BUSINESS LIVE: Aston Martin losses accelerate; Informa to buy Ascential; Reckitt changes strategy

Like it or not, Kamala Harris is all the rage right now. In the first 24 hours after President Biden was forced to drop out of the race, the Democratic front-runner to replace him had raised $250 million in online donations and large donor pledges for her campaign.

It’s one of the largest amounts ever raised in such a short span of an election cycle — twice what Biden raised in the first two months of his campaign — and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Reckitt Benckiser will sell a host of well-known brands, including Air Wick air freshener and Cillit Bang cleaning product, as part of an effort to focus the company on health products.

The London-listed firm said it would sell its portfolio of homecare brands that are “no longer core” to the business, and which generated £1.9bn in combined revenue last year, by the end of 2025.

Instead, it will focus on its most profitable health products, including Strepsils cough drops, Nurofen painkillers and Durex condoms.

This comes as operating profit fell 4.3 per cent year-on-year to £1.68 billion in the first half of 2024, while revenue fell 3.7 per cent to £7.17 billion.

Kris Licht, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, said:

‘Today I am pleased to announce a set of actions to significantly streamline our portfolio and simplify our organization for accelerated growth and value creation.’

Informa is to buy Cannes Lions Festival owner Ascential for £1.2bn, with the group adding the leading advertising industry conference to its events portfolio.

Ascential, which also owns fintech events Money20/20, said on Tuesday after the market closed that it had received the cash offer, which it was willing to recommend.

Informa said it would expand both events to more sectors and accelerate growth, helped by its first-party data platform and knowledge of the marketing and fintech sectors.

It has agreed to pay 568 pence a share, representing a 53 per cent premium to Monday’s closing price of 371 pence.

Informa announced the deal alongside its first-half results which showed underlying operating profit growth of 18.8 percent and revenue growth of 11 percent.

The good results allowed him to improve his expectations for the entire year.

Aston Martin has posted a pre-tax loss of £216.7m for the first half of 2024, down from £142.2m a year earlier, after the carmaker built fewer vehicles.

The group, which has launched several new cars over the past year including its next-generation sports cars, the DB12 and Vantage, has stopped making older models before ramping up production of new models this year.

Revenue fell 11 per cent year-on-year to £603m, while net debt rose 41 per cent to just under £1.2bn.

Aston Martin said the results were in line with expectations and reflected the transition of its core portfolio.

Aston Martin Chief Executive Lawrence Stroll added:

‘As we enter an exciting second half of 2024, Aston Martin is at a pivotal point in its trajectory, with our immense product transformation supporting volume growth and sustainable positive free cash flow generation later this year, something we have every confidence in achieving.

‘In line with previous guidance, our execution in the first half of the year was centred on the successful delivery of our new Vantage and enhanced DBX707 and we remain on track to deliver a strong performance in the second half. This will be supported by a significant increase in wholesale sales volumes, including both the new flagship V12 Vanquish and the ultra-exclusive Valiant Special, which we recently unveiled at Goodwood with Fernando Alonso.’