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(Alliance News) - Rentokil Initial PLC on Thursday reported a strong rebound in the first half with profit surging on the back of an 18% rise in revenue.
Rentokil shares were up 4.9% to 553.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
The Surrey-headquartered pest control company reported pretax profit in the first half of 2021 of GBP148.8 million, more than doubled from GBP61.8 million a year ago.
Revenue increased 18% year-on-year to GBP1.46 billion from GBP1.29 billion.
Chief Executive Andy Ransom said: "We have made excellent progress in the first six months of the year. Our revenue growth of 18% demonstrates a clear recovery of our core businesses as economic conditions improve across many of our markets."
"We have been very active in mergers & acquisition in the first half and have acquired some outstanding businesses both in North America and across our other regions of Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific," he added.
Rentokil brought back an interim dividend of 2.09 pence per share after forgoing a payout in the first half of last year. However, 2021's interim dividend is 28% higher than 2019's interim dividend of 1.51p per share.
Looking ahead, Rentokil said: "We delivered a strong performance in first half, slightly ahead of our expectations, and given the momentum in the business and agility demonstrated through the pandemic to date, we are confident of making continued progress in the balance of the year."
Assuming trading conditions around the world continue to improve and are not significantly hurt by rising cases of new Covid-19 variants, the company anticipates mid-single digit organic growth in its core businesses for 2021.
It also expects market consensus for full year adjusted pretax profit to increase by around GBP10 million to GBP15 million. Vuma has adjusted pretax profit for the year at GBP377.0 million. Last year, Rentokil posted adjusted pretax profit of GBP355.2 million.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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