Rentokil quarterly revenue rises on strong pest control demand

(Reuters) - Britain's Rentokil Initial posted a more than 10% jump in third-quarter ongoing revenue on Thursday, as reopening of businesses following easing of COVID-19 restrictions boosted demand for its pest control services.

As vaccinations across the world gather pace and restrictions are lifted in the United States as well as in Europe, its core pest control services are re-emerging as the company's main performance driver.

During the pandemic's peak last year, Rentokil's pest control division was hit from businesses being shut, and the company focused on expanding its hygiene segment to more countries as the health crisis prompted demand for cleaning products and services.

"We have delivered a strong performance from our core businesses in the quarter and are confident of sustaining this momentum for the remainder of the year," Chief Executive Officer Andy Ransom said.

Rentokil, which offers hand soaps, sanitizers, deep cleaning and pest control services, however, said all its divisions bore the brunt of lockdowns and movement restrictions in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The company said ongoing revenue, excluding disinfection segment, for the three months to September rose to 750.2 million pounds ($1.04 billion) due to a strong performance in North America, despite virus-induced labour shortages in the quarter.

The London-listed company, which operates in 81 countries and has more than 1,800 local service teams across the world, also confirmed its full-year forecast citing its quarterly performance and progress on some merger and acquisition deals.

($1 = 0.7238 pounds)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni in Gdansk and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)