Tag Archives: Reckitt Benckiser

News, Politics, Government

London shares steady, consolidating gains

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London shares closed flat on Friday as higher inflation data in the US restrained confidence after Thursday’s strong rise, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index shed gains posted earlier in the day to close just 1.53 points or 0.02 percent higher at 6,544.94 points.

US producer prices rose more than expected in June, the second straight month of increases led by higher energy costs, government data released Friday showed.

The Labor Department said its producer price index rose 0.8 percent in June. The PPI index had climbed 0.5 percent in May after two months of declines.

“Global markets continued to trade flatly today as investors opted to cash in on recent highs. In addition, with the low volumes observed within the markets today it also seems investors are starting their weekend a little early,” said Shavaz Dhalla, a financial trader at Spreadex.

“It seems the markets will need a lot more to dislodge the faith investors seem to have towards equities at the moment. Investors could enjoy this weekend and wake up to the start of the European reporting season with an optimistic mind-set,” Dhalla said.

Fund manager Resolution led the London gainers, climbing 3.41 percent to 318.50 pence, while microchip specialist Arm Holdings added 3.22 percent to 897 pence.

Broadcaster ITV put on 2.53 percent to 157.90 pence and engineer GKN rose 2.51 percent to 334.90 pence.

Miners were weak, shedding much of Thursday’s gains sparked by rises on metals markets. Fresnillo fell 3.63 percent to 981 pence and Anglo American lost 3.18 pence to 1,294.50 pence.

Biggest faller was household products group Reckitt Benckiser, down 5.11 percent at 4,677 pence.

On the currency markets, sterling was steady at $1.5107 at 5:22 pm versus $1.5118 on Thursday evening but weakened once more against the single European currency, easing to 1.1581 euros from 1.1601 euros the previous night.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Coffee Gets a Hot Dose of New Competition

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By Andrew Marder, The Motley Fool

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The world is getting smaller, or at least more connected. In an odd reversal of business, it seems more and more brands are being consolidated under one big owner — almost the way it was in the early part of the 20th century. Yesterday, another massive company slipped under the waves, when D.E. Master Blenders agreed to sell itself off to Joh. A. Benckiser, or JAB.

Never heard of JAB or Master Blenders, you say? That’s not really surprising, as both are European companies. But even if you don’t know them, you know their work, and with this purchase, you might know their wrath.

The Continental Congress
JAB is a sort of multiheaded beast of an investment arm, which buys and holds companies for the Reimann family. The Reimanns, in turn, are wealthy — about $20 billion net worth  — heirs to a chemical company fortune. JAB is a private investment arm, which works on its own and through three other vehicles:

  • Coty is a majority-owned beauty product company, which produces Calvin Klein, Adidas, and other designer perfumes.
  • Reckitt Benckiser is a home-products company, which manages dozens of brands, including Air Wick, Clearasil, and Old English in the United States.
  • The LABELUX Group owns Jimmy Choo and Bally and focuses on high-end fashion

The most recent buying spree has come from the root company, JAB. In the past year, it has purchased Peet’s Coffee and Tea for $975 million, Caribou Coffee for $340 million, and now Master Blenders for $9.8 billion. In less than one year, the company has amassed a multibillion-dollar global coffee position.

This is where we look out
That’s a good reason to be worried, if you’re an investor in Starbucks or Green Mountain Coffee Roasters or really any major coffee company. Master Blenders‘ main line is a brand called Douwe Egberts, which used to be served in Burger King until the company signed with Seattle’s Best, a Starbucks brand.

So far, JAB has said that it’s not planning to combine the operations of its three new brands. Instead it plans to keep the American coffee shop companies doing their thing, and the European production arm doing its thing. But Master Blenders does have the ability to make pods to go up against Green Mountain and others, and if it wanted to, the company could use that capability to make a move in the American market.

It could also move against Starbucks, by using its European production capabilities to bring new lines to the U.S., or by using its U.S. cafe brands to bring new competition to Starbucks in Europe. No matter what JAB does, it’s almost certainly going to present new challenges for U.S. coffee brands in the future. Investors should watch for any new business lines from JAB and keep an eye out for more acquisitions in the near future.

With Green Mountain as cheap as it’s ever been, many investors are wondering whether

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/coffee-gets-a-hot-dose-of-new-competition/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Should You Buy Reckitt Benckiser Today?

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By Royston Wild, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — I believe that shares in Reckitt Benckiser  are vastly overpriced and are overdue for a weighty correction. The stock has risen 19% since the turn of the year, and currently trades at a 35% premium to Canaccord Genuity‘s 3,425 pence target price.

The firm is a giant in the household cleaning product and non-prescription health-care space and whose global brands include Dettol, Clearasil, Nurofen, and Durex, among others. But in my opinion, its loss of exclusivity on its Suboxone drug — which is used to combat narcotics addiction — could harm revenues moving forward and sour investor appetite for the company.

Rivals gear up for assault
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) halted Reckitt Benckiser‘s patent on the anti-addiction product, a move that will herald the entry of cheaper, generic rivals to the Suboxone brand and harm sales over the medium to long term. Suboxone tablet sales in the U.S. represented around 5% of the firm’s total revenues last year, while film made up closer to 10% of group turnover.

Indeed, BioDelivery Sciences International announced last month that it plans to file an NDA with the FDA for its Bunavail film by July, which is considered a massive threat to Suboxone moving forward. It reckons that the new film could grab between 25% and 35% of the branded market, and plans to launch the product next year.

Earnings pressure set to materialize
Broker Liberum Capital expects earnings per share (EPS) to nudge 1% lower in 2013 to 262 pence, before the effect of falling Suboxone revenues drive EPS 4% lower to 252 pence. The company currently trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.7 and 18.5 for this year and next, trading at a premium to a forward earnings multiple of 14.5 for the wider household goods and home construction sector.

Reckitt Benckiser has steadily built the dividend in recent years — 2012’s 134 pence shareholder payout was up 7% from the previous year — but yields are expected to remain around the 3.3% FTSE 100 average over the medium term. A figure of 3.1% and 3.3% are expected by Liberum’s analysts in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

These prospective payments provide coverage just below the safety watermark of two times for these years, although I believe that the effect of falling earnings could cast doubt on the progress of its dividend policy moving forward.

The prescription for plump returns
Although Reckitt Benckiser presents too much risk in my opinion, check out this newly updated special report that highlights a host of other FTSE winners identified by ace fund manager Neil Woodford.

Woodford — head of U.K. Equities at Invesco Perpetual — has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, and has identified two other fantastic pharmaceutical specialists in the report set to deliver spectacular investor returns.

The report, compiled by The Motley Fool’s crack team of analysts, is totally free and comes with no further obligation. Click here now to download your copy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 Shares to Survive the Cyprus Aftershock

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By Tony Reading, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — It’s getting tiresome, but once again the eurozone is threatening markets. Shares wobbled last week but just held on after an 11th-hour deal to “rescue” Cyprus was agreed. The wobble showed that the confidence powering markets up this year is fragile. If Cyprus hadn’t secured funding from the “troika” of the IMF, the EU, and the ECB, then stocks would have plunged.

The snowball keeps rolling
That’s worrying, because the Cyprus deal has stored up more trouble ahead. It has loaded the country with debt and simultaneously trashed its financial sector, the mainstay of its GDP. Capital controls mean a euro in Cyprus isn’t the same as a euro in Germany, and confidence in Southern Europe‘s banks has been undermined.

What should investors do? It’s too much of a bunker mentality to just put your money in a (non-eurozone) bank. Europe will probably muddle through, and 2013 could be a great year to be in the market.

Safety first
But I think there’s a good case for having a slug of safe shares that would survive a euro blow-up. They are shares that:

  • Have low exposure to the eurozone.
  • Aren’t exposed to the financial sector.
  • Are in defensive sectors.
  • Have growth prospects.

Here are three I have picked.

1. Tesco
Tesco has lost its halo, but it’s repairing past mistakes. The U.K.’s economy is vulnerable to events in Europe, but Tesco’s 30% share of the grocery market makes it resilient. It’s not short of ideas for growth, from coffee shops in the U.K. to online sales in China.

2. Centrica
British Gas, Centrica‘s downstream utility, is well insulated from economic turmoil. Last week’s bad weather exposed the U.K.’s shortage of gas storage, and the Government’s “dash for gas” is sure to benefit Centrica’s upstream gas-production business.

3. Unilever
Strong brands and the indispensible nature of Unilever‘s personal-care and health care products give it its defensive characteristics. Expansion in emerging markets provides growth. A quarter of Unilever’s sales come from Europe, but that’s lower than for Reckitt Benckiser.

Boring is good
Two of my three picks are included in “Five Shares To Retire On,” a brand-new report from the Motley Fool. It describes a mix of five solid (some might say boring) shares in diverse sectors that could form the core of a portfolio — shares that you can tuck away and not have to watch every day.

Whether you’re saving for retirement or building an investment portfolio for any other reason, it’s sensible to have some solid, dependable core holdings. To find out which of my three picks made the grade and discover the identity of the other three stocks, you can download the report straight to your inbox. Just click here — it’s free.

The article 3 Shares to Survive the Cyprus Aftershock originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Tony Reading owns shares …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 FTSE 100 Shares Hitting New Highs

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The FTSE 100 broke its record again today, reaching a 52-week intraday high of 6,489 points — though by 10:10 a.m. EST it had fallen back to 6,463 for a 0.38% gain. That takes the index of the U.K.’s biggest companies up 10% over the past 12 months.

And there are individual constituents of the index that have far exceeded that achievement. Here are three that are breaking new ground today.

Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser shares opened on a new 52-week high of 4,642 pence today before dropping back to 4,601 pence. Shares in the consumer products giant have soared by 30% over the past 12 months, which is quite remarkable for a 33 billion pound FTSE 100 giant, and they’re now on a forward P/E of 17.5 based on December 2013 forecasts.

That might seem a bit high for a company paying a mediocre dividend of about 3%, especially as there is no earnings growth expected this year and only a modest 6% forecast for the year ending December 2014.

Unilever
Speaking of consumer products, Unilever shares have also been flying, hitting a fresh high of 2,738 pence today. The shares are currently on a price of 2,727 pence, which is 0.5% up on the day. And Unilever, which has a higher market cap than Reckitt Benckiser at 35 billion pounds, has enjoyed an even greater share-price rise, up 32% over the year.

Unilever’s shares are also on a higher prospective valuation, with forecasts for December this year indicating a P/E of 19 — although the predicted dividend yield, at 3.2%, is slightly higher. Whether these two shares are too highly priced is an interesting question, but the sector does not look like a screaming bargain right now.

WPP
Shares in advertising giant WPP are continuing their recent climb, reaching another new high of 1,096 pence today before falling back to 1,088 pence. And that’s yet another 30% rise over the past year, with effectively all of it coming since November. Record results reported on March 1 provided more of a boost.

Forecasts put WPP shares on a more modest valuation than our other two today, with a P/E of less than 14 in the cards for the year to December 2013, dropping to 12.5 based on 2014 forecasts. And dividend predictions suggest respective yields of 3% and 3.3% for the two years.

Dividends can add nicely to your investment returns — they can be spent or reinvested according to your needs. Whether you’re investing for income or growth, good old cash is always welcome. And that’s why I recommend the brand-new Fool report “The Motley Fool’s Top Income Share For 2013,” in which our top analysts identify a share they believe will provide handsome dividend income for years to come. But it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

10 Shares Trading Near 52-Week Highs

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By David O’Hara, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — You know it’s a bull market when 46 companies in the FTSE 100 are trading within 3% of their high for the year.

Here are the 10 of those 46.

Company

Price (pence)

P/E (2013 forecast)

Yield (2013 forecast)

Market Cap (millions of pounds)

HSBC

728

10.8

4.5%

134,000

Unilever

2,657

18.9

3.2%

75,266

British American Tobacco

3,508

15.4

4.2%

67,721

SABMiller

3,325

20.8

2%

53,031

Diageo

1,972

19.2

2.4%

49,478

Reckitt Benckiser

4,501

17.3

3%

32,372

Tesco

370

11.6

4%

29,708

National Grid

725

13.4

5.7%

26,376

Prudential

987

12.8

3%

25,222

Centrica

355

12.8

4.9%

18,450

Five stood out in particular.

1. Unilever
Consumer brands companies are prominent in my top 10, and Unilever owns some of the foremost food and domestic brands. The Anglo-Dutch giant is behind Lynx, Domestos, Magnum, and Hellmann’s. These brands and their recognition with consumers means that Unilever products sell in large numbers. This gives Unilever economies of scale, meaning that the company can make a larger percentage profit at the same retail price. Pricing is helped further by the fact that, to many retailers, Unilever’s products are “must stock” items.

Unilever shares are not just at a high for the year; they currently trade at an all-time high.

With 1.77 euros in earnings per share forecast for 2014, Unilever shares trade at a premium to the rest of the market. However, that premium is well justified. I would not be surprised if the shares continued to make new highs in 2013.

2. Diageo
Just like Unilever, Diageo owns brands that shops and bars must stock, e.g., Smirnoff, Guinness, Captain Morgan, Baileys, and Jose Cuervo, to name a few.

Similar to Unilever’s, Diageo shares have also been making new highs recently. In the last year, the shares are up 31.1%. So far in 2013, they have advanced 10.4%. That’s a pretty sharp rise for a 50 billion pound blue chip. The share price movement at Diageo shows that it is possible to make big, quick returns on large caps.

For 2013 and 2014, earnings growth at an average rate of 10.8% a year is forecast. Dividend growth is expected at a similar rate. With the forecast 2013 yield on the shares now down to 2.4%, some investors are worrying that Diageo has become overpriced.

3. SABMiller
There’s not much between SABMiller and Diageo. Like Diageo, SABMiller owns big beer brands: Grolsch, Peroni, Pilsner Urquell, and Miller Genuine Draft are just four.

Like Diageo’s, SABMiller shares trade at an all-time high. The shares are also on a high valuation: The 2014 price-to-earnings ratio is 18.5, with a forecast yield of 2.3%. SABMiller is forecast to grow earnings and dividends faster than Diageo. For the next two years, 13.8% in average annual EPS growth is expected. This is forecast to be met by dividend per share growth of 11.6% per year.

There is little point agonizing between SABMiller and Diageo. If you are happy to pay the premiums that the market is demanding, just buy both.

4. Reckitt Benckiser
Like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser owns a portfolio of household name brands. Harpic, Calgon, and Dettol are all Reckitt Benckiser products. The company also owns Brasso, Gaviscon, and Mr Sheen.

The strength of RB‘s brands has helped the company to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Reckitt Benckiser bets on being a better business

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By Francis Vorhies, Contributor Jennifer Duran, Global Sustainability Manager at Reckitt Benckiser (RB), is on a mission to make RB a better business. In a conversation with her just before the Christmas holidays, I learned about how this maker of many well-known household brands – such as Air Wick, Calgon, Clearasil, Dettol, Durex, Finish, […]
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest