Reckitt Benckiser 2017 Pretax Up on Revenue Growth

By Carlo Martuscelli

Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC's (RB.LN) pretax profit rose 11% in 2017 as revenue increased 21%.

The consumer-goods company posted pretax profit of 2.50 billion pounds ($3.51 billion) compared with GBP2.25 billion in 2016. Revenue was GBP11.51 billion, it said Monday.

Reckitt Benckiser met its guidance, which was revised downward over the course of the year, of flat like-for-like sales. Revenue was helped by a weaker pound as well as merger-and-acquisition activity, it said.

The company said it expects revenue growth of between 13% and 14% in 2018, translating to between 2% and 3% growth on a like-for-like basis.

"Whilst 2018 will see some specific factors impacting margin, we reiterate our medium-term target of moderate operating-margin expansion," it said.

Reckitt Benckiser raised its dividend to 97.7 pence per share, up from 95 pence in 2016.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2018 02:39 ET (07:39 GMT)

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