Rentokil Initial plc (RTO) Q2 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you all for joining us today online. In a few moments Paul will provide you with details of our financial and regional performance for the six months ended 30th of June. I'll then come back to provide a brief update on our markets and businesses before we focus on North America and then take any questions. Please do note that to ask a question today, you will need to dial the separate conference call number shown on the right hand side of this chart. Details are also in today's R&S. So let me just start with a high level summary of the first half. Our performance was in line with expectations, with revenues at a group level increasing by 3.1% to $3.36 billion, and with organic growth of 1.6%. Our international region delivered organic growth of 2.7%, and in North America, organic growth was 1.1%, increasing from 0.7% in the first quarter to 1.4% in the second. We delivered group-adjusted PBT of $418 million and a group operating margin of 15.2%, 120 basis points lower than in the same period last year, reflecting the anticipated year-on-year reduction in North America. Cash flow conversion was healthy and the divestment of our French workwear operations remains on track for around the end of Q3. Now, Paul will cover all of this in more detail shortly. Moving on to North America, on the right-hand side, at the time of our prelims in March, we outlined a number of priorities for this year aimed at improving our inbound lead flow. In particular, we've adjusted our marketing tactics to put greater emphasis on non-paid or organic lead generation. And in the second quarter, we began to use a fuller suite of marketing tactics. We continued to enhance our customer proximity and local visibility. For example, to get improved results...