A sinking ship
The hostile takeover of rival BET in 1996 fashioned the newly named Rentokil Initial into a complex collection of businesses in hygiene, security, pest control, tropical plants, conferencing, parcels delivery and facilities management. For a while, Sir Clive's chosen measure of success, EPS, held up, helped by a spot of acquisition accounting. But he had flown too close to the sun. Now, hoist by his own hubris and fighting the law of diminishing returns, he began to sail too close to the wind.