London, April 27, 2026, 17:03 BST
- UBS stuck with its Buy rating on Reckitt Benckiser and left the target at 7,400p. Berenberg, after last week’s first-quarter miss, took the target down to 5,179p but didn’t budge from Hold.
- Reckitt slipped 1.09% to 4,721p late Monday in London, the stock weighed down by sluggish cold-and-flu product demand and persistent concerns about margins.
- Investors are weighing if Dettol, Durex and Mucinex maker Reckitt can still deliver on its 2026 growth goal, as oil prices climb, sanctions on Russia linger, China tweaks its tax rules, and turbulence continues in the Middle East.
Analyst sentiment on Reckitt Benckiser Group plc split on Monday. UBS flagged nearly 60% upside on total return, but over at Berenberg, the price target came down. All this follows a first-quarter update that rattled investors’ confidence in the British consumer goods company.
The split is significant—Reckitt shares don’t have much cushion left. By 16:45 in London, the stock was down 1.09% at 4,721p, now sitting below where it was before last week’s sales miss, and weaker than the broader household goods sector.
Reckitt wants investors to look past a lackluster opening quarter. The company’s core business delivered just 1.3% like-for-like net revenue growth, well shy of the 2.9% analysts were looking for, according to a poll put together by Reckitt. Like-for-like sales—excluding currency fluctuations and portfolio tweaks—aim to reflect the true picture of ongoing trade.
UBS stuck with its Buy rating and 7,400p price target after sitting down with finance chief Shannon Eisenhardt, pointing to management’s confidence in hitting 2026 goals. Still, the bank called Reckitt a “show me story”—trust isn’t there yet, it said, according to Proactive Investors. Proactiveinvestors UK
Berenberg landed on the cautious end of the spectrum, trimming its price target for the stock to 5,179p from 5,442p, maintaining a Hold. The German bank flagged a lackluster first quarter in all three regions, citing setbacks from Russia sanctions, turbulence in the Middle East, sluggish Durex demand in China, and more aggressive promos from rivals.
Chief Executive Kris Licht reported last week that Core Reckitt posted a 1.3% gain in like-for-like sales, rising to 3.1% if seasonal over-the-counter medicines are left out. The group is sticking with its revenue growth forecast for 2026. Over-the-counter products—like Mucinex, Nurofen, and Strepsils—remain a core category for Reckitt, sold without prescription.
Growth sharply diverged by region: emerging markets jumped 7.6%, yet Europe dropped 4.2% and North America edged down 0.9%. Group IFRS net revenue slid 11.8% to 3.25 billion pounds, factoring in currency effects and the sale of Essential Home.
Investors and analysts aren’t blindsided by the risk. Harsharan Mann, who leads the consumer sector hub at Aviva Investors, called the data “broad-based muted growth.” JPMorgan’s Celine Pannuti, for her part, pointed to Reckitt’s second-quarter emerging-markets guidance as reason to question whether annual goals are realistic. Reuters
Competition isn’t letting up. Procter & Gamble flagged a potential $1 billion bump to fiscal 2027 costs from pricier crude. Nestlé and Danone are seeing a bit of volume bounce, but if prices tick up, they’ll run into the same consumer pressure.
Reckitt isn’t hiding the challenges. The group flagged that first-half margins will come in roughly 200 basis points below last year’s level, and noted that higher commodity prices could squeeze household spending if they persist. A basis point equals one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Russia’s posing fresh headaches. Reckitt’s Russian division is scrambling to create new hygiene products and file patents, following tighter EU sanctions that have squeezed sections of its household care and germ protection lines, the company told Reuters.
China remains tricky. Durex sales took a hit this quarter after a fresh 13% value-added tax on condoms and contraceptive pills. Then there was a viral warning from Karex, a Malaysian supplier, about possible condom price hikes—Chinese social media picked it up fast, stirring talk of demand risk in a market Reckitt counts on for growth.
The bulls are looking to a smoother Q2, product launches, and ongoing momentum in India and China. Bears have a more straightforward line: higher oil, weak cold-and-flu sales, or protracted war and sanctions could mean Monday’s target cuts aren’t done yet.
