Household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser said today it would begin returning cash to investors as it posted higher second-quarter profit and raised its 2003 targets.
The comapany said it would increase its dividend, frozen since its creation in 1999, and spend free cash, which has averaged about $394 million a year, on buying back shares.
Chief Executive Mr Bart Becht denied this would limit Reckitt's freedom to make acquisitions - though he declined to comment on whether the firm was in talks to buy Durex condom-maker SSL International.
Earlier, Reckitt shares were 1.9 per cent higher at 1,152 pence, topping the FTSE-100 index of leading UK stocks.
Reckitt, formed from the 1999 takeover of Dutch firm Benckiser by Britain's Reckitt & Colman, said net profit rose 14 per cent to $184 million in the three months to June 30th.
Like Unilever, Reckitt said North American markets were tough in its second quarter. But Mr Becht said business had improved from one month to the next, and that trend had continued in July.