Rentokil profits boosted by Terminix

Full-year 2023 adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 43.8% to £766m, with revenues up 44.7% at £5.4bn.

Organic revenue grew 4.9%, supported by strong performances in Europe, Asia, Pacific, UK and LATAM, Rentokil said.

Free cash flow rose 33.7% to £500m and the company lifted its dividend per share by 15% to 8.68p.

Chief executive Andy Ransom said: "We have continued to benefit from our diversified, global footprint and resilient business model, in addition to our sustained focus on customer service and investment in people, technology and innovation.

"We're taking action to reinvigorate organic growth in the North American business. In our RIGHT WAY 2 plan, we have created a clear and comprehensive roadmap to reinvigorate growth in North America with the right team in place to execute on that.

"We have made strong progress in the integration of Terminix to create a powerhouse business in the world's largest pest control market. This has been achieved alongside significant improvement in colleague retention, with Terminix service technician retention up more than 8 percentage points since the deal closed.

"The combination with Terminix continues to create significant value and we have upgraded expectations for total gross cost synergies by $50m to $325m to be delivered by 2026."