I guess it depends how old you are whether brands such as Harpic, Vanish, Dettol and Finish have a lot more relevance for you than Durex or baby food ones, but at least the FTSE 100’s Reckitt (RKT) has a bunch of interesting global brands. I last loved the stock up just over four months ago and since then it has gone almost perfectly sideways. What are the group’s prospects like for 2023 (and beyond)?

I guess I have been a professional analyst and investor for the last twenty-six years, but obviously as a buy side and not a sell side operator. As I may have said before, I learnt early on that the more I could ignore brokers and do my own research, the better I would do. And that still remains my thought today as I still think, a bit like the academic world, the biggest risk is that you end up knowing more and more about less and less. And that brings us to today’s Q3 update from Reckitt Benckiser (RKT).

On Thursday last week I asked the question “Why has there been a CEO change at Reckitt Benckiser (RKT)?”  observing that the news its “CEO, Laxman Narasimhan will step down as Chief Executive Officer on September 30, 2022” covers many angles.  And whilst “Laxman has decided for personal and family reasons to relocate back to the United States and has been approached for an opportunity that enables him to live there”, we learnt on Friday that - as the Guardian put it - reality was all about “from Slough to Seattle: the challenges facing Starbucks’ new boss”...

Perhaps you are really smart with your investment choices and do your trades from the beach or a luxury yacht. By contrast, I am mostly sat in my study working and thinking. Still, it is less than ten years to go before I can access my pension fund and one stock choice that has helped out over the last week is Reckitt Benckiser (RKT), which I last loved-up a bit over six months ago HERE. So why has a CEO change been announced today?

I am struggling to remember a Wednesday that was as busy for those of us interested in the world of analysis, fund management and macroeconomics matters over the twenty-six years since I started work, as was yesterday. It was all good fun, even if I ended my day listening to the Federal Reserve believing it was very good at looking after American inflation. More about stocks. Like the analytical weirdo I am, I love listening to at least one live conference call every business day. However yesterday, I lost count of the number of calls I listened to and there were a bunch I passed on because I knew I simply did not have time.  First up for me was Reckitt Benckiser (RKT), a company that I mentioned on Tuesday was far more interesting than Unilever (ULVR), which remains very clear after the former’s first half numbers.

Hello Share Players. Despite the Footsie’s lack of progress, quite a few members are posting encouraging numbers. They include Reckitt Benckiser (RKT). In the first half of this year, its like-for-like sales improved by 8.6%. Revenue was up by 2.2% and, more importantly, underlying operating profit increased by a fifth to £1.8 billion.

Hello Share Twiddlers. Reckitt Benckiser (RKT) makes very well-known hygiene products. And during and after Covid there’s more demand for this kind of thing. Among its well-known brands are Lysol and Dettol. The names conjure up in the mind heavy duty attacks on germs. During the hard times we’re encountering at the moment, folks are often tempted to buy cheaper supermarket own makes but such is the strength of Reckitt’s brands this issue doesn't seem to apply to it.

Last October I observed that Reckitt Benckiser (RKT) ‘without working hard offers the scope for a £60-70 share price plus picking up a dividend’. In short a holding in the ‘home to the world’s best loved and trusted hygiene, health and nutrition brands’ group theoretically for FY22 is probably over ten times more interesting than government bonds or money in the bank. How many times a month do you – or someone in your household – use Finish, Dettol, Air Wick, Nurofen, Vanish, Harpic, Calgon or Durex products? My guess is more than once. So what about the shares today post the group’s full year numbers publication?

Like the complete weirdo I am, I do like doing a bit of sector research now and again. I do find it strange that whilst fundamental caution towards fixed income markets still makes a lot of sense, technical (rather than fundamental) bullishness for equity markets seems to have become more important. Typically active management and fundamental investment rationales are akin to one another, as is passive management and technical investment preferences. And then I read that more investors now believe that the S&P 500 – by the end of the year – will not only hit a number of all-time highs above the level achieved in 2017 (62 all-time highs) but also the all-time high of 77 achieved in 1995. No doubt too many of such people are overly excited by Tesla’s market cap reaching $1 trillion and tripling this (or more!) by the end of the decade. As if. Anyhow, back onto stocks I really care about. Three names my pension fund owns have reported today and – very nicely – all are doing rather well (and I think there is more to come).

Hello, Share Strivers. I don’t think I’ve returned to Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) since the virus struck a year ago now. So let’s see if my commendation still holds. The full year figures are as encouraging as you’d expect from a company that does hygiene and health in such a big way. Like-for-like income rose by nearly 12% to £14 billion…

Back in October here I wrote positively about the health and hygiene giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.), noting that an £80+ share price target was not crazy. Back then the shares were just over £70 each but today they are about sixty quid. So what has gone on and has the story changed or not?

Back in July I loved up the health and hygiene giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) and noted ‘my target remains over £80 a share’. Well – let’s face it – it was not too difficult to be optimistic about a company during the time of a huge healthcare concern whose brands include Dettol, Vanish, Air Wick and Harpic…even before you consider Finish, Durex, Gaviscon and Strepsils. You get the gist: Reckitt is a consumer staples giant well-attuned to today’s backdrop. And you can see this in today’s third quarter update…

Hello, Share Takers. I’m beginning to feel like a hygiene nut, but here’s another company that should do well out of fighting the virus. And this time it’s one of the bigger British companies. Reckitt Benckiser (RB.), the Dettol king, is working hard to maximise its involvement with sanitation. For example, it’s set up a special department for helping big clients, like hotels and transport terminals, work out ways of cleaning out the virus from their premises. 

A year ago almost to the day, I observed about health and hygiene company Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) that ‘this one has always been a buy for me in the lower £60s range’. Well despite going via the mid £50s in the early days of the market decline, this has ultimately worked out well as you would expect from a company whose brands include Dettol, Vanish, Nurofen, Finish, Harpic and Durex. Many would have regarded at least one – if not more – of these products as ‘must-haves’ during the darkest days of the pandemic. So no great surprise to see today’s first half numbers being described as showing a ‘strong underlying performance coupled with Covid-19 tailwinds’…

Hello Gang. Though it’s rather uncomfortable to say it, here’s another company that appears to be doing rather well out of the virus outbreak. Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) has given first-quarter numbers, and the net revenue of £3.5 billion is 13% better than the same period a year ago...

It is all about cuts in today's FTSE-100 news. For consumer staples giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) the most striking aspect of today's half-year update is the line 'Full year LFL net revenue target revised to +2-3% (from +3-4%) to reflect the slow start to the year'...

A month or so ago, I noted that Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) was a 'lower £60s buy in anticipation of a share price beginning with a '7' plus some solid dividend wrap-around...and a call option on that full split potential'. The rationale for this was not just the company's range of top products (Vanish, Nurofen, Dettol, Durex, etc.) nor even just potential upcoming split or a recently announced management evolution which I think is overdue. It was also centred on the likely resolution of the company's legacy problems with its ex pharmaceutical unit Indivior (INDV)...

I know the Warren Buffett witticism that you should 'invest in a company that can be run by an idiot...because one day it probably will be' is worryingly close to the truth, but management does matter and there were two good insights in this regard in Wednesday's regulatory news statements…

Hello, Share Revellers. The mission of Slough-based giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) is to bring health and happiness into peoples’ home. This ‘consumer health and hygiene outfit’ does it in 60 countries across the globe. It’s bringing cheer into shareholder portfolios, too. While some Footsie members struggle, this jumbo continues to boost both revenue and profits...

Hello Share Tumblers. As someone who decries the continuing white male domination of Blighty's biggest firms, I'm rather sad to see that the big cheese at Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) is leaving. He's one of a very few top movers in the 100 companies of the Footsie who are not in the dominating WM category. In most of his 8 year tenure as chief executive, Rakesh Kapoor has done great things for the share price. However, in the last three years the shares have underperformed…

Hello Share Mashers. Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) is one of those Great British shares which sometimes misses the radar - but the cautious investor might be attracted. This company, which likes to call itself RB, is sometimes ignored by share critics. And yet it is doing rather well among its Footsie peers.

Shares in fully-listed marketing services company Creston plc (CRE) have not proven a good June 2011 share tip from me. However, a trading update sees the shares trading nearly 4% higher today and the following reviews…