LONDON: The across the region growth has helped Reckitt Benckiser Group increase its sales in first quarter.
The British company has beaten the analysts’ expectations, and provided more evidence that the consumer goods sector is moving past some of the troubles it saw in 2014 when a slowdown in emerging markets crimped demand for everything from soup to soap.
The maker of Mucinex cold medicine and other goods said sales rose 1 percent to 2.22 billion pounds ($3.34 billion) in the first quarter.
Sales rose 5 percent on a like-for-like basis, which excludes the impact of currency, acquisitions, disposals and discontinued operations. Analysts on average had been expecting growth of 3.9 percent, according to analysts at Bernstein.
Like-for-like sales rose 3 percent in North America, helped by a strong flu season. Sales rose 6 percent in developing markets, helped by improvements in India, partially offset by weakness in Brazil. Reckitt said it was on track to meet its full-year goals for 4 percent like-for-like sales growth and “moderate to nice” operating margin expansion.
