By Michael SusinReckitt Benckiser profit fell on one-off impairments as sales missed market expectations, but the company raised its dividend payout. The consumer-goods company--which houses Dettol, Harpic and Durex among its brands--on Wednesday reported pretax profit for 2023 of 2.40 billion pounds ($3.04 billion), compared with GBP3.07 billion in the year-earlier period. Adjusted operating profit--which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was GBP3.37 billion compared with GBP3.44 billion a year ago. Revenue came in at GBP14.61 billion compared with GBP14.45 billion the prior year. The board declared an interim dividend of 192.5 pence a share, compared with 183.3 pence declared the previous year.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 28, 2024 09:02 UTC