Dettol and Durex maker Reckitt Benckiser says its saw an “unsatisfactory” drop in sales over the latest quarter, but has highlighted more modest growth last year.
The household goods company, which has its 海角视频 headquarters in Slough and bases around the 海角视频 in Hull, Salford, Derby and Nottingham, saw shares drop in early trading as it announced revenues for the past year were around £55m lower than expected due to a discrepancy in earlier financial statements. The firm posted group net revenue of £14.6bn, representing 3.5% growth on a like for like basis in the year, but a volume decline of -4.3%.
Full year operating profit was £2.531bn, down from £3.24bn, which including a goodwill impairment of £810m. The Nurofen and Gaviscon maker said like-for-like net revenues fell by 1.2% over the final quarter of 2023, with overall net revenues down 7% to £3.56bn. It said compliance procedures found an understatement of trade expenses for the fourth quarter and prior quarters of 2023, which have also impacted upon adjusted profits by around £35m.
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The company said: “Following investigation, we concluded a small group of employees had acted inappropriately and we are taking necessary disciplinary action. We are confident this is an isolated incident specific to these two markets and does not impact our 2024 outlook and medium-term goals.”
Kris Licht, chief executive officer, said: “2023 was a year of progress for Reckitt. We delivered a good trading performance in health and hygiene. Nutrition began rebasing and held market leadership in the US. Our innovation platforms proved that they can deliver meaningful growth through premiumisation, household penetration and category creation. We drove our gross margins back to historical levels, increased investment behind our brands and innovation and launched our fixed cost optimisation programme. We generated strong free cashflow and significantly increased cash returns to shareholders, enhanced by our new, sustainable share buyback programme.
“While our performance in Q4 was unsatisfactory, we look to 2024 and beyond with confidence. We target another year of mid-single-digit growth in health and hygiene, driven by a more balanced contribution from price, mix and volume.
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“We expect Nutrition to return to growth late in the year. We will continue to invest in, and harness the growth from, our strengthened pipeline. We will advance our fixed cost optimisation programme, and we will further increase cash returns to shareholders, aiming to double what we returned in 2019.”
Shares in the company were down 9.9% in early trading to 5,258p and had dropped further to 5,180p by mid-morning.