Reckitt Benckiser Finals

[idpickering]

A SOLID FINISH. MJN INTEGRATION ON TRACK & ADDITIONAL SYNERGIES EXPECTED

Highlights:

· Base business delivered a solid end to the year with +2% like-for-like net revenue growth in Q4, driven by +5% growth in Health. MJN acquisition means more than 50% of revenue comes from higher margin consumer health brands.

· MJN integration is firmly on track. Growth has returned after nine quarters without growth, $25m of synergies have been delivered earlier than planned, and today we are raising our synergy expectations to around $300m, up from $250m announced at the time of the acquisition.

· RB has created two business units to drive long term growth -Health and Hygiene Home. New structure in place from January 2018.

And later;

Dividends. The Board of Directors recommends a final dividend of 97.7 pence (2016: 95.0 pence), to give a full year dividend of 164.3 pence (2016: 153.2 pence). The dividend, if approved by shareholders at the AGM on 3 May 2018, will be paid on 24 May 2018 to shareholders on the register at the record date of 13 April 2018. The ex-dividend date is 12 April 2018. The final dividend will be accrued once approved by Shareholders.

Full item here;

https://www.investegate.co.uk/reckitt-b ... 00042044F/

The CEO is being interviewed on Bloomberg TV at 0730hrs (UK) today if you're interested.

[ADrunkenMarcus]

One of my core holdings.

The final dividend increase was pretty low, but investing in the business and paying down debt are worthwhile priorities.

Best wishes

Mark.

[tjh290633]

Bloomberg's comment is that it was RB,'s worst year ever. I gather that the price fell 6% at the open.

The increase in the final was less than that in the interim, but hardly justified that reaction, which seems to be normal these days.

TJH

[BBLSP1]

Last year’s final dividend was 95p paid on 25 May 2017, so an increase of 2.8% for this year. Share price down 6.36% at £61.50 as I type. Still quite a way to drop before it re-enters HYP territory.

[nk104]

I think this was overdone so I've picked a few more up. The problem I think these days is that so much trading is automated. Once a fall is established, the bots get into it.

I'm holding for a 30 year period so if Mr Market wants to give me a discount then fine by me.

[ADrunkenMarcus]

I'm holding for a 30 year period so if Mr Market wants to give me a discount then fine by me.

Amen to that!

I was lucky to get in at a 3.7% dividend yield in 2011.

Best wishes

Mark.

[idpickering]

Bloomberg's comment is that it was RB,'s worst year ever. I gather that the price fell 6% at the open.

The increase in the final was less than that in the interim, but hardly justified that reaction, which seems to be normal these days.

TJH

Thanks for your input Terry.

See link for interview;

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2 ... 2017-video

Ian.

[Bouleversee]

I bought my first holding in March 1999 at 1488,56 and topped up at 3245 in July 2010, so my paper loss today is almost £1300. Quite a loss for one day but it is so far only on paper and doesn't compare with CLLN, Centrica and various other horrors. Might bed and ISA the 2nd holding while the price is down.

If they still make Neurofen, they are probably doing a roaring trade today.

[monabri]

was it so bad that the s.p. is down 7%?? I would imagine that the US has woken up and decided to sell (?)

[Bouleversee]

The markets are certainly generally down a lot. Another short term correction or something worse? Time will tell. A trader's paradise; pity I'm not one. What we need is for the budget to introduce a short term capital gains tax. (I'm off before I get another ticking off from the mods.)

[monabri]

If they still make Neurofen, they are probably doing a roaring trade today.

Goes well with a G&T....

[nk104]

I originally bought in April 2011 at 3145p. I think it was the day the previous Chief Executive announced his departure and the share price dived. Fine by me as the fundamentals had not changed - and so it proved.

[monabri]

was it so bad that the s.p. is down 7%?? I would imagine that the US has woken up and decided to sell (?)

I just noticed that the US and China are on holiday today...just as well as the price might have fallen further.

[Itsallaguess]

Bloomberg's comment is that it was RB,'s worst year ever. I gather that the price fell 6% at the open.

The BBC had it about right -

https://i.imgur.com/Suwvgy9.jpg

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[PinkDalek]

The BBC had it about right -

https://i.imgur.com/Suwvgy9.jpg

Surprisingly or not, I cannot find that headline, although I can see they said at 07:19 "Reckitt has 'solid' end to year", so perhaps they were thinking along the same lines.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-43083847

[MDW1954]

The BBC had it about right -

https://i.imgur.com/Suwvgy9.jpg

Surprisingly or not, I cannot find that headline, although I can see they said at 07:19 "Reckitt has 'solid' end to year", so perhaps they were thinking along the same lines.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-43083847

As a working journalist, let me help out. The "limp" headline was correctly cited; I read it, and thought "I wonder how long that will last?"

It accompanied the 8:30am item on RB, which is now entitled: "Reckitt shares slump on flat earnings".

Frankly, they were having a bad day -- an item about McColl's was accompanied for several hours by a photo of a Co-op distribution centre, for instance.

My own guess is that either a reader complained, or that when the share price doubled to 6%+, they realised that "limp" ought to be replaced by something stronger.

Anyway, my policy of having a tab open on the feed was (again) rewarded. I'd missed the results completely, but promptly bought in at 6% down. They're now down about 13% since Jan 1st, I think.

MDW1954

PS: These days, I almost always avoid risqué headlines, standfirsts and straplines. Outside the tabloids, there isn't a market.

[westmoreland]

RB essentially had flat revenue and income since 2011.

it generates alot of cash, as do all well managed FMCG companies, but has mainly benefitted from a large uptick in valuation and sentiment, unsupported by the fundamentals. since 2011 something like 80-90%+ of the increase in share price is just the market placing a higher value on regular income.

is anyone worried that the remuneration structure rewards the CEO for making an acquisition? metrics based upon FCF and ROIC have their problems but its not a good sign when companies allow CEOs to benefit from EPS increases.

it's a fantastic company, but I feel the pullback simply better reflects the company's prospects going forwards. it looked well overvalued at £75 + given its stagnation.