Rentokil’s shares soar as it ups dividend by a third following strong performance
Pest control and hygiene group Rentokil Initial reported a strong performance today in its 2021 interim results, and announced they will increase dividends by over a third.
The British company will up dividend payments by 38 per cent to 2.09p per share, raising the amount payable to shareholders to £38.9m on 13 September.
Proving services from laundry to household products, Rentokil saw revenue stand at £1.46bn after a rise of 18.3 per cent over the six month period.
The initial first half of 2021 revealed a sharp increase in sales for the pest control and hygiene sectors. Growth in pest control rose by 18.7 per cent due to the company’s regional improvements.
As a result of lockdown restrictions easing and a return to normality. Hygiene sectors saw a 9.3 per cent increase.
Following positive interim results, shares for the company climbed 5.35 per cent today to £5.54p to the top of the FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange.
Andy Ransom, chief executive officer, said today “we have made excellent progress in the first six months of the year. Our revenue growth of 18.3 per cent demonstrates a clear recovery of our core businesses as economic conditions improve across many of our markets.”
Formerly British Ratin, the company saw mergers and acquisitions total of £261m on 24 deals so far this year, with 21 for pest control, across all regions in 13 countries.
Ransom suggested that the company will expect to spend a total between £450m to £500m for full year on global mergers and acquisitions.
Operating profits rose by 55.4 per cent to £208.4m as a result of the company’s strong trading performance in North America. Market conditions for Europe and the rest of world experienced mixed results, say Rentokil, but still gained a profit despite the various coronavirus restrictions.
Rentokil expect full year results to increase by around £10m to £15m.