Reckitt Benckiser LFL revenues up 5.6% in Q1

Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser said on Friday that like-for-like revenues had grown in the first quarter of the trading year, driven by continued broad-based growth and market share momentum across all business units and geographies.

Reckitt Benckiser stated Q1 LFL revenues were up 5.6% at £3.42bn, with nutrition revenues up 20.4% at £557.0m and health revenues 20.6% higher at £1.4bn. Hygiene revenues, on the other hand, were down 9% at £1.46bn.

Net revenue growth of 6.2% was reported in Europe and Australia/New Zealand, while revenues slipped 4.7% in North America and 0.6% in emerging markets.

The FTSE 100-listed firm said following its "strong start to the year", it now expects LFL net revenue growth towards the upper end of guidance of 1-4% and also noted that despite "significant cost inflation", it anticipates adjusted operating margins to be in-line with the prior year and current market expectations.

Chief executive Laxman Narasimhan said: "We have made a strong start to the year across all our business units and geographies despite a challenging operating environment. Investments we have made in brand building, innovation, and execution, have resulted in broad-based market share gains. These, coupled with pricing and revenue management actions, stand us in good stead to maintain this positive momentum.

"Given our strong start, we expect to deliver LFL net revenue growth at the upper end of our guidance for the year. We expect adjusted operating margins to be in-line with both the prior year and current market expectations, whilst continuing to invest in the long-term growth of our brands."

As of 0905 BST, Reckitt Benckiser shares were up 1.87% at 6,324.0p.