Rentokil Initial

History

The Company was founded in 1925 by Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, Professor of entomology at Imperial College, London, who had been investigating ways to kill Death watch beetles that had infested Westminster Hall, next door to the Houses of Parliament. Lefroy and his assistant produced an anti-woodworm fluid called Ento-Kill Fluids ("ento" coming from the Latin name for insect). In 1925 he tried to register the name Entokill, but due to existing trademarks, had to choose Rentokil instead, which became the name of his company, Rentokil Ltd. On 14 October 1925, Lefroy was killed in a laboratory when an experiment produced poisonous fumes. His assistant, Elizabeth Eades, took over the running of the company.

British Ratin

British Ratin was established in 1927 as a pest control company by its Danish owner Sophus Berendsen A/S, the company used a bacillus developed by a Danish Scientist George Neumann to control rats and mice. Demand for pest control services began extending beyond rodent control to insect control. British Ratin made its first acquisition, Chelsea Insecticides Ltd in 1940. In 1957 British Ratin acquired Rentokil, the combined businesses continued to use the Rentokil name, becoming Rentokil Laboratories Ltd. in 1960.

Rentokil Group plc

Rentokil Group plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969. Sophus Berendsen A/S retained a 50% holding in the group until the late 1990s. For many years Rentokil Initial achieved growth of circa 20% each year under the leadership of then CEO, Sir Clive Thompson: during this period Rentokil Initial was voted "Britain's most admired" company.

Rentokil Initial plc

In 1996, the company became Rentokil Initial following the hostile takeover of its much larger competitor BET plc, the acquisition included the "Initial" laundry and washroom services (founded in 1903). The "Initial" name originated as every towel was marked with the customer's initials, which ensured that customers only received their own towels.

Recent History

Thompson relinquished the CEO role to James Wilde, with Thompson taking up the Chairman role, in January 2003. Thompson and Wilde both left the Company in 2004, when the leadership was transferred to Brian McGowan as Chairman (appointed in 2004) and Doug Flynn as CEO (appointed in 2005) who made a number of structural changes to the company, including the closure of the main offices at Felcourt, relocating them to Belgrave House, Victoria, Central London and City Place, Gatwick. They also presided over a succession of profit warnings, mainly as a result of the problematic integration of the 2006 acquisition of Target Express into the existing City Link business.

The Rentokil Tropical Plants business, which had expanded to be an international brand through the acquisition of numerous smaller plant rental companies around the world, was rebranded as Ambius.

In 2006, the Company decided to close its UK Initial laundry business; this was predominantly due to the ageing property and plant that the business operated (which had been part of the BET acquisition) and the high cost of modernisation. That year, the Company also bought out Ademco Security Group and planned to expand across Asia. They sold the company back in 2010.

In 2007, the Company left the FTSE100 index.

Rentokil strengthened its foothold in the U.S. residential pest control market in 2006 when it acquired the Reading, Pennsylvania-based J.C. Ehrlich Co, Inc., the fourth largest and largest privately held pest control company in the US. In 2007, Rentokil sold the Initial Fire, Electronic Security and manned guarding businesses – previously known as Shorrock – to United Technologies Corporation. However, in 2010, Rentokil Initial acquired Knightsbridge Guarding Ltd and Perception LLP to re-enter the manned security / reception staffing business, to compliment the existing cleaning, washroom, Ambius and pest control businesses as an integrated solution.

In March 2008 the company came under the leadership of Chairman John McAdam and CEO Alan Brown, who had respectively served as CEO and CFO at ICI: the pair are famous for the breakup and sale of ICI to Akzo Nobel.

In February 2011, the Company acquired the Fumigation & Pest Control, Water Treatment & Hygiene and Fire Safety & Prevention businesses of Santia, formerly Connaught plc, for £5.6m.

In 2012, Rentokil acquired Western Exterminator Company, for USD99.6M, extending its services to the East coast of the USA, making Rentokil the third largest pest control company in the USA.

The City Link division had continued to be loss making, and although losses had reduced following major management / structural changes, the company was disposed of in April 2013, to Better Capital plc for £1.

On 1 August 2013, the Company announced that CEO Alan Brown would be stepping down and would be replaced by Andy Ransom on 1 October. Andy Ransom had previously been MD of the Company's West region.

On 28 February 2014, the company sold its facilities management business for £250m to Interserve.

On 16 December 2016, the company announced a future joint venture with CWS-boco International GmbH.

On 1 March 2017, it was announced that Rentokil Initial was to re-enter the FTSE100 index, 20 years after leaving, having grown its market capitalisation to £4.37bn. The change will take effect from 20 March 2017.

Brands

The company's divisions operate under three global brands: Rentokil, Initial and Ambius.

Additionally, the company continues to operate local brands under the names of acquired businesses which have a familiar brand name in their markets, such as Dezinfa in Lithuania, Calmic in Asia and JC Ehrlich / Western Exterminator / Steritech in the USA.

In the US, Rentokil and Steritech are now one company, Rentokil Steritech.