Reckitt Benckiser (RKT.L) — Company Research

Last Updated: 28 October 2026

Reckitt Benckiser Group plc makes consumer health and hygiene products, including Dettol, Lysol, Finish, Durex, Nurofen and Mucinex, and owns the Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) infant formula business. It sold its Essential Home household brands to Advent on 31 December 2025, keeping a 30% stake in the buyer, now called Vestacy. Since the last version of this report (14 June 2026) Reckitt has completed its £1bn buyback and started a new £500m one, reported first-half and third-quarter results, agreed to sell its Russia Hygiene business, won two more defence verdicts in US infant-formula (NEC) litigation, and on 27 October 2026 cut its 2026 like-for-like growth guidance for Core Reckitt to 3.5–4.5%. Every figure below comes from Reckitt's results announcements, annual report and RNS notifications. There are no analyst opinions, price targets or ratings anywhere in it.

Share prices, and figures worked out from them, are not shown for London-listed companies on ChartsView.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Ticker / exchange	RKT — London Stock Exchange; US ADRs trade over the counter as RBGLY
Sector	Consumer staples — consumer health, hygiene and infant nutrition
Revenue (FY2025)	£14,205m net revenue (2024: £14,169m), including £1,852m from Essential Home; like-for-like growth +5.0% excluding Essential Home
Adjusted operating profit (FY2025)	£3,543m at a 24.9% margin, up 40bp; IFRS operating profit £4,217m including a £1,245m gain on the Essential Home sale
EPS (FY2025)	Basic 468.3p (continuing 470.7p); adjusted diluted 352.8p (2024: 349.0p)
Dividend per share	212.2p ordinary for FY2025, plus a 235.0p special dividend paid 20 February 2026; 2026 interim dividend 88.6p, up 5%
Net debt	£6,558m at 31 December 2025 (1.6x adjusted EBITDA); £9,380m at 30 June 2026 (2.5x) after £3.0bn of returns in H1 2026
Employees	About 36,000 on average in 80 countries (2025 Annual Report)
CEO / Leadership	Kris Licht, Chief Executive Officer; Shannon Eisenhardt, Chief Financial Officer; Sir Jeremy Darroch, Chair
Shares in issue	633,354,856 voting shares after buybacks to 23 October 2026, following a 24-for-25 share consolidation on 2 February 2026

2. The Bull and Bear Case

Bull Case

• Emerging Markets growth: Core Emerging Markets grew 14.6% like-for-like in 2025 and 8.0% in Q3 2026, and is now 42% of Core Reckitt revenue.
• Margin guidance held: despite the lower sales guidance, Reckitt kept its 2026 adjusted operating margin target of 24.9–25.6% for Core Reckitt plus MJN, after a 24.9% group margin in 2025.
• Large cash returns: the Essential Home proceeds funded a 235.0p special dividend, the £1bn buyback finished on 16 June 2026, a further £500m buyback started on 5 August and the interim dividend rose 5%.
• NEC litigation turning: MJN won defence verdicts in the Collins case on 1 July 2026 and the first federal bellwether (Inman) on 31 August 2026, and the earlier $60m Watson verdict was set aside in June 2026.

Bear Case

• Guidance cut: on 27 October 2026 Reckitt cut its 2026 Core Reckitt like-for-like growth guidance to 3.5–4.5% from 4–5%; group like-for-like growth was 2.8% for the first nine months.
• Weak developed markets: Core North America fell 1.3% like-for-like in Q3 2026 because of Lysol manufacturing constraints, and Core Europe grew only 0.8% after falling 3.0% in H1.
• Higher debt and interest: net debt rose to £9,380m (2.5x adjusted EBITDA) at 30 June 2026, and net finance costs are expected to rise to £390–410m in 2027 from £250–270m in 2026.
• Earnings smaller after disposals: H1 2026 adjusted diluted EPS fell 9.7% to 152.1p and reported diluted EPS fell 28.0% to 100.6p, as Essential Home profits left the group.

3. Revenue Segments

Reckitt reported five segments for FY2025. From 2026 it reports Core Emerging Markets, Core Europe, Core North America, MJN and Vestacy Transitional Services (revenue from services provided to the Essential Home business after the sale).

Segment	% of revenue	What it is
Core Emerging Markets (£4,291m)	30.2%	Core health, hygiene and intimate wellness brands in emerging markets. Like-for-like +14.6% in 2025 and +8.0% in Q3 2026 (£1,174m).
Core Europe (£3,384m)	23.8%	Core health, hygiene and intimate wellness brands, such as Dettol, Finish, Durex and Nurofen, in Europe. Like-for-like −1.4% in 2025 and +0.8% in Q3 2026 (£867m).
Core North America (£2,559m)	18.0%	Core brands in North America, including Lysol and Mucinex. Like-for-like +0.2% in 2025 and −1.3% in Q3 2026 (£649m).
Mead Johnson Nutrition (£2,119m)	14.9%	Infant and child nutrition, including preterm infant formula. Like-for-like +3.8% in 2025 and +2.7% in Q3 2026 (£549m); strategic options are under review.
Essential Home (£1,852m)	13.0%	Household products business sold to Advent on 31 December 2025; Reckitt keeps 30% of the buyer, Vestacy.

Core Reckitt (the first three rows) had FY2025 net revenue of £10,234m, 72.0% of the group, and grew 5.2% like-for-like. Follow consumer staples and currency markets on the ChartsView Live Charts page.

4. Business Model and Moat

How it makes money. Reckitt sells branded health, hygiene and nutrition products to consumers through retailers and pharmacies. Like-for-like growth comes from volume and price/mix, and product innovation is one of its nine principal risks. It converts a large share of profit to cash: free cash flow was £1,709m in 2025, a 71% cash conversion, after £179m of one-off restructuring cash costs.

The moat. Reckitt's moat rests on long-established brands and on regulated health products that need approvals, as with the FDA approval of Mucinex 12HR Cold & Fever announced on 5 August 2026. Its emerging-markets business, now 42% of Core Reckitt revenue and growing 8.0% like-for-like in Q3 2026, gives it a distribution footprint that takes years to build.

A simpler group. After the Essential Home sale and the planned Russia Hygiene exit, Reckitt is focused on Core Reckitt, while MJN is "managed as part of the Group whilst we review the strategic options" (2025 Annual Report).

5. Financial Health

Reckitt reports in sterling under IFRS. Essential Home was not treated as a discontinued operation, so FY2024 and FY2025 net revenue include it (£2,046m and £1,852m). From 2026, Reckitt compares Core Reckitt plus MJN with the 2025 group figures. Long-term debt is long-term (non-current) borrowings at each year end.

Fiscal Year	Revenue (£m)	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt (YE)
FY2021	13,234	n/a (FY2020 not shown)	(4.5)p	288.5p	174.6p	£7,078m
FY2022	14,453	+9.2%	325.7p	341.7p	183.3p	£7,163m
FY2023	14,607	+1.1%	229.2p	323.4p	192.5p	£6,858m
FY2024	14,169	−3.0%	203.6p	349.0p	202.1p	£7,235m
FY2025	14,205	+0.3%	468.3p	352.8p	212.2p	£7,620m

GAAP EPS is basic EPS for the total group (FY2021 continuing operations: (8.8)p). Adjusted EPS is adjusted diluted EPS. FY2025 dividend excludes the 235.0p special dividend paid in February 2026. Like-for-like growth was +3.5%, +7.6%, +3.5%, +1.4% and +3.4% (+5.0% excluding Essential Home) for FY2021 to FY2025. Net debt was £8,378m, £7,984m, £7,290m, £7,914m and £6,558m.

Quarter / Half	Revenue (£m)	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
Q3 2026	3,362	Not reported quarterly	Not reported quarterly
H1 2026	6,411	152.1p	100.9p
FY2025 total	14,205	352.8p	468.3p

Reckitt reports full results half-yearly and revenue-only trading updates for Q1 and Q3. Q3 2026 net revenue was down 6.9% on the IFRS basis because Q3 2025 included £479m from Essential Home; like-for-like growth was 3.2%. Nine-month 2026 net revenue was £9,773m, up 2.8% like-for-like. H1 2025 adjusted diluted EPS was 168.4p.

Cash flow and balance sheet. In FY2025 cash generated from operating activities was £2,297m and capital expenditure was £592m in the free cash flow bridge (purchases of property, plant and equipment £536m and intangibles £79m). Depreciation and amortisation was £499m in the segment note (£756m including impairment in the cash flow statement). At 31 December 2025 cash and cash equivalents were £1,952m, short-term borrowings £810m and long-term borrowings £7,620m. H1 2026 free cash flow was £419m.

Outlook. For 2026 Reckitt now expects Core Reckitt like-for-like growth of 3.5–4.5%, high-single-digit growth in Emerging Markets and low-single-digit growth in MJN, with an adjusted operating margin of 24.9–25.6%, a tax rate of 26–27% and capital expenditure of about 4% of net revenue.

6. Valuation Metrics

Raw metrics, October 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Adjusted operating profit	£3,543m for FY2025 at a 24.9% margin; £1,469m for H1 2026 (Core Reckitt plus MJN margin 23.6%)
Adjusted diluted EPS	352.8p for FY2025; 152.1p for H1 2026, down 9.7%
Adjusted EBITDA (FY2025)	About £4,042m: adjusted operating profit £3,543m plus depreciation and amortisation £499m (segment note)
Free cash flow	About £1,705m for FY2025: operating cash flow £2,297m less capital expenditure £592m (FY2025 cash flow statement); Reckitt's own measure was £1,709m
Net debt	Borrowings £8,430m (£810m short-term plus £7,620m long-term) less cash £1,952m, plus other items, = £6,558m at 31 December 2025 (1.6x adjusted EBITDA); £9,380m at 30 June 2026 (2.5x)
Dividend per share	212.2p for FY2025 plus 235.0p special; 88.6p interim for 2026
Short interest (% of float)	0.04% of float on the US ADR line (1,169,146 RBGLY ADRs short at 15 September 2026, MarketBeat); not verified for the London line from the FCA aggregated list in this update
Days to cover	1.3 days for the US ADR line (MarketBeat, 15 September 2026); not published for the London line

7. What Are They Building

A focused Core Reckitt. With Essential Home sold and the Russia Hygiene business agreed for sale to Arnest Management on 24 July 2026 (expected post-tax loss of about £175m), Reckitt is concentrating on its health, hygiene and intimate wellness brands. It will hold a "Focus On" North America investor event in New Jersey on 19 November 2026.

US investment. On 16 September 2026 Reckitt announced up to $600m of investment in the US. Q3 2026 North American sales were held back by Lysol manufacturing constraints.

New products. The FDA approved Mucinex 12HR Cold & Fever, announced on 5 August 2026.

MJN. Reckitt is still reviewing strategic options for Mead Johnson. In August 2026 holders tendered $400.4m of MJN's $500m 4.600% 2044 notes, and Reckitt's guarantee of those notes was released.

8. Competitive Landscape

Reckitt competes with global consumer health and household-products companies and with retailers' own brands.

Peer	Key 2025 metric
Haleon (HLN)	2025 revenue £11,030m, organic growth +3.0% (Haleon 2025 full-year results)
Procter & Gamble (PG)	Fiscal 2025 (to June) net sales $84.3bn, flat; organic +2% (P&G FY2025 results)
Unilever (ULVR)	2025 turnover €50.5bn, down 3.8%; underlying sales growth +3.5% (Unilever 2025 results)
Kenvue (KVUE)	2025 net sales $15,124m, down 2.1%; organic −2.2% (Kenvue 2025 results). Kimberly-Clark expects to complete its purchase of Kenvue in Q4 2026, subject to approvals.
Church & Dwight (CHD)	2025 net sales $6,203.2m, up 1.6%; organic +0.7% (Church & Dwight 2025 results)
Colgate-Palmolive (CL)	2025 net sales $20,382m, up 1.4%; organic +1.4% (Colgate 2025 results)

Reckitt's 2025 like-for-like growth of 5.0% excluding Essential Home was above the organic growth reported by each of these peers.

9. Leadership and Insider Activity

Kris Licht is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Shannon Eisenhardt is Chief Financial Officer. Sir Jeremy Darroch is Chair. Deborah Waterhouse and Gavin Patterson joined the board as non-executive directors on 1 July 2026; on 22 October 2026 Reckitt said Deborah Waterhouse will become chief executive of CSL from 1 February 2027.

The director and PDMR dealings below were disclosed through RNS notifications in 2026. Apart from shares sold to cover tax on vesting awards, no sales were found.

Name	Date	Type	Shares	Plan Type
Kris Licht; Shannon Eisenhardt	18 Sep 2026	Dividend reinvestment	1,437; 286	Dividend reinvestment plan
Gavin Patterson; Deborah Waterhouse	26 Aug 2026	Purchase	191; 152	Market purchase
Sir Jeremy Darroch (Chair); Ingram	29 May 2026	Purchase	2,132; 364	Market purchase
Kris Licht	28 Apr 2026	Vesting; 5,435 sold for tax	10,000 vested	Share award
Kris Licht; Shannon Eisenhardt	21 Mar 2026	Vesting; 16,324 and 9,529 sold for tax	28,195; 20,141 released	Long Term Incentive Plan (63% vesting)
Kris Licht; Shannon Eisenhardt	12 Mar 2026	Award	87,500 and 42,500 performance shares; 175,000 and 85,000 options	Long Term Incentive Plan

10. Key Risks

• Slower growth (Execution): Reckitt cut its 2026 Core Reckitt like-for-like guidance to 3.5–4.5%, and nine-month group growth was 2.8%; further misses would put pressure on the margin target.
• Supply chain (Operational): Lysol manufacturing constraints pushed Core North America down 1.3% like-for-like in Q3 2026; supply chain continuity is one of Reckitt's nine principal risks.
• NEC litigation (Legal): MJN still faces many US lawsuits claiming its preterm infant formula caused necrotising enterocolitis, plus a US securities class action filed in June 2025 with no provision made; a Nevada state trial is scheduled for November 2027.
• Leverage and interest costs (Financial): net debt reached £9,380m, 2.5x adjusted EBITDA, at 30 June 2026, and net finance costs are guided to rise to £390–410m in 2027.
• Emerging markets and geopolitics (Macro): Emerging Markets are 42% of Core Reckitt revenue, exposing results to currency moves and political risk, as the loss of about £175m expected on leaving Russia Hygiene shows.
• MJN uncertainty (Strategic): the strategic review of Mead Johnson has not concluded, and its result could change the group's size, earnings and debt.

11. Recent Developments

• 16 Jun 2026 — £1bn buyback completed. Reckitt finished its £1bn buyback and appointed Deborah Waterhouse and Gavin Patterson as non-executive directors from 1 July.
• 01 Jul 2026 — Collins defence verdict. A St. Louis jury found for Mead Johnson in the Collins NEC case.
• 24 Jul 2026 — Russia Hygiene sale agreed. Reckitt agreed to sell the business to Arnest Management, with an expected post-tax loss of about £175m and completion expected in H2 2026.
• 29 Jul 2026 — H1 2026 results. Core Reckitt plus MJN grew 2.6% like-for-like (Q2 +4.7%); adjusted diluted EPS fell 9.7% to 152.1p; the interim dividend rose 5% to 88.6p and a £500m buyback was announced.
• 05 Aug 2026 — FDA approval for Mucinex. Reckitt announced FDA approval of Mucinex 12HR Cold & Fever and launched a tender for MJN's 2044 notes.
• 31 Aug 2026 — Inman defence verdict. The first federal NEC bellwether trial ended in a unanimous verdict for Mead Johnson.
• 16 Sep 2026 — US investment plan. Reckitt announced up to $600m of investment in the US.
• 27 Oct 2026 — Q3 2026 trading update and guidance cut. Q3 net revenue was £3,362m, up 3.2% like-for-like; Core Reckitt like-for-like guidance for 2026 was cut to 3.5–4.5%, with the margin target kept and 2027 net finance costs guided to £390–410m.

12. Key Dates to Watch

• 19 Nov 2026 — "Focus On" North America investor event in New Jersey
• TBC — completion of the Russia Hygiene sale, expected in the second half of 2026
• Expected Mar 2027 — FY2026 full-year results and final dividend (FY2025 results were published on 5 March 2026); date not yet on Reckitt's financial calendar
• Expected May 2027 — 2027 Annual General Meeting; date not yet confirmed by Reckitt
• Expected Aug 2027 — end of the 12-month £500m buyback that started on 5 August 2026
• Expected Nov 2027 — Nevada state NEC trial

US and UK inflation data and central bank decisions that affect consumer spending and sterling are on the ChartsView Economic Calendar. Discuss Reckitt with other investors in the ChartsView Forum.

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