Rentokil Initial

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Rentokil" redirects here. For the Austrian band, see Rentokill.

Rentokil Initial plc

Type	Public (LSE: RTO)
Founded	1924
Headquarters	Victoria, London, UK
Key people	John McAdam, Chairman Alan Brown, CEO
Industry	Business Services
Revenue	£2,203 million (2007)
Operating income	£251 million (2007)
Net income	£659 million (2007)
Employees	circa 70,000 (2007)
Website	www.rentokil-initial.com

Rentokil Initial (LSE: RTO) is a major business services group which is a member of the FTSE 250 Index of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

1 Company history
2 Activities
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Company history

In the 1920s, Sir Frank Baines of the British Government asked a professor of entomology at Imperial College, London, Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (1877-1925), to investigate ways to kill Death watch beetles that had infested Westminster Hall, next door to the the Houses of Parliament. In 1924, Lefroy and his assistant produced an anti-woodworm fluid called Ento-Kill Fluids; ento came from latin name for insect. He tried to register the name Entokill, but had to choose Rentokil Limited instead in 1925. On October 14 1925, Lefroy was killed in a laboratory when an experiment produced poisonous fumes. His assistant, Elizabeth Eades, took over the running of the company in Hatton Garden, which was bought in 1957 by British Ratin. It became Rentokil Group in 1960. It was listed on the Stock Exchange in 1969.

Formerly known as just Rentokil, the company became Rentokil Initial following the hostile takeover of its competitor BET (British Electric Traction) in 1996.

[edit] Activities

BET owned a diverse range of service companies, ranging from transport, conference centres, catering, heavy plant hire and the 'Initial' brand of cleaning and washroom services companies. The acquisition brought on board catering (BET Catering), transport (United Transport), electronic security (Shorrock), conferencing (Style) and numerous other service related companies.

Following the takeover, the company's divisions were each renamed under either the Rentokil or Initial brand.

The divisions are in four main areas, each with several sub-divisions as follows:

Hygiene
- Initial Healthcare Services (Healthcare and Washrooms Solutions)
  - including the Envirofresh washrooms business acquired in 2007
- Initial Textile Services
- Rentokil Hygiene Services
- Initial Medical Services
- Rentokil Pest Control
  - including the JC Ehrlich and Presto-X pest control companies in the US
E-Security
- Adelssys
Facilities Management
- Ambius, the new name for Rentokil Tropical Plants
- Initial Catering Services
- Initial Hospital Services
- Initial Building Services
- Protech IT Hygiene
- Rentokil Property Care
- Rentokil Wiper Services
- Rentokil Initial Management Services
- Rentokil Initial UK Cleaning
- Rentokil Consumer & Industrial Products
- Rentokil Environmental Health Products
- Rentokil Fire Protection Products
- Rentokil Initial Supplies
Parcel Delivery
- City Link

During the 1980s and 1990s Rentokil Initial achieved 20% growth every year for 14 years in a row under the leadership of then CEO, Sir Clive Thompson. During this period Rentokil Initial was voted "Britain's most admired" company.

The company is now headed by chairman John McAdam and CEO Alan Brown, who respectively served as CEO and CFO at ICI prior to its takeover by Akzo Nobel. McAdam and Brown replaced Brian McGowan and Doug Flynn in March 2008 after a succession of profit warnings at the firm.^[1]

Rentokil Initial's long spell in the FTSE 100 index came to an end in September 2006 when it was relegated to the FTSE 250, however it was re-admitted to the top-tier index in the quarterly reshuffle a year later. The company returned to the 250 in March 2008.