RNS Number:7195S
Rentokil Initial PLC
02 December 2003

News Release

                                                               2nd December 2003

                              Rentokil Initial plc

          Trading Statement for the ten months ended 31st October 2003


James Wilde, Chief Executive of Rentokil Initial, said today:-

"I am pleased to report on the first ten months of this year.

At constant average exchange rates for 2002, turnover from continuing operations
has increased by 5.8% and profits before tax by 4.9% over the first ten months
of last year. These growth rates include the benefit of hyperinflation within
our Parcels Delivery sector. Specifically, by sector, the performance was as
follows:-

Hygiene

Total Hygiene turnover grew by 1.8%.


    Hygiene Services was up by 1.8% in turnover with a small decline in
    operating profits, due to the anticipated indifferent UK Hygiene performance
    during the restructuring period and a disappointing performance in Germany.
    The UK Hygiene restructuring is proceeding as planned, including the launch
    of the new washroom product range in September, which, together with an
    increasing investment in sales management and sales staff, will position the
    division to achieve an increase in the annualised value of contracts during
    2004.

    Pest Control grew turnover by 2.0% with a larger growth in operating profits
    from good performances in the UK, Continental Europe and North America.

Security

    Security increased turnover by 7.5%, driven by an excellent performance in
    North America, in particular in the United States where we continue to grow
    our market share, and good performances in Continental Europe and in the UK.
    Operating profits increased at a faster rate than turnover. I believe our
    new sector management structure has, in particular, contributed towards this
    strong performance.

Facilities Management

    Total Facilities Management turnover grew by 3.0%.

    Facilities Management Services turnover grew 3.4% with strong growth in the
    UK being offset by a poor performance in North America following the loss of
    some large cleaning contracts as reported at the half year. Operating
    profits declined largely as a result of the poor performance in North
    America, and in the UK margin pressure on re-tenders and new contract wins
    continues.

    Tropical Plants turnover declined by 4.2% with a significantly larger
    reduction in operating profits from poor market conditions, the full year
    remaining heavily dependent on the seasonal activities in North America.

    Conferencing turnover grew by 10.6%, with a decline in operating profits. We
    have seen signs recently of increased customer spending, and the two new
    centres opened in 2003 are now trading profitably, albeit, as expected, at
    lower margins than established centres.

Parcels Delivery

    Parcels Delivery turnover was up by 28.8% with similar growth in operating
    profits. These results, however, include the benefit of hyperinflation in
    our Southern African business, which will be subject to substantial currency
    devaluation for the full year results. Turnover in the UK grew by 13.6%,
    with a lower level of growth in operating profits reflecting the impact of
    the increasing proportion of non-premium next-day consignments.

Operating Profits

Operating profits, at constant average exchange rates for 2002, grew by 2.6%
over the first ten months of last year.

Currency

For 2003, both turnover and profit are expected to show net benefits from
foreign exchange when compared to the rates of exchange which prevailed for the
year 2002. The benefit from the euro is anticipated to exceed the combined
adverse effects of, in particular, the United States dollar and Zimbabwean
dollar. These full year gains, however, are now envisaged to be lower than those
anticipated when reporting the 2003 interim results due to subsequent exchange
rate movements which have adversely impacted all of the above currencies.

Cash

Operating cash flow has continued to be strong.

Prospects for the Full Year 2003

For the full year, we expect to continue to generate strong operating cash flow
and good growth in turnover and pre-tax profits. The Board is confident that
2003 will show strong growth in earnings per share.


Prospects for 2004

The new management structure implemented at the beginning of this year is now
firmly established, providing tighter operational control with a greater
customer focus, and we are now well placed to further improve our sales,
marketing and service provision.

We will continue to develop our four markets, Hygiene, Security, Facilities
Management and Parcels Delivery, with the main emphasis, as announced with the
half year results, being concentrated on Hygiene and Security within Continental
Europe, where there is a medium-term opportunity to replicate the density and
coverage of our UK operations. Bolt-on acquisitions will be targeted to
supplement our organic growth, with an increased level of identification of
opportunities already starting to be seen. We will be building upon the progress
made under the new management structure and we will invest in additional sales
management and sales staff.

In 2004, we aim to continue generating strong cash flow and good growth in
turnover, pre-tax profits and earnings per share.

In 2004, we are planning for an increase of at least 10% in the full year
dividend per share."


                                      END

Note

The above statement is made based on unaudited management accounts and at
constant rates of exchange, these being the average rates of exchange for
foreign currencies for the year 2002, as used in the 2002 Annual Report.

                               ------------------


For further information:-

J C F Wilde, Chief Executive

R C Payne, Finance Director

C D Grimaldi, Corporate Affairs Director

01342 833022

www.rentokil-initial.com


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