Rentokil H1 profits soar on strong revenue

The company said pre-tax profit rose 48.1% to £240m as revenue grew 70% to £2.7bn. The dividend was lifted 2.75p a share from 2.4p.

"The group enjoyed growth in every region and continued to benefit from effective pricing to manage inflationary costs. Revenue growth was further supported by another excellent period of M&A with 24 high-quality businesses acquired for a total consideration of £202m," said chief executive Andy Ransom.

"We start the second half of the year with continued confidence in our plans, both operational and strategic."

"Overall, with effective margin protection from proactive cost inflation management and margin accretion from strategy execution and synergy delivery, we reiterate our current year guidance to grow Group Adjusted Operating Margin to c.16.5% and North America Adjusted Operating Margin to 19.5%."