Preliminary financial results for the year ending 31 December 2013 were released by Rentokil on 28 February 2014. These showed fourth quarter pre-tax profits rising by a massive 760% to £28.4m. In addition, the sale of Initial Facilities to Interserve was announced.
Rentokil is to sell its Initial Facilities unit to Interserve for £250m in cash. This will, says Rentokil’s chief executive, Andy Ransom, allow the company to focus on its core services of pest control, hygiene and workwear.
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Adrian Ringrose, chief executive of Interserve, said: “We believe that this acquisition will deliver significant strategic progress in growing one of our core businesses and will make us a top three player by revenue in the UK facilities services market.” The company announced on 29 April 2013 the sale of its loss-making parcels division, City Link, to Better Capital – see here. |
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For the 2013 full year, Rentokil said pre-tax profits rose 13.2% to £121.9m on revenues of £2.3bn against £2.2bn a year earlier. Read more on the full preliminary results. Rentokil is to focus on its three core categories of pest control, hygiene and workwear. Together they comprise 66% of group revenue and have delivered 81% of revenue growth and 85% of profit growth over the last three years. Shared operational synergies include the fact that they are people-serviced, route-based and organised around a branch network. Rentokil Pest Control is the lead category accounting for 35.1% of group revenues. In the report it says, the pest control sector has leading positions in most markets including Europe, Asia and Pacific and is using pest operations as a vehicle for entering new markets e.g. emerging economies of Brazil and Turkey. It is capitalising on North American growth opportunity (currently region’s No.3) to enhance national accounts infrastructure. The report declares the company is pursuing a strategy of growth through carefully targeted acquisitions and purchased a number of bolt-ons in the pest control, workwear, hygiene and plants categories during 2013. In pest control, 12 businesses in the UK (Green Compliance in December 2013 being one – see here), Norway, Portugal, French Guyana, Brazil, North America and Canada and entered into a joint venture with an eminent local partner in Saudi Arabia. This year to date Rentokil has accelerated its merger & acquisition ambitions with the acquisition of a further seven pest control companies in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Italy and North America. If you own a pest control business and are thinking of selling-up and retiring to warmer climes, now maybe your moment! |
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