Reckitt Benckiser Sales Miss Expectations, Profit Drops

By Michael Susin

Reckitt Benckiser profit fell on one-off impairments as sales missed market expectations, but the company raised its dividend payout.

The consumer-goods company--which houses Dettol, Harpic and Durex among its brands--on Wednesday reported pretax profit for 2023 of 2.40 billion pounds ($3.04 billion), compared with GBP3.07 billion in the year-earlier period.

Adjusted operating profit--which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was GBP3.37 billion compared with GBP3.44 billion a year ago.

The company said it has booked a goodwill impairment of GBP810 million from its Infant Formula and Child Nutrition, reflecting higher interest rates and changes in the regulatory environment.

Revenue came in at GBP14.61 billion compared with GBP14.45 billion the prior year. However, this was below the GBP14.75 billion estimated by 15 brokers polled by FactSet.

Net revenue growth on a like-for-like basis was 3.5%, in line with the company's guidance range of 3% to 5%. The increase was driven by growth of 5.2% across its hygiene business.

For 2024, Reckitt expects mid-single-digit growth in health and hygiene divisions, driven by a more balanced contribution from price, mix and volume. Nutrition is expected to return to growth late in the year.

"We will advance our fixed cost optimization program, and we will further increase cash returns to shareholders, aiming to double what we returned in 2019," it said.

The board declared an interim dividend of 192.5 pence a share, compared with 183.3 pence declared the previous year.

Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2024 02:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

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