Dettol-owner Reckitt to sell brands amid drop in profit
Dettol-owner Reckitt has confirmed it will sell brands in its home care and nutrition division in order to focus on its ‘power brands’.
The FMCG giant plans to offload popular essential home brands such as Air Wick, Calgon and Cillit Bang – which posted a net revenue of £1.9bn in the 2023 – by the end of 2025.
It will also sell infant formula brand Mead Johnson, alongside Enfamil and Nutramigen, although no date has been allocated for this transaction.
Earlier this year, its shares plunged £7bn ($9.3bn) after a US court ruled that the FMCG had to pay £47.1m ($60m) to a mother whose baby died consuming Enfamil Premature 24.
It is thought that the verdict might act a gateway for the several hundred similar claims that have already been filed in US court against Enfamil.
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Reckitt’s restructuring will see it focus on its “high-growth and high-margin power brands”, including Strepsils, Gaviscon, Nurofen, Lysol, Dettol, Finish, Vanish, Durex and Veet. With time, its new Powerbrands portfolio is expected to be updated with “important local hero brands” including Lemsip and Airbourne.
It said the decision was aimed at ensuring it focuses “capital against brands that offer the best long-term opportunity for growth”.
Chief executive officer Kris Licht said: “Today we announce an important step forward to firmly establish Reckitt as a world-class consumer health and hygiene company, with one of the strongest growth and margin profiles in the industry.
“Our core portfolio of market-leading Powerbrands and simpler, more effective organisation position us to better serve our consumers and customers. This will deliver attractive long-term value creation for Reckitt’s shareholders through our earnings model and cash returns.”
The FMCG unveiled its 2024 half-year results this morning, where operating profit fell 4.9% to £1.7bn despite its like-for-like net sales up 0.8% on an adjusted basis. It expects “short-term disruption” to its nutrition business due to the Mount Vernon tornado earlier this month, and has cut its net revenue growth outlook for the year to between 1% and 3%.
The tornado caused “significant damage” to a US warehouse storing Enfamil product. The London-listed company at the time that it expected its “comprehensive property damage and business interruption insurance” to “largely offset the impact” on sales.
Reckitt expects to make the up the £150m lost revenue and “short-term disruption” caused by the tornado by 2025.



