Shares rot sets in for Rentokil

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

 

It looked a bit desperate when Sir Clive Thompson, boss of pest control to hygiene group Rentokil Initial, went on a television game show six weeks ago to say why the shares were worth buying.

They had crashed from 477p to 260p. His TV performance failed miserably. Yesterday they hit a new low of 206p.

Can it get worse? Yes, says Commerzbank analyst David Greenall who accurately predicted the slump. Next stop could be 170p unless there are improvements from its mainstream operations.

The market has lost little time turning sour on Rentokil after Thompson abandoned his famous target of 20% annual growth.

He wants to slim the group and has lined up a number of possible sales, including its US plant hire business valued at £800m.

But rumours suggest buyers are cautious. This puts more pressure on Thompson as the gap widens between Rentokil's likely break-up value of 240p and its market price.

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