Reckitt Shares Fall After Weak Sales for Cold and Flu Products — Update

By Aimee Look

Shares in Reckitt Benckiser slid after sales in Europe and North America reflected a less severe cold-and-flu season.

The British consumer goods giant, which makes Mucinex cold medicine, Durex condoms and Lysol, reported 3.25 billion pounds ($4.39 billion) in net revenue for the first quarter, compared with 3.68 billion pounds the year prior.

Company-compiled analysts' estimates forecast 3.19 billion pounds in reported net revenue, and 1.6% like-for-like growth.

Shares fell 5.9% in early London trading.

Reckitt said a weak cold-and-flu season caused a decline in net revenue in Europe, following a previous statement that there would be continued challenges with performance in the region. Like-for-like net revenue in Europe declined 4.2% for the quarter, and the group's over-the-counter business like-for-like sales experienced a double-digit fall.

"Weakness in cold/flu had been widely telegraphed by the management team over the past couple of months, but it appears that the magnitude of the pressure was still underappreciated," Bernstein analysts wrote in a note to clients.

However, like-for-like net revenue for the group grew 0.6%, and it surged 7.6% in emerging markets.

Reckitt maintained its net revenue guidance for the year at 4% to 5% growth for its core business, but said it faced a 200 basis-point hit to the metric related to changes in Russian sanctions. The additional headwinds from Russia might prompt investor questions around Reckitt's ability to meet its guidance targets, the analysts said.

Write to Aimee Look at aimee.look@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 22, 2026 05:09 ET (09:09 GMT)