Rentokil revenue rises but disinfection sales plunge

Rentokil Initial's revenue rose in the third quarter as sales of pest control and non-disinfection hygiene services offset a sharp decline in disinfection sales.

Revenue excluding disposals rose 0.9% to £761.3m in the three months to the end of September, or by 4.8% excluding currency movements, the FTSE 100 group said.

Excluding disinfection, whose sales surged early in the pandemic, ongoing revenue rose 10.2% to £750.2m. Pest control's ongoing revenue rose 18.3%. Excluding disinfection, hygiene revenue rose 6.4%.

Rentokil said disinfection sales had reduced in line with expectations to £11.4m compared with £75.7m in the first quarter and £22.6m in the second quarter. The company stuck to its guidance for second half disinfection revenue of £10-20m.

After completing nine acquisitions in the third quarter Rentokil stuck to its guidance of £450m-500m for deals in the full year.

Andy Ransom, Rentokil's chief executive, said: "We have delivered a strong performance from our core businesses in the quarter and are confident of sustaining this momentum for the remainder of the year. Assuming no further significant deterioration in trading conditions arising from the pandemic, our performance in Q3 - combined with further progress in our value-creating M&A programme - means we remain on track to deliver a full year performance in line with the guidance given at our interim results in July."

Rentokil shares fell 1.5% to 594.4p at 08:06 BST.