Consensus-busting like-for-like sales growth brought more shine to Dettol and Vanish maker Reckitt Benckiser (RB) as it once again upgraded its full-year forecasts.
The group registered underlying sales growth of 7 per cent for the third quarter, prompting it to amend full-year revenue targets to more than 5 per cent. It had only upped expectations from 4 per cent to 4-5 per cent as recently as July.
Encouragingly for the group, sales in developing markets were robust, with a 10 per cent increase to £645m, although Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand still account for more than double that amount of sales, at £1.4bn.
In terms of its products, footcare brand Scholl and Durex condoms helped the consumer health and hygiene segments deliver combined growth of 8 per cent in comparable sales in the third quarter, while product innovations made Air Wick a standout performer in the home division, which saw like-for-likes in the quarter rise 5 per cent.
Broker Canaccord Genuity kept the company on a hold, but raised its price target to 5,825p from 5,470p. It noted the share buyback scheme had reached £676m in the year to date and "remains on target for the full-year goal of £800m".
And The Share Centre's Helal Miah said a "prospective price to earnings ratio of 24 [times] reflects a business with growth prospects in emerging markets". Reckitt said it had seen "strong growth in China" in the quarter "led by e-commerce".
