Reckitt Benckiser chairman to retire in 2018

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Sept 19 (Reuters) - Reckitt Benckiser Group Chairman Adrian Bellamy will retire at its annual general meeting after 14 years in the post, the British consumer goods maker said on Tuesday.

The company, which makes Lysol disinfectants and Durex condoms, will hold the AGM in May, a spokeswoman said.

Christopher Sinclair, who has served on the board since 2015, will take on the role of non-executive chairman at that time, the company said.

Sinclair, who has worked at PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP - news) , is currently executive chairman of the board at toymaker Mattel Inc (NasdaqGS: MAT - news) .

Reckitt Benckiser (Xetra: A0M1W6 - news) said Sinclair's "extensive track record in developing trusted consumer brands around the world and deep experience in emerging markets" make him "ideally suited" to lead the next phase of the company's future.

The company said in July that it expects muted sales growth this year, after June's global cyber attack exacerbated ongoing difficulties at the consumer goods company.

Reckitt Benckiser had been struggling for months with fallout from a collapse of its business in South Korea and a failed Scholl product launch last year.

During Sinclair's time as chief of PepsiCo's food and beverage unit, he led a transformation of the business that saw it double in size, Reckitt Benckiser said.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Reckitt Benckiser, which have fallen 9.2 percent over the last six months, were down 0.6 percent at 6789 pence at 0802 GMT, lagging London's blue chip index which was up 0.08 percent.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely)