* Raises 2020 sales view to high single-digits
* Lysol, Dettol are top performing brands
* Shares down 1.6% after rising 25% this year
(Adds details on brand sales, CEO quote, shares)
By Siddharth Cavale
July 28 (Reuters) - British consumer goods maker Reckitt
Benckiser Plc on Tuesday reported market beating
first-half results, as households increasingly worried about
health and hygiene stocked up on Lysol sprays, Dettol soap and
Mucinex cough syrup.
The COVID-19 pandemic has relieved pressure on a business
that has struggled against intense competition in the health and
hygiene sectors for several years.
People are increasingly cleaning their homes and washing
their hands to protect themselves from coronavirus, a trend
which Reckitt Benckiser CEO Laxman Narasimhan expects to
continue even when people spend less time indoors.
Sales of Lysol disinfectants rose 70% in North America,
while those of Dettol rose 62%, with growth in both developed
and emerging markets, largely because of rising awareness of
good hygiene practices, the company said.
Customers are also shopping more online, helping Reckitt's
e-commerce sales surge more than 60% in the first half of the
year, and now accounting about 12% the group's net revenue.
Like-for-like sales for the three months ended June 30 rose
10.5%, beating company-provided estimates of 7.8%, but short of
the 13.3% record growth in the first three months of the year.
Narasimhan blamed some of the easing of sales on the
destocking of cleaning supplies that consumers had built up
ahead of lockdowns in March.
Still, the Slough-based company said it expects high
single-digit net revenue performance in 2020, exceeding its
medium-term target of mid single-digit growth.
"The outbreak of COVID-19 has both challenged our business
but also presented an opportunity to expand our plans and
capture new growth," Narasimhan said in a statement.
Reckitt will invest 200 million pounds over the next two
years in its baby formula business, boosting marketing for
brands that have not benefited from COVID-related demand and
hiring more people in research and development roles. The new
investment is in addition to the 2 billion pound investment
announced in February, the company said.
Reckitt's shares were down about 1.6% in morning trading.
The stock is up a quarter this year.
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips and David Evans)
