Single stain on spotless results February 10, 2010 ON the surface, these results are sparkling, as if they’ve been polished up with a can of Reckitt Benckiser’s Brasso. Full year sales are up 18 per cent, pre-tax profit is up 28 per cent and the final dividend of 57p brings the total to £1 – a 25 per cent hike. Emerging markets are [...]
Reckitt Benckiser brands defy recession February 9, 2010 RECKITT Benckiser, which makes products including Nurofen, saw profits jump by 23 per cent last year despite the recession. The company said 2009 had been a good year and predicted growth in 2010. Reckitt’s drug Suboxone – a heroin substitute – accounted for 16 per cent of the profits. In the year to 31 December, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 8, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph MANDELSON ATTACKS US AND EUROPE The full scale of world tension between governments over the way to deal with the banking crisis has been revealed today after Peter Mandelson, the business secretary, said that neither America nor the European Union had shown global leadership on the issue. As the G7 [...]
Defensive shares lift FTSE but banks and miners weak January 26, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index added 0.3 per cent yesterday, as support for defensive issues, and a modest early rally on Wall Street, offset weakness in heavyweight miners and banks. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 16.54 points at 5,276.85, snapping a four-session losing streak, having earlier reached an intraday low for the [...]
Reckitt’s Becht nets 17.6m December 2, 2009 Bart Becht, the chief executive of household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser, made a £17.6m profit on the sale of some of his shares over the last week. He made £5.4m yesterday, which comes on top recent share sales that have made him £4.7m and £7.5m. Becht, the highest-paid director in the FTSE 100 is understood [...]
Bookie William Hill covers its losses by poaching finance director from Bovis November 24, 2009 Bookmaker William Hill stunned the City yesterday by announcing it is parting company with its finance director Simon Lane and poaching property firm Bovis Homes’ FD Neil Cooper for the job. William Hill said that Lane is stepping down after deciding he wants to “seek a fresh challenge” following the group’s successful £350m discounted rights [...]
Analysts split over a tie-up between Reckitt and Colgate November 19, 2009 Shares in Reckitt Benckiser were in the spotlight yesterday, with three times the usual daily volume traded, as speculation mounted about a potential multi-million tie-up. Analysts were split as to whether the Cillit Bang maker was eying and merger with Colgate Palmolive, or a potential takeover of Durex maker SSL International. But there was a [...]
Hike in commodity costs hits miners and energy stocks November 19, 2009 Britain’s top share index fell 1.4 per cent yesterday as sagging commodity prices dented miners and energy stocks, while reduced risk appetite hurt banks. The FTSE 100 ended down 74.43 points at 5267.70, its biggest daily fall for three weeks, after closing 0.1 per cent lower on Wednesday. Miners were the biggest drag on the [...]
Reckitt gives a shiny outlook October 27, 2009 Household cleaning products group Reckitt Benckiser raised its full-year targets yesterday after seeing no early challenge to its Suboxone drug and beating forecasts with a 26 per cent jump in third-quarter profit to £469m.
Weak banks and miners pull FTSEdown by one per cent October 26, 2009 THE FTSE 100 share index ended 1 per cent lower yesterday, with mining and energy stocks suffering as the US dollar rose and commodity prices fell, while a sharp decline in ING put pressure on financials. The index ended down 50.83 points at 5,191.74, having risen as high as 5,281.12 earlier in the session. It [...]