Reckitt Benckiser Gp. RB. If you have a copy of RB’s jargon handbook then you might be able to glean some understanding of what they are trying to say in todays trading update which is an insult to to the intelligence of its shareholders. Generally RB is performing as it expected and quite strongly. Like for like growth rates throughout the year are are on track to reach the target of 3%. As for the rest I am still trying to guess what ENA and DvM are. Scholl was impacted by a headwind but we are not enlightened as to whether that was down to the incompetence of management or some little local difficulties. There were other “flagged” headwinds about which we are similarly left in the dark and these are going to persist . Turkey and Korea suffered from HS issues whilst LATAM performance was in line with expectations. One product suffered significantly as a result of lapping a strong sell – in of a wet and dry initiative. Enough said.
Strategic Minerals SML claims it is set to perform strongly this year after achieving record domestic sales in the quarter to 31st March from its Cobre magnetite tailings operation, where profit margins rose above 50%. A significant new client has been obtained which it is expected will lead to a doubling of Cobre sales and to profitability in 2017. SML has been the subject of its first brokers research note.