Sir Clive: "We are not unhappy with market expectations."

He also found time to be knighted for services to industry, an honour he received in 1996.

Company History

The origins of Rentokil Initial are complex: the company is a conglomerate formed out of the merger of often unconnected businesses.

The first of these was started in 1902, when a Danish pharmacist, Georg Neumann, discovered a strain of bacteria that was lethal to rats and mice.

He named it Ratin bacerium and set up a company around his discovery. The British Ratin Company was formed in 1927.

Meanwhile, in 1925, a professor at Imperial College London called Harold Leroy, discovered a fluid that killed deathwatch beetles, which he registered as Rentokil.

Rentokil was bought by the British Ratin Company in 1957. The combined company, which kept the Rentokil name, was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1969.

Meanwhile in 1903 a towel renting service for London businesses was launched under the name Initial, so called because each towel was personalised with the customer's initials.

In 1985, Rentokil acquired the company, merging its own laundry services with those of Intitial. The company changed its name to Rentokil Initial in October 1996.

Restructuring

Rentokil is a diverse organisation operating in a number of seemingly unrelated businesses.

In September 2000, Rentokil underwent restructuring. Two of its scaffolding companies were sold for �17 million and the company was divided into two major areas: Focus and Bundling.

The Focus group has six sections: Hygiene (basically cleaning operations), Security, Pest Control, Tropical Plants (whereby the supply maintain office plants), Conferencing and Parcels Delivery.

The Bundling Group consists of just one section called facilities management. It offers multi service contracts covering everything from cleaning, catering and management services.

The company employs more than 96,000 people in more than 40 countries.

On The Markets

Trading statements for the first half of 2001 were strong, reflecting the positive effects of the restructuring programme.

In the six months up to 30 June 2001, company turnover was up 8.6% to �1,101m with operating profits up 7.7% to �206.1m.

Earnings per share were up 12.1% to 6.10p and the dividend was 1.43p, an increase of 10%.

Shares are trading at about 246p, up 96.25p since hitting a five year low of 149.75p in July 2000.

Analyst Outlook Kevin Latwood of analysts Charterhouse Securities rates Rentokil Initial shares a buy.

He says the company is looking to generate 8% to 10% earnings growth over the next five years, and at that rate it is likely to outperform its peers.

Latwood says it looks cheaper than Sodexho, a French company with a similar range of services, and about the same price as ISS, a Danish company.