Accelerating growth at Reckitt Benckiser has helped the consumer health and household giant bounce back from a weak winter season.
Like-for-like growth in its 11 ‘Core Reckitt’ power brands swelled to 4.2% in the quarter to 30 June 2026, up from 1.3% in the first quarter.
Core Reckitt volumes were up by three percentage points quarter-on-quarter, and grew 2% compared to the same quarter in the prior year.
“The strategic choices we have made are strengthening our execution,” said CEO Kris Licht.
“The strength of our powerbrands and strong consumer response to our recent innovations underpin these results.”
All areas of the business delivered stronger like-for-like sales performances, but the group’s emerging markets division stood out with 9.4% growth in the quarter. Its Europe division – which like Reckitt’s other geographic divisions does not include Core Reckitt – improved from -3% to -1.5%, and North America returned to growth in the quarter at 2.8%.
Reckitt took £6.2bn in sales in the half overall, with like-for-like sales up 2.6%. Adjusted operating profit in its Core Reckitt and Mead Johnson Nutrition business – which Reckitt is considering selling – fell 15% to £1.5bn in the half, at a margin of 23.6%.
The company said it continued to expect its margin to fall between 24.9% and 25.6% for the full year. It said a more favourable mix, higher pricing and continued cost mitigation would help it reach its guidance.
Reckitt has been aided in this by a more moderate impact of oil prices on its bottom line than it had anticipated. In Q1, it had outlined a scenario where oil prices remained above $110 for the remainder of 2026, which would have indicated a £130m-£150m impact on its input cost base.
“While still volatile, oil prices have moderated since then and we currently expect a reduced input cost impact in 2026. We continue to view this as a manageable headwind and are taking actions to mitigate the impact,” Reckitt said.
Licht added: “Our Fuel for Growth programme is reducing fixed costs, driving efficiency and providing us with greater capacity to invest. We are focused on delivering our plan for the second half of the year and reiterate our full year 2026 expectations.”
Reckitt’s return to stronger growth was welcomed by analysts, particularly thanks to the 2% bump in volumes, which was more than twice that expected.
Bernstein analyst Callum Elliott anticipated a positive share price reaction – an expectation borne out in morning trading, which saw shares jump 4.4%.
Prior to the update, Reckitt’s shares had been among the weakest performers in EU staples, with challenging scanner data “spooking even bulls”.
“We expect that this positive surprise should be enough to drive a nice share price reaction today,” he added.
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