Rentokil Initial PLC (LSE:RTO) shares fell 1.6% as investors read across to results from US rival Rollins Inc (NYSE:ROL) overnight, which continues to put the UK company's struggling North American business in the shade.
Analysts at Peel Hunt point out that Rollins, the second-largest pest control business in the US and globally, reported a 7.4% organic revenue growth for the first quarter.
With growth above 7% in each of the four quarters last year too, Rollins CEO Jerry Gahlhoff said, "our markets remain healthy."
Peel Hunt noted the contrast with Rentokil North America Pest Control Services, which contributes around 54% of the FTSE 100 group's revenues.
Rentokil North America's organic revenues fell 0.2% in the period, after growth not exceeding 1.6% in each of the past four quarters.
"Rentokil’s organic growth has consistently underperformed compared to Rollins over the past two-plus years, with the gap widening from circa 200 basis points in Q2 2022 to over 550 bps since Q3 2023.
The Q1 2025 differential of 760bps "is the greatest to date", the analysts noted.