Rentokil Initial PLC (LSE:RTO) shares plunged after it warned softer trading in North America would mean performance would be “marginally” below previous expectations.
The pest control firm, which generates around half of its revenue in the US, said “near-term market uncertainty” prompted the warning.
“Reflecting the impact on revenue, we now anticipate regional adjusted operating margin to be in the range of 18.5%-19.0%,” it said.
Despite this, the firm said it remains on track to meet full-year guidance to grow group adjusted operating margin to around 16.5%.
It said revenue in the third quarter jumped 53% to £1.38 billion although on a like-for-like basis, growth was a more modest 4.3%.
It reported a softer consumer demand environment in North America, with broad-based strength elsewhere.
In North America, organic revenue increased by 2.2%.
Other regions saw strong growth: 9.5% in Europe, 8.9% in Asia & MENAT, 7.6% in Pacific and 5.2% in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Rentokil said the Terminix integration plan has progressed well and the cost synergy programme is on track to meet full-year guidance of $60 million of pre-tax net P&L synergies.
Shares fell 16% to 501.80p.