Reckitt's confident quarter helps boost shares

By David Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Reckitt Benckiser (RB.L), the world's biggest household cleaning goods maker, on Monday gave an upbeat forecast for its second half as it matched top end forecasts with an 11 percent rise in second-quarter profit.

The maker of Cillit Bang cleaner, Finish/Calgonit dishwash products and Lysol disinfectants said it had seen no sign of trading down to cheap products, adding that price rises and cost cuts would more than offset commodity price increases.

With second-quarter net revenue and net profit growing 11 percent, Chief Executive Bart Becht said in a conference call he expected the group to at least match its 10-11 percent annual revenue growth and was on track to meet its 11 percent net profit growth, both at constant exchanges.

Becht said his outlook for the second-half reflected his annual targets, which he had nudged higher at the first-quarter stage, and he expected volume growth to increase in the second-half helped by the acquisition of U.S. cough and congestion products group Adams earlier this year.

He said prices would rise around 2.5 percent this year, with the rest of revenue growth coming from volume increases.

Reckitt shares rose 1.5 percent to 25.69 pounds by 8:30 a.m. after hitting 26.40 pounds, reflecting its confidence after sector nervousness caused by French cosmetics group L'Oreal (OREP.PA) cutting its full year growth outlook early this month.

Reckitt shares have outperformed the FTSE 100 index .FTSE by around 5 percent so far this year, but have experienced weakness since the start of June this year.

The group posted adjusted net profit for the April-June quarter of 240 million pounds, at the top of a forecast range from 229 million to 240 million and an average of 235 million pounds.