Business
Q4 2020 Acquisitions and Trading Update
Q4 2020 Acquisitions and Trading Update.
About this update from Rentokil Initial Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n RNS Number : 0002L\n Rentokil Initial PLC\n 08 January 2021\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 8 January 2021\n \n \n Rentokil Initial plc - Q4 2020 Acquisitions and Trading Update \n \n \n A very strong end to the year for M&A in our key North America pest control market with continued strong trading boosted by momentum in disinfection services\n \n \n Rentokil Initial plc (FTSE: RTO, \"the Company\") announces today the acquisition of Environmental Pest Service ('EPS'), a full-service, commercial and residential pest control company based in Tampa, Florida. \n \n \n EPS was ranked 15th in the PCT Magazine 2020 Top 100 listing of leading US pest control companies and generated annualised revenues of c.$82m (£60m) in 2020. EPS employs c.640 people (of which 386 are in service roles) in 30 branches across four separate regions: East Florida; West Florida; North Georgia; and North Carolina. It has two brand names, Arrow Environmental and Bug Out. \n \n \n In addition to the acquisition of EPS, we have acquired a further eight high quality pest control companies in North America in Q4, with combined annualised revenues of c.$62m (c.£48m) in 2020. \n \n \n Total acquisitions in 2020 \n \n \n For the full year ended 31 December 2020, we have acquired 23 new businesses, with annualised revenues of over £150m, for a cash spend of c.£180\n m (of which c.£150m was in H2). This excludes the \n consideration for EPS which was paid at the beginning of January 2021. \n \n \n Announcement of Preliminary Results and Updated Guidance for 2020 \n \n \n Rentokil Initial plc will announce its 2020 Preliminary results on Thursday, 4 March. In our Q3 Trading Statement last October, we indicated that despite continued uncertainty across our business as a result of the ongoing pandemic, we were hopeful of being able to maintain the momentum we had seen in Q3 into the fourth quarter which would result in an outcome for the full year at least in line with expectations. Trading across both our Hygiene and Pest Control categories has continued to be strong in Q4 - primarily reflecting continued strong sales from one-off disinfection services - and we now expect the final outcome for the year to be slightly above the top end of the range of current market expectations for Adjusted PBTA*....