Reckitt, officially Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom.[3] It manufactures health, hygiene, and nutrition products.[4]
Reckitt's brands include the antiseptic brand Dettol, the analgesic Disprin,[5] the sore throat medicine Strepsils, the toilet cleaner Harpic, the hair removal brand Veet, the immune support supplement Airborne,[6] the Australian insecticide brand Mortein, the indigestion remedy Gaviscon, the baby food brand Mead Johnson, the air freshener Air Wick, and other brands and products like: Calgon, Clearasil, Cillit Bang, Durex, Lysol, Mycil, Enfamil, and Vanish.[7][5]
The company was formed in 1999 by the merger of British company Reckitt & Colman plc and Dutch company Benckiser N.V. Following the merger, the company was known as Reckitt Benckiser until 2021.[8]
History
Origins
Johann Benckiser founded a business in Pforzheim, Germany, in 1823.[9] Its core business was industrial chemicals.[10] Ludwig Reimann, a chemist, joined the business in 1828 and married Benckiser's daughter.[11] Benckiser died in 1851[12] and the business came under Reimann's ownership.[11] Reimann opened a new chemical plant and, in 1858, moved it to Ludwigshafen.[11]
Operations
Reckitt is headquartered in Slough, Berkshire, England, and has operations in around 60 countries. Its products are sold in nearly 200 countries.[55] Reckitt organises the majority of its products into three main categories – health, hygiene and home – with other brands belonging to three further categories: food, pharmaceuticals and portfolio brands. The company's strategy is to have a highly focused portfolio concentrating on its 19 most profitable brands, which are responsible for 70% of net revenues.[56]
Corporate governance
As of 2020, Reckitt's directors were: Christopher Sinclair (chairman), Laxman Narasimhan (CEO), Jeff Carr (CFO), Andrew Bonfield, Nicandro Durante, Mary Harris, Dr. Mehmood Khan, Dr. Pamela Kirby, Sara Mathew, Elane Stock, and Warren Tucker.[57] As of 2020, members of the executive committee were: Laxman Narasimhan (CEO), Rupert Bondy (General Counsel), Jeff Carr (CFO), Kris Licht, Aditya Sehgal, Ranjay Radhakrishnan, and Harold van den Broek.[58]
From the company's creation in 1999 until he retired in 2011, Bart Becht was CEO. The Guardian called him "one of the most successful businessmen of his generation". Under him, the company focused on its core brands, and on improving efficiency in the supply chain. It also increased its marketing budget.[26] BusinessWeek noted that "40% of Reckitt's $10.5 billion in 2007 revenues came from products launched within the previous three years".[27]
Corporate public relations
The company supports Save the Children.[61] Reckitt has also implemented an environmental initiative called Carbon 20.[62] The initiative, which was announced in November 2007, aimed to cut the total carbon footprint of its products—from creation to disposal by 20% by 2020. As part of the initiative the company has reduced by 70% the amount of plastic in the packaging of its Vanish cleaner.[63]
Lawsuit
In New York in February 2009, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against Reckitt and others. The petition seeks to compel the companies to identify all of the ingredients used in their products.[64] Earthjustice contacted several companies in September 2008 requesting that they comply with a 1971 law requiring them to disclose the ingredients in their products and make available any associated health or safety studies. Reckitt and the other defendants ignored or refused the request.[65] Earthjustice eventually lost the case, after which it lobbied the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which in 2018 unveiled new requirements for manufacturers of cleaning products to publicly detail their ingredients.[66]
Controversies
Deaths caused by humidifier disinfectant
In 2001, Reckitt Benckiser acquired the South Korean Oxy brand from Oriental Chemical Industries. Since 1996, Oxy had been using polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) in a humidifier steriliser product called Oxy Ssak Ssak (옥시싹싹). In 2011, the use of PHMG was dropped when the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) published a report showing a link between the compound and lung damage and deaths.[67] Several other companies in South Korea made humidifier sterilisers with PHMG between 2001 and 2011.
According to a BBC report in May 2016, about 500 people, many of them women and children, are reported to have died or been injured after inhaling PHMG. According to a The Korea Herald report in April 2016, in 2015, 750 disinfectant users had requested a test to determine if they had been harmed by the disinfectant and as of the date of that report, 221 had been confirmed and full results were expected to be released late in 2017.[68] A report on Sina.com
External links
References
- Annual Results 2025 Reckitt Benckiser plc, retrieved 6 March 2026^
- Media Reckitt, retrieved 27 January 2026^
- Four of Reckitt Benckiser's senior executives walk out The Economist, 7 September 2017, retrieved 8 September 2017