FTSE 100 shares round-up: Rentokil, Reckitt Benckiser, Admiral

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Rentokil Initial (LSE:RTO) and Admiral Group (LSE:ADM) today provided the cheer in a session when the FTSE 100 index gave up early gains and Reckitt Benckiser Group (LSE:RKT) lost ground after posting results.

A poor start to trading on Wall Street meant the blue-chip benchmark reached mid-afternoon 70.14 points lower at 10,497.51, which compared with 10,636 in the first hour of trading.

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Fears over the inflationary impact of the Middle East conflict weighed on sentiment after Wednesday’s improved session, particularly with Brent crude 3% higher at $84 a barrel.

Interest rate-sensitive stocks including Barratt Redrow (LSE:BTRW) and Land Securities Group (LSE:LAND) featured among the fallers as the UK’s 10-year gilt yield climbed back towards 4.5%.

The biggest FTSE 100 faller was Reckitt Benckiser, which reversed 448p to 5,602p after the Strepsils, Mucinex and Nurofen business highlighted the first-quarter impact of a weaker cold and flu season. Rival Haleon (LSE:HLN) provided similar commentary in its results last week.

Reckitt’s guidance for the year as a whole remains in line with medium-term ambitions for the core business to grow revenues by 4%-5%.

Today’s 2025 results showed growth of 5.2% on a like-for-like basis, including a faster-than-expected acceleration to 5.9% in the final three months.

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The strong end to the year was driven by double-digit growth in China and India, offset by a sales decline in Europe and a below-forecast improvement in North America.

Reckitt said it had returned £2.3 billion to shareholders in 2025, which included £900 million via its share buyback programme. A final dividend of 127.8p is due to be paid on 12 June, which lifts the total for the year by 5% to 212.2p a share.

On 20 February, Reckitt returned £1.6 billion through a special dividend of 235p a share. This one-off payment related to proceeds from the sale of its Essential Home business to Advent International and was accompanied by a 24-for-25 share consolidation.

The shares last week set a two-year high of 6,512p, having rallied from April’s 4,826p.

Rentokil Initial shares led the FTSE 100 by some distance today after annual results highlighted further progress by the company’s North American pest control business. 

Presenting his last set of results before stepping down as chief executive, Andy Ransom said: “It is encouraging to see the strategic initiatives we put in place at the start of this year driving an improved performance.

“There is still more to do, building on this progress, to fully realise the potential of this business.”

Organic revenues growth in the company’s largest trading region lifted 3.6% in the fourth quarter, up from the previous quarter’s 3.4% and 0.7% in the first three months of the year.

With profits for the year up 4% on an adjusted basis to $876 million, shares rallied 11% or 45.7p to 471.2p. They were 309.5p last April.

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Admiral shares rose 200p to 3,060p after the insurer beat City forecasts with a 16% rise in annual profit to £957.9 million.

The company said UK Motor delivered an exceptional performance with more than £1 billion of profit, while its other UK personal lines, Admiral Money and European motor operations together generated nearly £100 million of profit.

A final dividend equivalent to 65% of post-tax profits of 72.8p and a special dividend of 17.2p a share are due to be paid on 5 June, which compares with last year’s combined figure of 121p.

It added that more than 13,000 staff will each receive free share awards worth up to £1,800.

A change in its capital allocation policy means that the return of earnings not required to be held for solvency buffers is likely to be through a buy back this year rather than special dividend.

Admiral also announced a refreshed strategy that aims for higher earnings per share growth through the cycle than its previous 2020-25 compound growth rate of 7.6%.

Since unveiling its 2020 strategy, Admiral has grown turnover by 87%, profit by 56% and customer numbers by 58%. It has returned £3.2 billion of capital to shareholders.