Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser lifted its full-year sales outlook on Wednesday following a “strong” first half.
The group said second-quarter like-for-like revenue grew 11.9% at constant currency. Reckitt hailed strong growth across its health, nutrition and hygiene segments, with Lysol in line with expectations. Growth also included an estimated 3.3% benefit from US Nutrition, amid supply issues at its competitors.
During the quarter, Reckitt swung to an IFRS operating profit of £1.75bn from a loss of £1.83bn in the same period a year earlier.
The company said it now expects LFL net revenue growth of 5% to 8%, up from previous guidance that it would be at the upper end of a range of 1% to 4%. It also expects growth in adjusted operating margins.
Chief executive Laxman Narasimhan said: “We have delivered an excellent first half performance in 2022. Innovation and improved in-market execution are driving sustained, broad-based revenue growth and market share momentum across our portfolio. Our brands less sensitive to the impact of Covid are growing ahead of our mid-single digit target, whilst our disinfection brands are performing as expected, well above pre-pandemic levels.
“Driving our earnings model to mitigate the very challenging inflationary environment is a key focus throughout our entire organisation. Our productivity programme has delivered over £370m of savings in the first half, well ahead of our ingoing expectations. This, combined with favourable product mix and pricing, accompanied by one-off and short-term benefits, have enabled us to deliver adjusted operating profit growth in H1 well above net revenue growth.”
