LONDON (Reuters) – Reckitt, the maker of Dettol cleaning products and Strepsils throat lozenges, missed expectations for fourth-quarter like-for-like net sales, posting on Thursday a 4.6% rise.
The company, for which analysts had forecast growth of 5.3% for the quarter, said it expects full-year like-for-like net sales growth of 2-4%.
Reckitt, whose other products include Nurofen tablets, cold remedy Lemsip and Durex condoms, said sales from its hygiene business rose 5.5%, beating analysts’ estimates of 4.1% growth from a company-supplied poll.
However, fewer people bought Reckitt’s seasonal cold products during the quarter, and sales in the company’s health unit rose only 2.4%. Analysts had expected growth of 6.9%.
For the full year ended December, Reckitt’s operating profit rose 3% to 3.48 billion pounds ($4.49 billion).
($1 = 0.7753 pounds)
(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey)
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