Rentokil shares slump 18% on slower North America growth (updated)

Rentokil Initial

30/07/2026 09:29

Adds background and details throughout
July 30 (Reuters) - British pest control firm Rentokil RTO.L on Thursday said second-quarter sales growth in North America slowed sequentially and it had more to do to address its underperformance, sending its shares tumbling almost 18% in early trading.
 Here are some more details:
"We are not delivering on our growth potential in many of the markets we operate in, nor adequately benefiting from our scale," Chief Executive Mike Duffy said.
Inflationary pressures, high interest rates and weak consumer sentiment linked to the Iran war have led Rentokil's customers to scale back spending on routine services.
Last year, Rentokil introduced smaller, strategically-placed service hubs, higher digital marketing and door-to-door services as part of its strategy to tackle weakness in North America.
The company reported organic revenue growth of 3.6% in its largest market in the three months to June 30, down from 3.9% in the first quarter.
"Looking forward, we have seen some weakness in North America Residential lead flow towards the end of the second quarter and into July," Duffy said.
Still, Rentokil said full-year profit would meet market expectations.
"Given the comments on lead flow exiting the quarter, we expect confidence in (full year) outlook to reduce," J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note.
Rentokil's results echoed troubles at U.S. rival Rollins ROL.N, which last week fell short of Wall Street estimates for its second quarter.
Shares of the London-listed company were down 17.7% at £3.65 as of 0810 GMT, on track for their worst day since September 2024 if losses hold.

 (Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
 ((Neeshita.Beura@thomsonreuters.com))