours as well as street estimates. Q4 revenue grew by 4% lfl to £3.34bn. IFCN (baby food) was the standout, rebounding strongly from production disruptions in Q3. FY 18 revenue was up by 3% lfl to £12.6bn while operating income grew by 12% to £3.36bn. Full year dividend was raised by 4% to 170.7p per share. Management expects FY 19 growth of +3-4% and adjusted operating margin to remain similar to FY 18.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 05 Feb 19
Consumer Staples: Our Best Ideas We expect sector rotation into defensives: Buy ABI, Imperial, Reckitt

Premium

Generic thumbnail
  • 31 Oct 18
Production disruption in baby formula negatively impacts Q3

Manufacturing disruption in the infant nutrition business (IFCN/Mead Johnson;-6%) business lacerated 2pp (£70m) from Reckitt Benckiser’s Q3 numbers, which fell short of market expectations. Lfl sales growth came in at 2%, which was further clobbered by a negative FX impact of 4%. In effect, reported sales declined by 2% to £3.12bn. All top-line growth numbers in lfl, unless specified otherwise. The rest of the health business proved resilient at +4%, fully offsetting the weakness in the IFCN business – the overall health business came in flat, reaching £1.89bn. Hygiene also held steady at 4% growth to £1.23bn during the quarter. Guidance for the year – lfl revenue growth at the upper end of 2%-3% – has been maintained (9M lfl growth came in at 2%).

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 20 Aug 18
Mead ignites a solid performance as corporate signals turn positive

Q2 ended on a good note for RB. The biggest relief was the Mead Johnson business demonstrating a turnaround. Also, management is actively investing in the right places, including on re-scripting (partly) the Scholl failures. The infant formula nutrition business is registering a solid growth and we expect it to be a potential catalyst not only for China but the US as well. At the same time, however, we believe that management needs to show that it is able to maintain this momentum.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 25 Apr 18
Not a good start to the year

Reckitt’s first quarter results did not offer anything to be excited about in the near term. The results reflected a worrying state of the Scholl portfolio, underperformance of Dettol in the Middle East, weak pricing in the household business (even though volume has been able to more than compensate for now) and a broader market slowdown. While hope was seen in some pockets, such as Mead, the following quarters are likely to remain subdued.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 03 Dec 17
Multiple ailments undermining RB’s Health

Reckitt Benckiser (RB)’s disappointing run continued unabated into Q3 17 (trading update), with the company reporting its second successive sales contraction (-1% lfl in the RB base business, Q2 17: -2%, Q3 16: +2%), albeit a tad healthier than the previous quarter’s near carnage (at -2% lfl, the worst quarter ever for the staples behemoth). The key culprit was the July 2017 cyberattack (Petya, lopping off a good c.2ppt from the top-line), with the situation getting exacerbated by the lingering impact of on-going internal issues (Scholl / Amope impact) as well as adverse market developments (GST in India, the weakness in Latin America markets). At the segment level, Health continued to suffer (-2% lfl), although management maintained that underlying growth was in line with the somewhat muted market return (3% vs. long-term category growth expectation of 4-6%). Durex, Gaviscon and Mucinex were the key growth drivers for the segment. After a poor Q2, Hygiene recovered sequentially (+1% lfl vs. -1% in Q2 17) driven by the strong performance of Finish cleaners. However, this was offset by the protracted weakness in Dettol, in its largest market, India (a combination of fiscal reforms as well as the cyberattacks). While Home remained soft (-4% lfl, -2% in Q2 17) on increased competition and pricing pressure for Vanish, Portfolio Brands saw an uptick (+8% vs. -8% in Q2 17) due to one-off phasing benefits from institutional customers. Reported revenue grew c.30% to £3.2bn, benefiting from the incorporation of Mead Johnson ‘MJN’ (acquisition completed on 15 June, £720m revenue contribution in the quarter) as well as a 2ppt forex benefit. After a shaky start, Mead Johnson positively surprised during the quarter, reporting a +1% lfl growth, ahead of the full year expectation of -2 to 0% growth. Factoring in the soft Q3 results, management again downgraded its full-year guidance (for the second successive time) and now expects the legacy RB (ex-MJN) sales to be ‘flat’ vs. a +2% growth expectation previously. Sales forecast for MJN remains unchanged. From a geographical viewpoint, ENA contracted (-3% vs. 0% in Q3 16, lfl basis) due to continued weakness in Scholl across markets as well as the cyberattack, with North America (supply constraints in Mucinex distribution), the UK and ANZ being the worst hit. On the other hand, DvM expanded, albeit at a slower rate (+3% lfl vs. 7% in Q2 16) as China, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan performed strongly while India (GST implementation, flat growth), the Middle East (market weakness) and Brazil (increased competition) remained subdued. The other key highlight of the update was the management’s announcement of the reorganisation of its operations into two separate business units, effective Q1 18 – RB Health (c.60% of sales) and RB Hygiene Home (c.40% of sales). RB Health will be headed by Rakesh Kapoor and will incorporate the current Health segment, MJN and the brands Dettol, Veet and Clearasil from the erstwhile Hygiene segment. RB Hygiene Home will be steered by Rob De Groot (current head of ENA operations) and will include the remaining Hygiene and Home brands (he will report to CEO Rakesh Kapoor). As a reminder, RB completed the divestment of its food business in August (after putting it on the block in April) to McCormick (a US based spices and herbs company) for $4.2bn (c.£3.2bn), much ahead of previous market expectations of c.£2-2.4bn. The sales proceeds will be used to deleverage the balance sheet (debt being the primary mode of funding for the massive $16.6bn Mead Johnson deal). The company also announced the departure of four senior executives in September 2017 (Darrell Stein, SVP, information services; Roberto Funari, EVP, category development; Frederic Larmuseau, Head, developing markets; Deborah Yates, SVP, human resources), a likely fallout of the recent weakness. Moreover, Chairman Adrian Bellamy will be stepping down from the Board (effective at the 2018 AGM) and will be succeeded by Christopher Sinclair (board member since 2015, currently Chairman and former CEO of Mattel Inc.). Additionally, RB incurred a £318m charge in Q2 17 related to its spun-off drug business – Indivior (demerged in 2014) following allegations of illegally impeding generic introductions (related to its Suboxone drug) back in 2013. With discussions still ongoing with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), management has hinted at the possibility of additional charges in the future. More recently, RB has been in the news for being one of the primary bidders for Pfizer’s consumer health business (strategic review commenced in October 2017).

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 18 Oct 17
Disappointing Q3

Reckitt Benckiser’s (RB/ LN, BUY, T/P 9000p) Q3 trading statement reported -1% growth, which was 1% below expectations. The outlook statement is now for flat full year LFL net revenue, which implies around 3% LFL growth in Q4.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 16 Oct 17
Doing the Right Thing

Reckitt Benckiser (RB/ LN, BUY, T/P 9000p) appears due to show quarter of slow organic sales growth when it releases its Q3 trading statement numbers on Wednesday this week. More importantly, a Sunday Times (15th October 2017) article reports Reckitt Benckiser as a front-runner to acquire Phizer’s (PFE US, N/R) consumer health business. In our view, consumer health M&A remains central to the BUY case for Reckitt Benckiser.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 26 Sep 17
Cyber Bytes

Welcome to Cyber Bytes – our new Flash Note where we will update on newsflow pertinent to the cyber insurance market. Recent news items have highlighted both the ongoing growth potential in cyber insurance but also the failure of many businesses to properly protect personal data from attack, highlighting the potential negative PBT impact eg Equifax, Fedex and Maersk. This is especially concerning for investors given GDPR comes fully into effect by end of May 2018, bringing with it potentially much more punitive fines.

Companies: RB/ MDLZ MRK MAERSKB FDX BEZ

  • 24 Jul 17
H2 to Accelerate Sharply as M&A Seriously Kicks In

Reckitt Benckiser’s (RB/ LN, BUY, T/P 9000p) interim results showed a like-forlike revenue declined -2% in Q2 as flagged in Reckitt’s 6th July announcement. Half year revenue of £5.0bn (+14% from last year) with £2.5bn coming in Q2. Like-for-like sales growth in the half year was down 1% in line with consensus estimates. An H2 sales growth recovery remains on track.

Companies: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
  • 21 Jul 17
Heavy results week – combating sluggishness

Next week includes a busy reporting schedule for the UK FMCG sector with 7 names in our coverage universe due to release either a trading statement or results. So far, we infer that Q2 2017 included sustained slowing in emerging markets for the larger operators and continued sluggishness in mature markets, notably Western Europe. However, for the small and mid-cap soft drinks companies, which include Britvic (BVIC LN, BUY, T/P 800p) the UK weather was clearly helpful. This should have had a positive impact also on domestic Food to Go.

Companies: RB/ CWK FEVR BATS BVIC DGE GNC

Research, Charts & Company Announcements

Research Tree provides access to ongoing research coverage, media content and regulatory news on Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc. We currently have 96 research reports from 7 professional analysts.

Open
5902p
Range Today
5902/6010p
52 Week
5150/6688p
Daily Volume
0.0k
# Shares
709.9m
Daily Liquidity
(0%)
Pension Liability
£362.1m
Enterprise Value
£55,941m
Market Cap
£42,664m
Latest PE (hist)
18.80
Div Yield
2.65

Latest News/RNS

(more news)
Date Source Announcement
24Mar20 16:57 RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding
24Mar20 16:41 RNS Second Price Monitoring Extn
24Mar20 16:35 RNS Price Monitoring Extension
12Mar20 17:08 RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding
09Mar20 16:45 RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding
03Mar20 16:26 RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding
02Mar20 13:11 RNS Total Voting Rights
Get free RNS email alerts

  • Frequency of research reports

     

  • Research reports on

    Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc

  • Providers covering

    Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc

  • 25 Mar 20
The Industrial Revelation

US & German manufacturing PMI hits lowest readings since 2009, UK manufacturing PMI heads below 50, BorgWarner expects material financial impact from customer production halts

Companies: AVON CGS HAYD HEAD HILS JHD RNO SCPA TWD TRI ZTF SOM GHH

  • 23 Mar 20
LIBERUM: Ted Baker* - Bolstering cash; FY20E in line, but future guidance withdrawn

Delivery on the transformation plan has been swift and the £78.75m sale and leaseback of TED's head office represents further decisive action. Combined with cost savings and cash conservation measures, we estimate it could improve the group's cash position by over £100m.

Companies: Ted Baker
  • 23 Mar 20
The Industrial Revelation

Airbus secures €15bn credit facility but partially restarts production in France & Spain, Cummins suspends production and FY20 guidance as customers shutdown

Companies: CGS HAYD HEAD HTG OXIG RSW RNO ROR TWD TRI ZTF GHH

  • 25 Mar 20
Solid trading and manageable impact from the crisis

Sumo provided an update that confirms to us the strength and resilience of its business and market. The company released solid unaudited 2019 results and has started the current year strongly. Sumo identified some impact from the pandemic that appears manageable, in our view. Also comforting is the company’s strong cash position alongside positive FCF. More details are expected with audited results, which Sumo is delaying, in line with the FCA’s requests. We continue to see Sumo as an IP-driven leader in the video game market.

Companies: Sumo Group
  • 25 Mar 20
Sumo Group

FY19 Results: No surprises, robust balance sheet

Companies: Sumo Group
  • 25 Mar 20
Capital Access' Hot Off The Wires - The Day Ahead

Today's news & views, plus announcements from UU, PSN, DCC, MGGT, BWY, SSPG, MCS, DFS, KLR, KWS, SUMO, SRC

Companies: Persimmon
  • 24 Mar 20
Smarter than you think

Intellectual property (IP) is highly regarded by investors valuing video game companies. Our analysis of video game peers indicates that Sumo’s business is more IP-driven than perceived by many investors. Sumo plans to announce 2019 results on 1 April.

Companies: Sumo Group
  • 08 Jan 20
UK Housebuilding Sector: 2020 vision: Sharpness and clarity for industry prospects

For fighter pilots, it is a minimum requirement. But having 20/20 ‘visual acuity’ (correct term) does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision (as convention assumes); instead, it indicates sharpness and clarity of vision at a distance. It is measured by a Snellen Chart, which displays letters of progressively smaller size and whereby 20/20 means that the test subject sees the same line of letters at 20 feet that a person with normal vision sees at 20 feet (or 6 metres; but 6/6 simply didn’t catch on).

Companies: ABBY BDEV BWY BKG VTY CRN CSP CRST GLE GLV INL MCS PSN RDW SPR TW/ WJG

  • 24 Mar 20
The Industrial Revelation

Japanese PMI falls to lowest level since 2009, GE Aviation cuts 10% of workforce, Kone downgrades 2020 outlook

Companies: CGS HAYD HEAD HILS JHD OXIG RSW RNO TWD ZTF SOM GHH

  • 26 Mar 20
LIBERUM: MJ Gleeson* - Well placed to benefit from eventual recovery

MJ Gleeson announced yesterday that it has temporarily closed its production sites, show houses and sales offices. The Group has a very strong liquidity position, with resources of around £77m in place.

Companies: MJ Gleeson
  • 26 Mar 20
Walker Greenbank - Business response to COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic is having wide-ranging effects on the general trading environment and Walker Greenbank has announced the steps it is taking in response. Manufacturing facilities are temporarily being closed, but the company is still currently able to support customers and sales through carried inventory levels. Consistent with others, actions being taken to preserve business cash and operate within existing banking facilities look sensible. The company has withdrawn financial guidance and, apart from FY20, our estimates have been removed.

Companies: Walker Greenbank
  • 19 Mar 20
COVID-19 update

Consistent with other consumer businesses, Warpaint has issued a statement indicating that the impact from COVID-19 to date has been limited. However, response to the outbreak across its target markets means there will inevitably be a negative impact on business performance in the months ahead, albeit unquantifiable at this this stage. More details are likely to be provided at the prelims on 22 April. There remains a significant window of opportunity post COVID-19 to complete and fulfil customer orders in the important gifting segment later in the year though, and the balance sheet is strong with net cash, particularly at this time of year. The business should therefore be able to weather the storm.

Companies: Warpaint London
  • 25 Mar 20
Headlam

COVID-19 update: div. suspended, expect downturn in orders

Companies: Headlam Group
  • 26 Mar 20
Focusrite - Marching on

Focusrite has issued a reassuring trading update for H120. Sales growth is in line with expectations, against a tough comparative. With the majority of sourcing from Asia, there had been fears about its ability to continue sourcing product to satisfy consumer demand, which still looks ‘buoyant’, but deliveries have resumed quickly. Our underlying forecasts are unchanged, but we incorporate the acquisition of Martin Audio, leading to EPS upgrades of 1% for FY20 and 7% for FY21. The recent de-rating has brought multiples back towards historic averages: EV/EBITDA for FY20e of 12.2x (average of 11.1x) and P/E for FY20e of 19.5x (average of 17.8x).

Companies: Focusrite
  • 26 Mar 20
COVID-19 Update

In line with many other listed housebuilders, Gleeson released a COVID-19 update yesterday afternoon. Following recent guidance from the Government, a controlled wind down and temporary closure of site activity will take place. On site sales offices had already been closed to enforce social distancing. Sites and sales offices will be reopened at the appropriate time. The company is unable to provide financial guidance at this stage and we withdraw our forecasts, as we have for numerous other companies in recent days. The company has a strong balance sheet with cash balances of £67m currently, including £60m drawn down from the Company’s committed bank facility, in addition to a £10m committed overdraft facility. The interim dividend (12.0p/£6.6m in cash) has been cancelled in order to preserve cash in light of current uncertainties. Despite current uncertainties, we believe Gleeson has a resilient model and a compelling proposition that should ensure the Group prospers over the medium term.

Companies: MJ Gleeson