Commenting on these results, Rakesh Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"A year ago we set a new purpose driven strategy to deliver growth and outperformance over the next decade.
We are laying the foundations for RB to succeed in a world where health and hygiene play an increasingly important role in terms of both economic and social development. We enhanced our focus on our 16 Powermarkets, many of which are in the emerging market areas that now represent 44% of our core net revenue. I am very pleased that our 2012 achievements demonstrate the strength of this strategy and its ability to create sustainable value for all of our stakeholders.
In environmental sustainability we have already reduced the carbon footprint of our products by 20% and have now set an ambitious target to reduce that by a further third, while also cutting the water use associated with our products by the same amount.
While much has yet to be done and markets remain challenging, we approach 2013 with the confidence that we have the right strategic focus, the right organisation and culture, and with the right innovation platforms. We are particularly excited by our entry into the vitamins, minerals and supplements
(VMS) market with the acquisition of Schiff. We are supporting our brands with more and better quality brand equity investment to deliver further growth in an increasingly competitive consumer environment.
We remain committed to our goal of net revenue growth on average +200bps per annum above our market growth, and moderate operating margin expansion (ex RBP). For 2013, we are targeting net revenue growth of +5-6%2 including acquisitions and disposals announced to date. Given the early achievement of cost savings in 2012, we expect to maintain operating margins in 2013. These targets exclude RBP.
This will allow us to further accelerate the shape of our core business in line with our strategy. We are now setting the target of Health & Hygiene categories to become 72%, and our emerging market areas to become 50%, of our core business net revenue by 2015. This is a year earlier than previously targeted."
Dividends. The Board of Directors recommends a final dividend of 78 pence (2011: 70 pence), an increase of +11%, to give a full year dividend of 134 pence (2011: 125 pence), an overall increase of +7%. The dividend, if approved by shareholders at the AGM on 2 May 2013, will be paid on 30 May to shareholders on the register at the record date of 22 February. The ex-dividend date is 20 February and the last date for election for the share alternative to the dividend is 8 May. The final dividend will be accrued once approved by shareholders.
