Multinational pest controller Rentokil Initial PLC's (LSE:RTO) first-quarter results next Thursday will be closely watched for signs of the health of the key US market.
In October, shares in the FTSE 100 group plummeted on a warning about softer trading in North America, where it generates around half of revenues after the acquisition of Terminix a year earlier.
Last month, however, the company eased some of those Terminix concerns as it indicated things were better than hoped.
For 2024, chief executive Andy Ransom guided to organic revenue growth in North America of be around 2% in the first quarter and between 2-4% for the full year.
Recent market data analysed by RBC found that the company's digital marketing efforts have yielded a traffic boom to its own websites, with a 38% surge in the first quarter, while Terminix held steady and industry peer Orkin fell by 12%.
But RBC noted that website traffic can vary month-to-month, so the utility of the news to investors was not wholly clear.
Fund manager Steve Clayton at Hargreaves Lansdown said: "Rentokil needs to keep providing investors with evidence that it can improve these trends as it moves further into the integration of Terminix Inc, which is the group’s largest ever deal and critical to the medium-term outlook for Rentokil Initial."