London, April 27, 2026, 17:03 BST
- UBS kept a Buy rating and 7,400p target on Reckitt Benckiser, while Berenberg cut its target to 5,179p and stayed at Hold after last week’s first-quarter miss.
- Reckitt shares were down 1.09% at 4,721p in late London trade on Monday, still under pressure after weak cold-and-flu sales and margin worries.
- The issue for investors is whether the maker of Dettol, Durex and Mucinex can still hit its 2026 growth target as oil costs, Russia sanctions, China tax changes and Middle East disruption bite.
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc drew sharply different analyst calls on Monday, with UBS pointing to almost 60% potential total return and Berenberg cutting its price target, days after a first-quarter update shook confidence in the British consumer goods group.
The split matters because Reckitt’s stock has little room for another stumble. The shares were quoted 1.09% lower at 4,721p at 16:45 in London, below the level seen before last week’s sales miss and against a weaker household goods sector.
Reckitt is asking investors to look through a poor start to the year. Its core business posted 1.3% like-for-like net revenue growth in the first quarter, below the 2.9% expected in a company-compiled analyst poll; like-for-like sales strip out currency moves and portfolio changes, giving a cleaner view of underlying trading.
UBS repeated its Buy rating and 7,400p target after a meeting with finance chief Shannon Eisenhardt, saying Reckitt’s management showed confidence in the 2026 targets. The bank still called the stock a “show me story” and said trust had to be rebuilt, according to Proactive Investors. Proactiveinvestors UK
Berenberg took the other side of the near-term debate. The German bank lowered its target from 5,442p to 5,179p and kept a Hold rating, saying core first-quarter performance disappointed across all three regions, hit by Russia sanctions, Middle East disruption, weak Durex volumes in China and promotions by competitors.
Chief Executive Kris Licht said last week that Core Reckitt grew 1.3% on a like-for-like basis, or 3.1% excluding seasonal over-the-counter medicines, and that the group maintained its 2026 revenue growth guidance. Over-the-counter products are medicines sold without a prescription, a key bucket for Reckitt brands such as Mucinex, Nurofen and Strepsils.
The regional split was uneven. Emerging markets grew 7.6%, but Europe fell 4.2% and North America slipped 0.9%, while group IFRS net revenue dropped 11.8% to 3.25 billion pounds after currency moves and the disposal of Essential Home.
Named investors and analysts have already flagged the risk. Harsharan Mann, consumer sector hub lead at Aviva Investors, said the figures showed “broad-based muted growth,” while JPMorgan analyst Celine Pannuti said Reckitt’s second-quarter emerging-markets outlook raised doubts about its ability to reach annual targets. Reuters
The competitive backdrop is not kind. Procter & Gamble warned that higher crude prices could add about $1 billion to fiscal 2027 costs, while Nestlé and Danone showed some volume recovery but face the same consumer squeeze if prices rise again.
Reckitt’s own risks are plain. The company said first-half margins are expected to be about 200 basis points lower than a year earlier, and warned that if commodity prices stay high, household budgets could come under pressure; a basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Russia adds another drag. Reckitt’s local unit is developing replacement hygiene products and registering new intellectual property after tougher EU sanctions restricted parts of its household care and germ protection portfolio, the company told Reuters.
China is also awkward. A new 13% value-added tax on condoms and contraceptive pills hurt Durex in the quarter, and a warning from Malaysian supplier Karex about possible condom price rises has gone viral on Chinese social media, adding another demand risk in a market Reckitt needs for growth.
For now, the bull case rests on a cleaner second quarter, new products and continued strength in India and China. The bear case is simpler: if oil stays high, cold-and-flu demand stays soft, or sanctions and war disruption linger, Monday’s target cuts may not be the last.
