BUILDING
SHARED
SUCCESS
Reckitt
Annual Report and Accounts 2020

WELCOME
OUR 
PURPOSE
We exist to protect, heal and nurture in the  
relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. 
OUR  
FIGHT
We have a fight on our hands. A fight to make access  
to the highest quality hygiene, wellness and nourishment  
a right and not a privilege. 
About our new brand
Reckitt branding reflects the purpose, fight, compass and 
behaviours of the company. Our new identity draws on our rich  
200 year heritage. It symbolises the energy and can-do spirit of  
our people and the positive impact that they create on the world. 
Designed to be accessible, active and authentic; Reckitt is inspired 
by our purpose-led brands, and our efforts for a healthier planet 
and a fairer society.
To learn more visit: www.reckitt.com/thisisreckitt
Contents
Strategic Report
01	
Financial highlights
02	
At a glance
04	
Chairman’s statement
06	
Chief Executive Officer’s statement
08	
Talking to our business leaders
10	
Our business model
12	
Purpose-led growth
14	
Mapping what matters to our stakeholders
16	
Our markets and megatrends
18	
Delivering our strategy
24	
Key performance indicators
28	
Our consumers
32	
Our customers
36	
Our investors
40	
Our people
44	
Our partners
48	
Our communities
52	
Our environment
56	
Non-financial information statement
58	
s172 statement
62	
Operating review: Hygiene
66	
Operating review: Health
70	
Operating review: Nutrition
74	
Group financial review
80	
Risk management
93	
Viability statement
Governance 
94	
Board of Directors
99	
Group Executive Committee
102	 Corporate governance report
113	
Nomination Committee report
119	
Audit Committee report
128	 CRSEC Committee report
134	 Directors’ remuneration report
158	 Report of the Directors
161	
Statement of Directors’ responsibilities
Financial Statements
162	 Independent auditor’s report
174	 Financial statements
237	 Shareholder information
PG62
Hygiene
PG66
Health
PG70
Nutrition

01
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Financial highlights
Society
Environment
Net Revenue
£14.0bn
+11.8% LFL growth4 
Reported growth +8.9%
Adjusted Operating Margin4
23.6%
-260bps
Reported Operating Margin 
15.4%
nm 3 
Net Revenue from more  
sustainable products1, 2, 4 
30.4%
Number of people informed through  
health and hygiene messaging and 
campaigns since 2013
1.41bn
FTSE4Good Index membership 
 
17
consecutive years, including meeting  
20 additional Breast-Milk-Substitute  
(BMS) criteria since 2018
Greenhouse Gas emissions  
per unit of production1
53%
reduction since 2012
Water use per unit of production1 
39%
reduction since 2012
1.	 Excluding our Infant and Child Nutrition (IFCN) 
business – see Reckitt insights (www.reckitt.com/
responsibility/policies-and-reports) for details
2.	 Calculated for 12 months ending 30 September 2020
3.	 Not meaningful
4.	 Non-GAAP measures are defined on page 77
Hygiene
42%
of Reckitt Total Net Revenue 
Health 
35%
of Reckitt Total Net Revenue 
Nutrition
23%
of Reckitt Total Net Revenue 
Adjusted Earnings Per Share (diluted)4
327.0p
-6.3% 
Reported Earnings Per Share (diluted)
159.3p
nm 3
Total dividend for the year 
174.6p
unchanged

02
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
AT A G L A N CE
Our Group is divided into three business 
units – Hygiene, Health and Nutrition –  
with each operating across attractive  
and growing segments. 
Our portfolio is underpinned by five global 
megatrends that drive demand for our 
products. As a result, we are well positioned 
to benefit as we recover from COVID-19, 
and to deliver sustainable mid-single digit 
growth in the medium to long-term.
Hygiene is the foundation of health and our purpose-led portfolio works 
to eliminate dirt, germs, pests and odours with market leading products 
such as Lysol, Finish, Mortein and AirWick. 
HYGIENE
Geographic profile
Developed markets
79%
Developing markets
21%
Key Hygiene brands
Hygiene Net Revenue
2020
£5,816m
LFL Growth1 
+19.5%
Adjusted Operating Profit1 
£1,505m
2019
£5,031m
Actual Growth 
+15.6%
Adjusted Operating Margin1  
 25.9%

03
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
HEALTH
Our Health portfolio brings compelling, innovative solutions that provide 
pain relief, protection, hygiene, and personal care to households across 
the world, through brands like Dettol, Durex, Gaviscon, Nurofen, Mucinex, 
Strepsils and Veet.
The Nutrition business includes our leading infant and child nutrition,  
adult nutrition and our range of vitamins, minerals and supplements. Brands 
include Airborne, Mead Johnson, Move Free and Schiff. The strength of this 
business is its focus on science-led innovations which underpin products 
catering to consumers from infant through to the elderly.
NUTRITION
Health Net Revenue
Geographic profile
Developed markets
54%
Developing markets
46%
Key Health brands
Geographic profile
Developed markets
45%
Developing markets
55%
Key Nutrition brands
Nutrition Net Revenue
2020
£4,890m
LFL Growth1 
+12.1%
Adjusted Operating Profit1 
£1,334m
2019
£4,462m
Actual Growth 
+9.6%
Adjusted Operating Margin1  
 27.3%
2020
£3,287m
LFL Growth1 
UNCHANGED
Adjusted Operating Profit1 
£462m
2019
£3,353m
Actual Growth 
-2.0%
Adjusted Operating Margin1  
 14.1%
1.	 Non-GAAP measures are defined on page 77

04
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
Chris Sinclair
Chairman
CH A I R M A N ’S STATEM ENT
MOVING 
FORWARD 
TOGETHER  
WITH PURPOSE
I am proud of what we were able to achieve this 
year in the face of some enormous challenges. 
Reckitt is emerging much stronger, as a more 
resilient and purposeful company.
We made significant progress in 2020 in 
building the foundations for future growth. 
We have added exceptional leadership talent 
at the top of Reckitt and across many of our 
geographies to help steer the company through 
this transformational stage. We are investing 
in capabilities and have organised ourselves 
to become more focused and purpose-led. 
Business performance
Full year net revenue was £13,993m, with growth 
of +11.8% on a like-for-like basis. This was 
underpinned by strong performances from both 
Hygiene and Health; despite mixed markets, 
Nutrition also made good operational 
improvements while separating from Health and 
integrating Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements. 
The performance uplift reflected the 
outstanding way our teams responded 
to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), 
meeting the substantially increased demand 
for some of our brands through sharper 
execution, expanded capacity and better 
customer service. Together with our ongoing 
investment in our digital capabilities, this 
enabled us to deliver a stronger underlying 
performance across our portfolio of brands.   
Adjusted operating profit was £3,301m, 
at an adjusted operating margin of 23.6%, 
down 260bps on last year in line with our 
guidance and reflecting planned investment 
across many areas as laid out by Laxman in 
the strategy presentation in February 2020.
Our business made solid progress on 
many fronts. It is an early indicator that the 
strategy announced last February is gaining 
momentum and yielding positive results.  
We remain focused on delivering our 
strategy. Although it is too soon to be definitive, 
we believe that much of the additional demand 
we saw during 2020 for our Hygiene and Health 
brands is likely to be sustained even after 
the pandemic. We are accordingly investing 
in additional capacity and in expanding our 
Hygiene and disinfection business into new 
geographies and business segments.
For our Nutrition business, we delivered good 
growth in North America and from our Vitamins, 
Minerals and Supplements portfolio, although the 
operating environment in China continues to be 
challenging for our infant formula products. As 
a result, Laxman and the team are conducting a 
strategic review of our infant formula activities 
in China and we’ll act on the conclusions of this 
in due course. In the meantime, our focus is on 
sustaining the wider investments for growth 
that have already started to yield benefits with 
renewed innovation, such as our first adult 
nutrition product, launched in December.
Governance and risk management have 
been important areas of focus for the Board 
over the last few years. We have done a lot

05
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
of work through the Corporate Responsibility, 
Sustainability, Ethics and Compliance Committee 
to broaden and deepen our approach to 
managing safety and compliance risk, and to 
focus on our sustainability agenda. We continue 
to expand the investments and initiatives 
that enhance the safety and efficacy of our 
products, as well as their sustainability. 
Consistent with the expectations we set 
out last year, the Directors have proposed 
a final dividend of 101.6 pence per share, 
which when added to the interim dividend 
of 73 pence, gives a full‑year dividend of 
174.6 pence per share. Subject to shareholder 
approval at the AGM in May 2021, this will 
be paid on 14 June 2021 to shareholders 
who were on the register on 7 May 2021.
AGM 
Whilst our Annual General Meetings (AGM) 
are normally held as physical meetings with 
shareholders encouraged to attend, due to 
COVID-19 restrictions, in 2020 we recommended 
that shareholders refrain from attending the 
AGM in person, in line with guidance from the UK 
government at the time. Our 2020 AGM was held 
as a closed meeting, with a live virtual webcast 
which shareholders were able to view online. 
For this year’s AGM, currently planned 
for 28 May 2021, we are proposing a similar 
format, with the addition of a live Q&A to 
allow the Board to interact directly with 
shareholders. The safety of our shareholders, 
Directors, employees, and other stakeholders 
is of the utmost importance to us. 
At this year’s AGM, we will be proposing an 
additional special resolution to adopt amended 
Articles of Association of the company, 
giving us the flexibility to hold a hybrid AGM 
going forward, if deemed necessary. Further 
details are set out in the Notice of Annual 
General Meeting available on www.reckitt.
com/investors/your-shareholding/agm/.
Implementing our strategy
In 2020, the safety of employees and the 
continued supply of products, especially those 
critical to combat the spread of COVID-19 
were the key priorities. At the same time, we 
were able to grow and develop the business. 
While we face another year of uncertainty with 
the continued global pandemic and economic 
disruption, we remain focused on executing 
our strategic priorities and embedding our 
cultural transformation.
We made rapid progress on multiple fronts 
during 2020. The fact we have been able 
to achieve so much in a COVID-19-affected 
year attests to an exceptionally strong team 
performance and the dedication of our 
employees across the world as they have 
risen to the challenges. Without their efforts, 
our contribution to managing the pandemic 
would have been much more limited. 
We saw significantly increased consumer 
demand, especially for our Dettol, Lysol, 
Finish and Airborne brands. This presented 
considerable opportunities, but it also posed 
some major challenges during a global 
pandemic. Our factories, suppliers and logistics 
operations had to contend with social distancing 
and quarantine constraints, which were often 
imposed at very short notice. This added to the 
complexity of stepping up supplies. I am proud 
to say that our people rose to the challenge. 
They responded with flexibility, commitment 
and Reckitt’s characteristic, can-do spirit. 
These efforts allowed us to scale up our 
product supply dramatically in critical areas. 
We strengthened our global supply chain and 
improved customer service levels. We continued 
to make good strides in digital and e-commerce 
and are now building a competitive advantage 
in this arena. And we also managed the 
successful launch of an entirely new business 
line. Our professional services offering, Global 
Business Solutions, is already demonstrating 
strong growth potential, including exciting 
partnerships with transport and hotel groups. 
Meanwhile, we have been pursuing the 
organisational and cultural transformation 
programme outlined in the strategy we 
published in February 2020. The July 
restructuring into three Global Business Units 
added focus and sharpened execution. 
Talent and culture
The Board is very encouraged by the rapid 
progress we have made this year in terms of 
talent and culture. We have a new leadership 
team in place and have strengthened 
skills in numerous key areas, notably digital 
capabilities, sales excellence, and supply chain 
management. Our workforce has shown 
itself to be adaptable and highly effective 
in very testing conditions. Their resilience 
and commitment have brought tangible 
improvements to execution across the Group.
Laxman and his leadership team have also 
crafted a very coherent and powerful cultural 
agenda founded on purpose and responsibility. 
This has helped unite and inspire colleagues. 
Our purpose encapsulates why we exist and 
what we aspire to achieve as an organisation. 
Our fight adds urgency to that, and our compass 
guides our actions. Early indications are that 
these have been extremely well received both 
within the Group and by external stakeholders.
We are investing significant energy 
and resources in our sustainability agenda. 
Sustainability is an integral part of our long-
term sustainable growth business strategy 
and intrinsic to our identity as a responsible, 
purpose-led business that aims to make a 
positive difference in the world. This focus on 
sustainability resonates with stakeholders and is 
warmly embraced by our workforce. Employee 
surveys during 2020 confirmed that our people 
are proud to work for Reckitt and this is reflected 
by the level of commitment they have shown.   
Changes to the Board 
I have said already how proud I am of 
everything that the leadership team and our 
colleagues worldwide have been able to 
achieve in difficult times. That goes equally 
for my fellow Directors. The company is very 
fortunate to have highly talented individuals 
on the Board who are committed to Reckitt 
and passionate about its purpose. 
We welcomed two new Non-Executive 
Directors this year who are already making 
valuable contributions to our deliberations. 
Margherita Della Valle joined us in July 2020 
and also became a member of the Audit 
Committee. Margherita has extensive 
experience of financial markets and digital 
technologies and has been instrumental 
in business transformation programmes in 
her prior roles. Her sectoral expertise and 
insights bring fresh perspectives, which have 
broadened the Board’s base of experience.
In December 2020, we announced that 
Olivier Bohuon would join the Board and the 
Remuneration Committee in January 2021. Olivier 
spent many years as a successful CEO of a large 
global company. He has deep experience in 
healthcare products and markets and his insights 
will enrich and inform the Board’s discussions.
After a decade at the company, Warren 
Tucker retired from the Board and Audit 
Committee at the conclusion of our AGM on 
12 May 2020. My thanks go to Warren for his 
sage advice and wise counsel. The Board will 
miss his committed and constructive presence.  
We wish him well in his future endeavours.
As we announced last year, I am delighted 
to welcome back Reckitt alumnus, Jeff Carr, 
who rejoined the company as its Chief Financial 
Officer in April 2020. He succeeded Adrian 
Hennah who stepped down as CFO in April and 
retired in October 2020, following a transition to 
Jeff. I would like to thank Adrian for his valued 
service and many contributions. Jeff has a 
strong track record of transformational strategic 
and operational leadership and is playing a 
key role in Reckitt’s strategic transformation. 
Conclusion
Looking ahead, we remain committed to the 
strategic priorities laid out last February. The 
appropriateness of these priorities has been 
reinforced and validated by what we have seen 
during the pandemic. We believe we have set 
ourselves the right objectives. We now need to 
ensure that our execution delivers strong, 
sustainable performance. 
We are sharpening our portfolio and 
strengthening the organisation to be able 
to compete and innovate more effectively. 
We are making real progress on managing 
the business responsibly and sustainably. 
Ultimately, we aim to deliver consistently 
strong returns for shareholders by meeting 
stakeholder priorities, and we are well-
placed to achieve that ambition. I am 
optimistic about Reckitt’s future as a high-
performing, purpose-led business.

06
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
CH I EF E X ECUTI V E O FFI CER ’S STATEM ENT
A BETTER HOUSE 
IN A GREAT 
NEIGHBOURHOOD
Overview
In February 2020, we set out our strategy for 
rejuvenating sustainable growth at Reckitt, 
and outlined our medium-term financial 
targets. Our objective is to rebuild Like-for-Like 
revenue growth to the mid-single digit range, 
and to deliver operating margins in the mid 
20’s by the mid-20s, in turn driving earnings 
per share growth in the region of 7-9%. 
Underpinning our expectations are 
five megatrends that drive market growth 
and a portfolio of trusted brands, with a 
strong heritage. Many of the fundamental 
capabilities were already in place: we have a 
good science and innovation, great people, 
a strong performance culture and great 
e-commerce capabilities. But there were 
areas which required improvement. Until 
2020 our commercial execution had been 
deteriorating, our supply chain was not as 
resilient as it should have been, and we were 
letting customers down too frequently.  
At the time, I described the business as a 
good house in a great neighbourhood. Since 
then, we’ve made record levels of investment, 
improved execution and customer service and 
have made good progress towards becoming 
a great house again.  
Throughout 2020, we delivered a strong 
start to our plan by executing well against our 
strategic goals and responding successfully to 
rapidly changing market conditions. This has 
resulted in a very strong financial performance, 
well ahead of our original expectations. In 
addition, we have delivered a step-change  
in the scale and scope of our business. This  
has reinforced the strength our growth 
opportunities, and the relevance of the 
investments we are making to capture these.
2020 performance
We delivered very strong revenue performance 
in 2020, with nearly £14 billion of sales and 11.8% 
Like-for-Like growth. In Hygiene, we delivered 
excellent growth by increasing capacity to meet 
the strong demand for Lysol, while a number of 
other brands also saw significantly greater 
demand driven by ‘nesting’ behaviours. Our 
Health business saw some dynamic trading, led 
by sustained strong demand for Dettol, which 
showed similar trends to Lysol. Our Sexual 
Laxman Narasimhan
Chief Executive Officer
We delivered  
very strong revenue 
performance in 2020,  
with nearly £14 billion  
of sales and 11.8%  
Like-for-Like growth.

07
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Wellbeing segment improved in the second  
half of the year as social distancing restrictions 
related to COVID-19 eased and we benefited 
from the launch of our new ultra-thin condom. 
This was offset to an extent by trading in 
over-the-counter medications, where market 
conditions were weaker due to the soft cough, 
cold and flu season towards the end of the year. 
Finally, our focus in Nutrition was on operational 
execution and maintaining market share, 
particularly in Greater China where market 
conditions were more challenging. This was in 
part offset by strong performances in our US 
business and our increased focus on vitamins, 
minerals and supplements, particularly immunity 
and senior nutrition which will support our 
longer-term ambitions for this business.
Step-change in our business
The global pandemic has reinforced the 
relationship between hygiene and health. A 
much greater awareness of the importance of 
day-to-day cleanliness and sanitation is now 
driving fundamental day-to-day behaviours. 
Around the world, this is leading to disinfectants 
and anti-bacterial cleaners selling in higher 
volumes, gaining more shelf space and 
penetrating new categories of cleaning. For 
example, growing into laundry sanitation, 
expanding in wider surface cleaning – with more 
wipes and sprays, and becoming the norm for 
hand sanitising. As a result, our leading global 
disinfectant brands – Dettol, Lysol and Sagrotan 
to name but a few – grew in aggregate by over 
60% and have significant room to grow further. 
Our teams have driven our success 
Our teams have overcome significant hurdles 
to increase production of these, and other 
products, while staying safe and supporting 
their communities. I am humbled to see 
first-hand this ‘can-do’ attitude with which 
Reckitt is frequently associated. I had learned 
much about this prior to my joining the 
company around 18 months ago. I am 
immensely grateful to our teams around the 
world for their hard work and flexibility. Our 
purpose, to protect, heal and nurture in the 
relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier 
world, has been at the centre of our response 
and continues to be as relevant as ever.
Strategic progress in 2020
At the same time, we have invested a record 
£745m through the P&L back into the business to 
rebuild the long-term capabilities to improve 
customer service, to innovate and improve 
product quality and to grow purpose-led brands. 
Our investment in Centres of Excellence has 
already begun to yield results, particularly in the 
important area of customer service where we 
have meaningfully increased our ability to 
support customers – developing the relationship 
from being one of transaction, to a fuller 
commercial partnership. The annual Advantage 
survey of retailers shows that we have made a 
material improvement in this area, advancing 9 
places, moving from the lowest tier to inside the 
top 10 of FMCG peers globally, with further 
improvements expected over time. Achieving 
this while delivering a step-change in capacity 
has been very pleasing but there is still much to 
do, particularly on our supply chain performance. 
On all fronts, we are targeting meaningful further 
improvements over the coming years. 
We also made the organisational changes 
necessary to deliver our strategy. In July, we 
established our three focused Global Business 
Units and have progressively strengthened 
our leadership teams throughout the year.
Furthermore, we have executed successfully 
against the drivers of growth: increasing 
penetration; optimising market share; entering 
new places and entering new spaces. Our 
market share performance was growing, led by 
Dettol, Lysol, Durex, Finish, our North American 
IFCN business and various OTC products, 
including Gaviscon. As a result, 70% of our core 
Hygiene category market units, and 85% in 
Health, held or gained market share in the year. 
Dettol and Lysol now generate over £3bn in 
combined revenue and are present in over 300 
million homes globally. However, our growth in 
2020 has been broad-based. Geographically, our 
ten largest markets grew by an average of 15%, 
and we’ve seen good growth across most of 
our categories. Finish has taken significant share, 
Airborne’s revenue was up well over 100%, and 
we have driven good share gains in Durex where 
we launched our first polyurethane (ultra-thin) 
condom in China. Innovation and consumer 
insight continues to drive share gains in a number 
of our categories, and we continue to see 
strong opportunities for white space growth.  
In e-commerce, our ‘Be Big’, ‘Be Fast’ 
and ‘Be Bold’ strategies have accelerated 
revenue growth to a record 56% in the 
year with online sales now representing 
c.12% of Group revenue. We are witnessing 
fundamental changes to consumer behaviour 
as consumers continue to move online.
Underpinning much of our investment in 
the business, our productivity programme is 
also well ahead of expectations, with savings 
of £407m achieved in 2020. As a result, we 
have increased this programme and are now 
targeting savings of £1.6bn over the period 
2020-22, compared to the £1.3bn previously. 
Strengthening our environmental  
and social ambitions
In addition, we are strengthening our 
environmental and social ambitions as our focus 
turns from mitigating our negative impacts to 
making a net positive contribution through 
understanding how we can make things better.  
Reflecting this, we announced in June 2020 our 
pledge to be carbon neutral by 2040. In addition, 
we are committed to powering our operations 
with 100% renewable electricity by 2030, with 
the ambition of net zero carbon emissions by 
2040 – a decade ahead of the global climate 
action deadline of 2050 as stipulated in the Paris 
Agreement. Equally, we were one of the first 
three global companies to sign up to The 
Climate Pledge, co-founded in 2019 by  
Amazon and Global Optimism. From a societal 
perspective, we established the Reckitt Fight  
for Access Fund during the year where we have 
committed to the equivalent annual investment 
of 1% of our Adjusted Operating Profit. This  
will help improve access globally by ensuring 
high-quality products, providing education  
and information and driving availability. 
Additionally, we established the Reckitt  
Global Hygiene Institute in July 2020, a global 
initiative to generate high-quality scientific 
research-based evidence to inform public  
health recommendations and promote 
behaviours that improve global hygiene.
Our business portfolio
When we established our strategy in February 
2020, we said that we would be active managers 
of the portfolio, seeking to migrate the portfolio 
towards higher growth businesses. We have 
therefore taken decisive action to strengthen our 
portfolio, so that we are better positioned to take 
advantage of market growth as we recover from 
COVID-19, and in the long-term 
Firstly, our infant nutrition business in China 
has been operating in challenging conditions, 
with declining birth rates, tougher regulations 
and increased local competition who have been 
investing heavily. Additionally, the pandemic 
has brought about the closure of the border 
with Hong Kong, preventing any meaningful 
cross-border trade. We do not expect the 
situation to improve materially in the near term 
and so are engaging in a strategic review 
of this business. No decision has yet been 
taken as to the overall outcome and we will 
provide further updates as appropriate.
Additionally, we announced the sale of 
Scholl, the footcare brand, after ten years of 
ownership and at the same time agreed to 
acquire Biofreeze, a leader in over-the-counter 
topical pain relief. The brand has a strong 
footprint in the North America retail and clinical 
channels and a growing international presence. 
Looking forward
Overall, recent market developments continue 
to support our 4-6% medium-term growth 
expectations. In Hygiene, we should grow 
around 4-5% as we expect to outperform a 
larger and faster growing market for disinfection. 
Health should also outperform, with strong 
demand for sexual wellbeing products helping 
support 4-6% growth. Senior adult nutrition,  
and strong growth in VMS should also enable 
Nutrition to deliver 3-5% growth in the 
medium-term.
2020 was a turning point for Reckitt. 
Our performance is strong, we are building 
our capabilities, actively managing our 
portfolio and transforming our culture. We 
expect 2021 to be a year of further strategic 
progress and we remain confident that 
we will meet our medium-term targets.

08
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
TA LK I N G TO OU R B US I N ESS LE A DERS
Laxman Narasimhan
Chief Executive Officer
In 2020, we all had to adapt 
to new realities. At Reckitt, 
we stepped up to play 
our part in combatting 
the spread of the virus 
and we’ve also been hard 
at work to progress our 
business transformation 
plan. I wanted to take stock 
with the leadership team at 
the end of an eventful year.
Kris Licht | President Health & 
Chief Customer Officer 
I’ve been so impressed by the resilience 
and perseverance of our Health team in a 
time of great need. We had to rethink and 
reprioritise – we dramatically increased our 
supply capacity for disinfectants – 37 new 
manufacturing locations in one year! And 
even though we had to work virtually, we’ve 
strengthened retailer partnerships. Given 
everything, it’s amazing to me that we executed 
so well in year one of our transformation. 
Volker Kuhn | Chief Transformation Officer 
2020 brought the best out of our people 
and teams. I have deep respect for their 
tremendous achievements and how they dealt 
with unprecedented challenges. Importantly, 
we’ve made a strong start to our ambitious 
transformation journey. Our organisation has 
proved extremely agile. We overdelivered 
on business performance and productivity 
gains, and I am particularly proud of the speed 
and agility we demonstrated in successfully 
launching Global Business Solutions. In short, 
our people didn’t leave any stone unturned 
to satisfy the unprecedented demand of 
the pandemic, while strengthening the 
foundation of the business for the future.
Rupert Bondy | General Counsel  
& Company Secretary 
I agree with that. In 2020, going through 
a leadership, strategy and culture change 
while responding to COVID-19 was definitely 
challenging, but it was also energising. It 
seemed to bring out the best in our people.
Miguel Veiga-Pestana | Head of Corporate 
Affairs & Chief Sustainability Officer
I’m proud of how we’ve collectively 
responded and all that we’ve achieved in 
these extraordinary times. I’m a particularly 
passionate advocate of our purpose, fight and 
compass. It’s inspirational and it motivates me 
to get up in the morning. We are a purpose-
led, purposeful company with some truly 
amazing iconic brands that make a difference 
to people’s everyday lives. It was also great 
to see us step up in 2020 with our Climate 
Change commitment to be ‘net zero’ by 2040. 
Laxman Narasimhan: What are  
your thoughts on our performance  
in 2020?
Harold van den Broek | President Hygiene 
This was an incredible year for hygiene – I 
couldn’t be more proud of our people. The 
teams understood the importance of good 
hygiene as the foundation of good health. 
I saw focus, speed, sense of ownership, 
ramping up production, asking suppliers 
to help with materials and knowledge, 
many working 24/7 to make it all happen. 
We didn’t fulfil all the demand all the 
time, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. 
Aditya Sehgal | President Nutrition,  
eRB & Greater China 
It has really demonstrated the importance of 
living our purpose. The strength of our brands 
and culture shone through. We displayed 
strong agility and we outperformed. The 
new focus on nutrition is already making a 
difference. And eRB’s performance was  
just outstanding. Digital sales were up 
by more than 50%. This was really the 
year that e-commerce came to the 
fore as a key engine of growth.

09
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Laxman Narasimhan: For more recent 
joiners, what attracted you to Reckitt 
and now you’re here what’s your take 
on its culture?
 
Angela Naef | Chief R&D Officer
The big transformation that was underway 
was the real pull for me. I wanted the 
chance to bring science and technology 
to bear on real-world problems. What’s 
struck me most about Reckitt people? 
Their sense of purpose. I’m working with 
a highly motivated and committed global 
team focusing on things that really matter.
Ranjay Radhakrishnan | Chief Human 
Resources Officer 
Before joining in March, I’d admired the 
Reckitt powerhouse from the outside. Now 
I get to see the engine. I love the pragmatic, 
entrepreneurial and action-oriented spirit here. 
Sami Naffakh | Chief Supply Officer 
I’m a bit of a special case. I arrived in July 
but I also used to work for Reckitt more than 
a decade ago. It’s a very different animal 
now, a much more mature organisation. 
But it’s also managed to keep its amazing 
entrepreneurial, can-do spirit. I especially 
relate to our purpose, fight and compass, and 
our clear commitment to social responsibility 
– sustainability, diversity – without any 
concession to financial performance. 
Jeff Carr | Chief Financial Officer 
Our culture is very unique and our people 
are fantastic, during these challenging 
times I’m very proud how our teams have 
reacted with speed and agility to deliver 
such a strong performance in 2020.
Harold van den Broek | President Hygiene 
I think Reckitt’s culture has evolved 
significantly just in the last year. We’re 
become much more open, diverse and 
inclusive, and there’s a learning culture here, 
which will liberate more energy and ideas.
Laxman Narasimhan: What are your 
main challenges and opportunities?
Aditya Sehgal | President Nutrition,  
eRB & Greater China 
My focus in Nutrition is on strengthening the 
core and creating new engines of growth. 
Our digitaI business is already doing really 
well. I want us to keep on overdelivering 
in e-commerce. And we can deepen 
and broaden our business in China.
Kris Licht | President Health & 
Chief Customer Officer 
For me, it’s about strengthening the Health 
business, I also think there are a lot of 
opportunities available to us if we put more 
time and resource into customer partnerships.
Volker Kuhn | Chief Transformation Officer
My priorities are to continue to shape 
the growth in new places and spaces, 
deliver on our stepped up productivity 
ambitions as well as our commitments to 
building stronger capabilities, which are 
foundational for sustained outperformance. 
Angela Naef | Chief R&D Officer
My focus is on building the capabilities that 
will further our delivery in science, technology 
and innovation to create superior solutions that 
help to address global issues and opportunities 
that are safe, efficacious and impactful. 
Jeff Carr | Chief Financial Officer 
Our transformation journey has started 
so well, the opportunity is now to build 
on our strong start and deliver our goal 
of long-term sustainable growth.
Sami Naffakh | Chief Supply Officer	
I want to develop an adaptive supply 
network for Reckitt that leverages the 
macro changes we’re now seeing in the 
world. There’s still a lot to do, but in time I do 
expect our supply chain to become much 
more customer and consumer-centric, agile, 
lean, resilient, sustainable and responsible.
Miguel Veiga-Pestana | Head of Corporate 
Affairs & Chief Sustainability Officer
I couldn’t agree more. This is a critical year in so 
many ways. Time is running out to address the 
challenges facing the world today and we have 
to play our part. I’m excited that we’ve recently 
set out our ten year sustainability ambitions as 
an integral part of our strategy – working with 
our partners to build a cleaner, healthier world.
Ranjay Radhakrishnan | Chief Human 
Resources Officer
The Reckitt culture is so important in all this. 
I confess I’m itching to connect with people 
face-to-face. I do hope that in 2021 I will be 
able to meet more colleagues, visit factories, 
markets so I can see, live and breathe a 
bit more of our frontline operations.
Laxman Narasimhan | Chief Executive Officer
I’m with you there Ranjay! Let’s hope the 
world’s in a better place soon and we can 
all meet again in person before too long.

10
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R B US I N ESS M O DEL
WHY WE DO IT
HOW WE DO IT
Our purpose
We exist to protect, heal and 
nurture in the relentless pursuit 
of a cleaner and healthier world.
Today, our brands like Dettol, Lysol, Harpic, Finish, Durex, Mucinex, 
Enfamil and Move Free, among others, fight at the frontlines to give our 
consumers a better life. Why we exist – our purpose, our soul – is clear.
Each word matters. They speak to our portfolio and the categories in 
which we play. Relentless pursuit captures Reckitt’s entrepreneurial 
and can-do spirit, all in service of creating a cleaner, healthier world.
Our fight
Making access to the highest 
quality hygiene, wellness  
and nourishment a right,  
not a privilege.
Our key resources
A virtuous circle of growth
Overarching our core business model, we seek to deliver 
continuous productivity improvements, allowing for further 
investment in the business – to our brands, capabilities and growth 
opportunities. In doing so, Reckitt creates a virtuous circle of growth.
Our people and culture
We employ outstanding people 
who work in a unique culture that 
harnesses their passion and 
allows them to make a real 
difference. 
Our key brands
We have a portfolio of global 
leading brands and other ‘local 
hero’ brands that offer faster 
growth and higher margins. 
Disruptive, ‘rocket’ brands 
redefine and extend the spaces 
in which we operate.  
Our knowledge and skills
We have deep consumer 
understanding, proven R&D, 
quality and innovation capabilities 
and an agile organisation, which 
gets products to markets fast. 
Our stakeholders
We develop strong, trusted 
relationships with our customers, 
consumers, suppliers and 
communities. We access and 
develop networks and 
partnerships that extend 
our impact. 
Our infrastructure
Our business is underpinned by 
strong manufacturing sites, R&D 
laboratories, centres of 
excellence and logistics centres. 
 
Our financial strength
Shareholders’ equity, debt and 
retained profit give us the 
financial resources to implement 
our strategy. 
Superior insights 
coming from better 
data across consumers, 
channels and platforms
Funded by productivity 
with sustainable, lean 
cost structures
Trusted purpose-led 
solutions, supported by 
science platforms and 
well-invested brands
Execution excellence 
to drive growth from 
product penetration, 
market share gains, new 
places and new spaces
The relentless 
pursuit of a cleaner,  
healthier world

Do the
right thing.
Always.
Put consumers
and people ﬁrst
Build shared
success
Seek out new
opportunities
Strive for
excellence
11
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
The value we create
Our leadership behaviours
Our compass
In order to deliver on our ambitions around purpose and our business 
strategy, we need our culture and our people to be operating at their 
peak. In many ways, our culture today is the shadow we cast as leaders. 
To evolve that culture and achieve sustainable outperformance, 
leadership is a key lever to pull. Our leadership behaviours set out  
how we expect each of our leaders to behave and define what  
good leadership looks like and how we will evaluate our leaders  
going forward. Reckitt leaders OWN, CREATE, DELIVER and CARE. 
Our compass sets out the new values and behaviours for 
our business. At it’s heart is the goal of always doing the right thing 
with clear principles around putting consumers and people first, 
seeking out new opportunities, striving for excellence and building 
a culture of shared success. Our compass will guide us to sustainable 
growth in the future. 
Consumers
Consumers receive innovative, safe and 
high-quality products, which help them live 
cleaner, healthier lives. 
For more information 
See page 28
People
Reckitt provides exciting and challenging 
careers, with excellent rewards for 
outstanding performance. 
 
For more information 
See page 40
	 Own
•	
Live our purpose, fight  
and compass
•	
Know our business cold
•	
Make decisions
	 Create
•	
Spot opportunities
•	
Innovate, iterate and scale
•	
Relentlessly build better
	 Care
•	
Actively listen, learn  
and include
•	
Speak direct with respect
•	
Act to unleash potential
	 Deliver
•	
Focus on what matters
•	
Move boldly and at pace
•	
Join forces to win bigger
Customers
Bricks and mortar and e-commerce 
customers gain from selling our leading 
brands, growing our categories and driving 
customer value in relevant channels.
For more information 
See page 32
Communities
Our products and social programmes lead  
to improved health and hygiene standards.
For more information 
See page 48
Investors
Investors benefit from strong 
operational and financial performance, 
resulting in attractive returns via dividends 
and long-term share price appreciation.
For more information 
See page 36
Environment
We recognise the impact we have on the 
environment we share with others. We are 
working to reduce our impact by reducing  
our greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to 
reducing global warming and climate change.
For more information 
See page 52

12
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
PU R POS E- LED G ROW TH
OUR PURPOSE 
DRIVES OUR 
PERFORMANCE
Our purpose, to protect, 
heal and nurture in the 
relentless pursuit of a 
cleaner healthier world 
drives our performance. 
Our purpose focuses 
our teams and creates 
opportunities for business 
growth that will deliver 
long-term shareholder 
value. We create value for 
our business and for society 
through our growth which 
increases our social and 
environmental impact. 
Our strategy meets the needs and the 
concerns of our stakeholders. Our strategy 
delivers our purpose and our fight to make 
access to the highest quality hygiene, wellness 
and nourishment a right, not a privilege.
Our brands create opportunities in 
people’s lives, through better health, 
hygiene and nutrition. They meet growing 
consumer demands, all the more so during 
the pandemic. In doing so, they have an 
authentic social impact, fighting at the front 
lines to give our consumers a better life. We 
don’t just sell products, we design solutions 
that meet fundamental human needs. 
Connecting with our stakeholders
Our stakeholder relationships extend our 
ability to deliver on our purpose. Listening 
to and working with consumers, customers, 
partners and colleagues throughout our 
business brings greater opportunities. During 
2020, as we launched our new strategy and 
developed our environmental and social 
ambitions, this was more important than ever. 
With Ipsos Mori, we engaged with a 
representative sample of our consumers 
in each of our key markets in the UK, US, 
Mexico, India and China. The research helped 
us better understand what our consumers 
knew of our corporate purpose and how 
we are bringing it to life through our brands. 
Our purpose-led brands are well known and 
trusted by consumers. Our wider corporate 
work, for example our partnerships and work 
throughout our value chain, is less understood. 
Importantly, the research demonstrated the 
need to show consumers the connections 
between our consumer brands and our wider 
corporate activity. This can build trust more 
broadly, and powerfully reinforce that the 
whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This 
is one of the goals of our business strategy, 
brought to life through our Reckitt brand. 
Those same consumers also told us what 
was important to them. 71% said climate 
change was as significant a threat as the 
pandemic, and 65 % told us they would 
support a green recovery. This reinforced the 
importance of our commitment to combat 
climate change, and our ambition for carbon 
neutrality by 2040. We are collaborating on 
this with Amazon and their Climate Pledge. 
In UN Climate Week, we jointly hosted 
discussions on climate change to encourage 
scaled-up activity. With other peer companies, 
we have also worked in the Business 
Avengers group to support delivery of other 
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Reckitt 
is leading activity on SDG 3, Good Health 
and Wellbeing, as it is central to our Health, 
Hygiene and Nutrition brands. We know the 
importance of the SDGs to our stakeholders 
and, more importantly, to communities 
where we work around the world.
Understanding our contribution to society 
is important in our role as a global corporate 
citizen. It helps frame our approach to 
create the greatest impact. Our 2020 socio-
economic report described the impacts 
of our business in the US. We will carry out 
similar studies elsewhere to strengthen our 
activity and engagement with stakeholders. 
C AS E S T U DY 
OUR WWF 
PARTNERSHIP
Reckitt is partnering with WWF over three 
years to create a movement to fight for 
nature. WWF and Reckitt’s Hygiene business 
will together: 
•	
Preserve and restore 2,100 km of 
freshwater across two major river basins 
in the Amazon and Ganges (two of the 
world’s most important freshwater 
ecosystems)
•	
Innovate for a more sustainable world, 
including improving understanding of 
the impact of household products on 
aquatic environments, and explore how 
to improve the innovation pipeline; and 
•	
Inspire millions to fight for nature 
through impactful brand partnerships 
with our consumers and engaging our 
employees 
As part of our partnership, Air Wick, is working 
with WWF to bring its purpose to life and 
connect people to nature. The Air Wick team 
is activating this purpose in various markets, 
including Australia, the UK and US, to raise 
awareness of the importance of nature and 
how we can all do more to protect and 
restore it. Reckitt will support WWF projects 
to restore wildflower habitats to reverse the 
decline of biodiversity. For example, in the US, 
Air Wick is helping to reseed 1 billion sq ft of 
native grasslands and wildflower habitat in 
the Northern Great Plains.

13
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Putting consumers first
Fostering stronger 
customer relationships
Consumers buy brands they 
trust. They rightly expect safe, 
effective and sustainable 
products, delivered at a fair price. 
This is always our focus, but we 
are also meeting their growing 
expectation that products are 
responsibly sourced and won’t 
damage the environment. And 
that our social and environmental 
impacts tackle global issues 
for a sustainable future.
Our customers’ expertise brings 
consumer insights to strengthen 
our innovation pipeline. We 
work with our customers to 
build and meet joint goals, 
design and develop even safer 
and more effective products 
and to enable greater social 
and environmental impact. 
Collaboration with our customers 
enables joint activity that 
supports both our own purpose 
and our collective ambitions.
Inspiring and supporting 
our people
Engaging investors
Investing in communities
Our highly skilled people enable 
our success. We want to attract, 
develop and retain the very best. 
Engaged, inclusive teams spur 
growth and performance. We 
want our teams to feel good 
about what they do and our 
contribution to the world as a 
whole. Our purposeful culture 
strengthens engagement and 
brings better brand offerings 
for consumers and more value 
for shareholders and investors. 
Through engaging with our 
investors we have support 
for our strategic initiatives 
and in return they share our 
success. Open, effective 
communication, combined with 
performance and clear plans 
for the future, builds trust and 
confidence in our company.
We fight to make access to 
the highest quality hygiene, 
health and nutrition a right not a 
privilege. Improving that access, 
in communities with unmet 
needs, creates social impact 
and brings our brands to new 
consumers. Through our products, 
consumer education and skills, 
we empower people to make 
small changes in their lives for 
a cleaner, healthier world. 
Extending our impact 
with like-minded 
partners 
Building a  
sustainable future 
We join forces to build shared 
success with suppliers, scientists, 
civil society and more, that 
deliver practical and sustainable 
solutions to create a cleaner, 
healthier world. Our partners 
share our purpose and values. 
Through them, we build lasting 
solutions with real social impact. 
The world’s environmental 
challenges demand action on 
multiple fronts. Our ambition is not 
just to combat these challenges, 
but to help build forward better 
where we can, and especially 
where we can have most impact.
Read more page 28
Read more page 32
Read more page 44
Read more page 48
Read more page 52
Read more page 36
Read more page 40

14
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
M A PPI N G W H AT M AT TERS TO OU R STA K EH O LDERS
Our business is responsive 
to the change that is 
happening around us. We’re 
working together to keep 
pace and meet people’s 
changing needs. As part of 
our business transformation, 
our strategy focuses on 
our purpose in the world, 
clearly articulating the 
reason we exist and the 
change we want to see 
that drives our growth.
Reckitt works with a wide variety of 
stakeholders: our consumers and customers; 
investors and shareholders; our suppliers 
and partners; governments in support 
of a wider public health agenda; and, of 
course our 43,500+ strong team whose 
engagement drives our business. 
The trends we describe in our business 
strategy create challenges and opportunities 
for ourselves and all of our stakeholders.
These trends connect us to the needs and 
expectations of our stakeholders. Our approach 
creates opportunities for growth, stronger 
relationships with stakeholders and, through our 
business, a positive social and environmental 
impact. While the pandemic has touched 
everybody around the world, the trends have 
continued and even gathered momentum. 
The need for self-care within the wider public 
health arena has perhaps never been more 
visible, especially within an ageing population. 
Greater awareness of climate change leads 
MEETING THE NEEDS  
OF SOCIETY AND OUR 
STAKEHOLDERS
The megatrends
Hygiene
Urbanisation and 
global warming
Health 
Growing demand  
for self care
Health
Sexual health crisis
Nutrition
Growing and ageing 
population
Digital and e-commerce 
Technology 
proliferation
to an emphasis on building forward better 
and mandates our contribution to support 
the Paris Agreement. The expansion of virtual 
communication has made digital technology 
even more essential and valued by everybody. 
The pandemic has also reinforced the 
necessity for agility within our business and 
preparedness for similar future regional 
or global events. Organising our supply 
networks to address such potential events 
is a natural evolution of the agility we 
demonstrated in maintaining and actually 
growing production during 2020. In doing so 
we helped people combat the pandemic. We 
built powerful relationships with our suppliers 
and, importantly, with our customers with 
progressively stronger service delivery. 
Addressing these trends is central to our 
purpose-led growth. Our ambitions for 2030 
and beyond, stemming from our materiality 
assessments, considered these trends while 
thinking how we would build forward better. 
Our approach helps deliver the UN’s 
Sustainable Development Goals, which 
are central to our ambitions. By aligning 
with the SDGs, we are addressing
challenges faced by society as a whole and 
creating opportunities for ourselves. While  
-we are tackling many of the 17 Goals, we will 
continue our emphasis on five where we can 
have most impact through our business –  
SDGs 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13.
Integrating social and environmental  
impact within our business agenda draws upon 
James Reckitt’s legacy. New innovations bring 
greater efficacy for consumers and greater 
impacts for society. We are developing our 
brands, our business, our supply networks 
and channels to consumers to maximise our 
positive impact on society within the growth 
of our business. This reflects the heritage 
that has guided Reckitt for over 200 years.

15
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
The Sustainable  
Development Goals
In 2015, UN Member States adopted the 17 
Sustainable Development Goals as part of the 
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 
2019 the UN Secretary-General called for a 
decade of action by all stakeholders, asking 
civil society, academia, the media and the 
private sector to deliver the 2030 Goals. At 
Reckitt, we recognise the impact we have for 
society and on many of these goals. As with 
the interdependence between the Global 
Goals, the connection between the health of 
people and of the planet is central to our 
sustainability agenda. We recognise that as 
society thrives, so do we. We want to do all we 
can to help meet this challenge. 
There are five SDGs where our impact can 
be greatest. These embody the work of our 
brands and our business as a whole, through 
our value chains and in our partnerships 
that support the poorest communities – 
where hunger, disease and poor sanitation 
are most prevalent, and where the worst 
effects of climate change are felt first. 
As Reckitt, we’re now more unified than ever. 
We’re working together, with all of us pulling in 
the same direction, and in support of all our 
stakeholders. This unity makes us stronger 
because it links to our total offer. We are 
connecting everything we do with everything 
that people value.
Consulting with our stakeholders
We consult stakeholders in many ways 
across our business. Top-level meetings 
with our customers; multi-stakeholder 
forums; academic partnerships, especially 
for science and medicine; our work with 
the Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute; and 
our new Board listening sessions with key 
stakeholders – all serve to bring the voice of 
our stakeholders into our business agenda. 
Our work is informed by feedback from 
groups relevant to our business operations, 
including consumers, customers, suppliers, 
investors, governments, non‑governmental 
organisations (NGOs), industry peers, 
educational institutions, communities and our 
employees. They tell us what matters most 
and those insights help us better meet their 
needs, and improve our approach for the 
future. In doing so they add to the materiality 
process described in our Focusing on what 
matters insight. Whilst we did not carry out 
a new study in 2020, assessment for our 
sustainability agenda provided an update.
Our 2020 internal engagement programme 
amplified the voice of our 43,500+ strong 
team. It helped strengthen our culture and 
supported our diversity and inclusion ambitions 
against a backdrop of global cultural trends 
and campaigns. The programme, described 
in our People section, brought our people 
together in an unprecedented way and 
increased employee engagement overall. 
At Board level, we have brought the voice 
of our various stakeholders to life in assessing 
challenges we face in our value chain. We 
began a new series of Board listening sessions 
with a panel on climate change and water 
stress. Members of our CRSEC Committee 
heard from one of our key customers, an 
international NGO partner, the UK Government 
on the global climate change conference 
in 2021, an Indian state Government where 
water stress is a critical issue, and the investor 
community. The session provided detailed 
understanding from each stakeholder’s 
perspective and has helped to frame our 
ambition on water in our new sustainability 
agenda. A similar event included members of 
our Executive who heard from our human rights 
partner, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, 
about their human rights impact assessment 
of our Thai value chain. The subsequent 
action plan aims to strengthen human rights 
for people we work with in Thailand. 
 
Aligning with the United Nations Sustainable 
Development Goals (SDGs)
SDG 2: Zero hunger
In infant nutrition we focus on the 
first 1,000 days of life. Our products 
keep mothers healthy and nourish 
their babies. In line with World Health 
Organization (WHO) guidelines, we 
promote exclusive breastfeeding in 
the first six months. Protecting 
people against malnutrition and 
stunting is a key theme for our social 
impact investment programme.
SDG 3: Good health and wellbeing
This goal is closely aligned with our 
purpose and as the Business Avenger 
for SDG 3, we are championing 
swifter progress in the private 
sector. Many of our brands play a role 
in promoting health and wellbeing. 
They include Durex, Dettol, Gaviscon 
and Mucinex, as well as Lysol and 
our Mortein insecticide products. 
The pandemic has ensured this has 
been a focus throughout 2020. 
SDG 5: Gender equality
Promoting gender equality is in our 
employment policies and in our 
social impact programmes. Our 
employment policies drive gender 
equality in our teams. We have 
mentoring schemes for female 
employees, gender-balanced 
shortlists and proportionality targets 
at senior management level. We 
also now report internationally 
on our gender pay gap. We have 
set up social impact projects 
to encourage girls to stay in 
school in South Africa and equip 
women in rural communities 
with independent income.
SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation
Our Harpic, Dettol and Lysol brands 
are closely associated with 
programmes emphasising the 
importance of good sanitation and 
hygiene. In partnership with Water.
org and WaterAid our Mission Paani 
and Banega Swasth campaigns 
improve access to water and 
sanitation, building community 
awareness of health and hygiene. 
Publicity campaigns emphasise 
conserving water and ensuring 
sustainable sources for future 
generations, and build water 
harvesting in selected villages. 
SDG13: Climate action 
We are accelerating delivery of the 
Paris Climate Change Agreement 
to keep global warming to below 
1.5oC. This is a major milestone in 
our ambition for carbon neutrality 
by 2040 – a decade ahead of 
the world’s goal of 2050. We will 
reduce carbon emissions from 
our sites by 65% and power our 
operations with 100% renewable 
electricity by 2030, while also 
reducing our products’ footprint.

16
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R M A R K ETS A N D M EGATR EN DS
Reckitt operates in attractive, growing 
market segments, underpinned by 
clear megatrends:
Urbanisation and global warming, and their impact on the 
spread of infection, re-enforcing the necessity of improved 
hygiene; growing demand for self-care, given pressures on 
governmental spending globally; growing importance of 
sexual health and wellbeing; a growing and ageing population; 
and ever-changing technology, which is transforming 
consumer knowledge and purchasing habits. Most of these 
trends have been accelerated or accentuated by COVID-19. 
HYGIENE
HEALTH
NUTRITION
Global market
£80bn1n
4–5%%
Global market
£160bn1
4–6%%
Global market
£130bn1
3–5%%
 Surface
 Dish
 OTC
 Germ protection
 Infant formula 
 Laundry care ex. detergents
 Other
 Sexual Wellbeing 
 Other
 Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements 
Top Reckitt markets
Relevant megatrends
 1
 5
 
Top Reckitt markets
Relevant megatrends
 1
 2
 3
 5
 
Top Reckitt markets
Relevant megatrends
 4
 5
 
1.	 Source: Euromonitor and company estimates. Nutrition excludes Solid baby food

17
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Megatrends
COVID-19 impact
on megatrends
1
Global warming 
and urbanisation
+2.5bn
people living in urban areas 
over the next 30 years
10
new ‘megacities’ 
to be formed by 2030
The role we play: with our category-
leading disinfection brands, such as 
Dettol, Lysol, Sagrotan and Napisan, we 
help break the chain of infection. We 
work hard to better understand and 
respond to evolving consumer needs, 
such as the growing demand for 
protection against germs outside  
of the home.
 
Penetration to existing plus 
new households
New market expansion
New use occasions
The issue: The transmission of infection is likely to be a 
growing global issue over the coming decades, as 
growing populations and movements of people create 
the conditions necessary for the spread of disease. It is 
estimated that an additional 2.5bn people will live in 
cities over the next 30 years1 – this increase is driven 
primarily by Africa and Asia, with 10 new ‘megacities’ 
expected by 20302. Similarly, climate change is 
increasingly being linked to growth in infection and 
disease, with deforestation thought to be the cause  
of 1/3 of new and emerging outbreaks such as Ebola  
or Zika3.
2
The role of self-care
48%
in UK to consult 
pharmacists more  
often, although 31% 
would not have done so 
pre-COVID-19 4
Half of all UK hospital 
trusts⁵ are in
FINANCIAL
DEFICIT
The role we play: with our over-the-
counter brands such as Mucinex, Nurofen 
and Strepsils, we provide people with 
the products and information they need 
to treat many everyday symptoms such 
as cold and flu, themselves, without 
recourse to a medical professional. By 
saving a trip to the doctors, we are 
helping to reduce demand on strained 
public healthcare.
More self-care due to further 
pressure on health systems
Increase in telemedicine
One-off decreased cold  
and flu season
The issue: In both developed and emerging markets, 
ageing populations and stretched public finances are 
placing ever growing pressures on health systems. This 
is in turn leading patients to seek – and governments to 
encourage – self-care. This is made easier by technology 
which provides increasingly sophisticated personalised 
recommendations.
3
Sexual health crisis
1m
people infected each  
day with a sexually 
transmitted infection 6
1.7mm
newly infected with 
HIV infections globally 
according to latest World 
AIDS day 2020 factsheet 7
The role we play: as the world’s leading 
producer of condoms and with 90 years 
of brand heritage, Durex has a crucial role 
to play in improving education around 
risks of sexually transmitted infections, 
and encouraging safe sex. We focus our 
efforts to shape long-term attitude and 
behaviours on the point of market entry 
programs help young people make 
informed and confident choices, working 
with partners such as National AIDS 
Control Organization (India), Solidarte 
(France), Dance 4Life (Netherlands), 
UNFPA (Mexico), and the Ministry of 
Health in Russia.
Increased sexual health crises 
as a result of untreated 
symptoms
Social distancing reducing 
frequency of condom use
The issue: Sexual health and wellbeing is a growing 
societal issue and widely considered an endemic, with 
1m infections globally every day. In many areas of the 
world awareness and understanding of these issues  
are poor.
4
Ageing population
C.£1bn
size of the elderly nutrition 
market in China, which is 
growing at c.17% per 
annum 8 
2bn
people will be aged 
over 60 by 2050 9
The role we play: our VMS brands such 
as Move Free, MegaRed and Neuriva 
address important needs in nutrition. 
Leveraging the science capabilities 
within our Infant Nutrition business, our 
product innovation naturally addresses 
the opportunity presented in the adult 
and senior markets.
Continued growth in 
speciality and immunity 
Birth-rate challenges in the 
near-term
The issue: With people living longer, there is growing 
demand for health and wellbeing products that allow 
people to live their lives to the full – with a healthy body 
and mind.
5
Technology proliferation
710m
people make up the 
Chinese e-commerce 
market, now bigger than 
the US and Europe 
combined 10
+49%
growth in US online retail 
sales in Q4 2020 11
The role we play: our investment in eRB 
means that consumers can discover and 
purchase our products how and when 
they want. Our direct to consumer 
business now allows for speedy delivery 
of health products such as analgesics 
and condoms. We are also increasingly 
able to deliver personalised nutrition.
 
 
 
Fundamental change in 
consumer engagement
Step-change in e-commerce 
transactions
Digital, personalised health
The issue: Technology is transforming consumer 
behaviour and purchasing decisions, affecting what 
people buy and how they buy it. This has implications for 
the way we develop and market our products, the value 
we can offer consumers, as well as how we manage our 
supply chain.
1.	 United Nations
2.	 United Nations
3.	 Ecohealth Alliance
4.	 Ipsos Consumer Healthcare Survey, July 2020
5.	 The Kings Fund
6.	 World Health Organisation
7.	 UNAIDS Factsheet, December 2020
8.	 Company estimates 
9.	 World Health Organisation
10.	www.statista.com
11.	 Mastercard survey between October – December 2020

18
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
DELI V ER I N G OU R STR ATEGY
REJUVENATING 
SUSTAINABLE 
GROWTH
In February 2020, we shared our strategy for rejuvenating sustainable  
growth, and our medium-term financial targets. This set out how we would:
Drive growth, rebuild a strong earnings model and 
outperform with mid-single digit organic top-line, mid  
20’s margins and 7-9% EPS growth
1
The three phases of rejuvenation
20191
First phase
Stabilise and perform
Second phase
Perform and build
Third phase
Outperformance
NR growth
Performance drivers
Example investment areas
•	 Sustain Hygiene growth
•	 Reignite Health volume and growth
•	 Reignite Nutrition developing market 
growth
•	 eRB
•	 Research and development
•	 Product quality
•	 Customer service and marketing 
excellence
•	 Supply chain performance
•	 Sustainability
•	 Step up Hygiene growth
•	 Sustain and step up Health growth
•	 Broaden and grow Nutrition
•	 Improve Health and Nutrition margins
•	 eRB
•	 Maintain foundational capabilities
•	 Availability in developing markets
•	 Channel-specific sales resources
•	 Science and technology platform 
partnerships
NR
+0.8%
Mid-single digits
EPS growth
EPS
+2.8%
+7-9%
1
2
3
The journey will be undertaken in three phases that will initially establish 
consistent performance, build revenue momentum and finally achieve 
sustained outperformance.
Enable improved growth by investing in key capabilities to 
strengthen product innovation and enhance customer 
service, with sustainability at the heart of everything we do
2
Fund investment through delivery of an enhanced 
productivity programme and short-term reduction in 
operating margin
3
Deliver progressive improvements to our top-line growth 
through better product penetration, market share gains,  
and expansion into new places and new spaces
4
Manage capital allocation to support a strong balance  
sheet while actively migrating our portfolio to higher growth 
opportunities
5
1.	 2019 Like-for-Like NR and Adjusted diluted EPS presented

19
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Good strategic progress in 2020
During 2020 – in the first phase of our plan – we have executed well, 
against a highly dynamic market backdrop, achieving financial targets 
ahead of expectations. As outlined, we have taken the opportunity of 
stronger than expected revenue growth to reinvest in incremental 
growth opportunities. As a result, we have taken advantage of some 
positive market developments across the breadth of the portfolio. For 
example, COVID-19 has presented significant opportunities for our 
disinfectant brands, resulting in strong growth; over this period, we have 
worked to take Dettol and Lysol into 70 new markets, and new category 
adjacencies over 2020 and 2021, including to service business customers, 
in particular the providers of accommodation, travel services, public 
spaces and events, workspaces and shared facilities.
Strong early achievements investing in the core enablers of growth
Our strategy is centred around rebuilding core capabilities that will 
support sustainable growth – such as eRB, R&D, product quality, 
customer service and marketing excellence, supply chain performance 
and sustainability. While there is still work to be done, we have already 
made good progress in reinvigorating a number of these functions in 
a number of areas. Firstly, on customer service, we have established 
centres of excellence for sales, marketing, e-commerce and medical 
sales and are building out our global customer relationship teams. 
We are already harvesting the benefits having seen a significant 
improvement in our third-party relationships and ranking on the 
external Advantage survey of retailers where we have advanced 
9 places, moving from the lowest tier to inside the top 10 of FMCG 
peers globally. We expect to make further improvements over time:
Secondly, on supply chain, we responded strongly to the exceptional 
demands of 2020 with investment, SKU-rationalisation and the use of 
co-packers. We have also commenced reshaping the network in order 
to increase long-term capacity and resilience through responding to 
channel shifts with greater flexibility and reducing overall lead times  
and leveraging data, AI and machine learning to target substantial further 
improvements. 
Thirdly, we are improving our Digital and e-commerce strategy –  
Be Big, Be Fast and Be Bold – by investing in and leveraging established 
capabilities to accelerate developments in D2C, marketplaces and 
through Bricks and Clicks channels where customer behaviour changes, 
as more consumers migrate online, have driven the strongest growth. 
We have also invested to further build B2B e-commerce to leapfrog 
go-to-market capabilities in developing and emerging markets.
R&D, Quality and Product Innovation is the fourth area of focus  
and we have already increased the run-rate of R&D investment by 35% 
compared to 2019. This investment will help drive development of new 
science platforms. The strength and depth of the innovation pipeline is 
already leading to new products such as the ultra-thin condom which 
was launched into the Chinese market in 2020 and the development  
of our first adult nutrition products within the first year of programme. 
We have also worked to widen consumer health brands across broader 
demand spaces and significantly enhanced consumer-perceived 
product quality and quality processes. 
We are driving the sustainability agenda and made a £40m 
investment in the Fight for Access Fund to support disadvantaged 
groups battling COVID-19. We also launched the Reckitt Global Hygiene 
Institute to advance evidence of behaviour change and are investing 
across the portfolio to drive the acceleration of new sourcing, packaging 
and product innovations as a clear differentiator for purpose-led  
brand growth. We are committed to climate change and thus we  
are accelerating work to deliver on the Paris agreement so that  
we achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. 
A new organisation structure
Finally, we have throughout 2020 established a new organisational 
structure, moving to three category-focused business units of Hygiene, 
Health and Nutrition, with our China and e-commerce teams integrated 
across each of these (see box). 
Strong first year from our enhanced productivity plan
Our investments, which total over £2bn over the period 2020-22, are 
funded primarily by our productivity programme. In our first year we 
delivered productivity savings of £407m, significantly ahead of our plan. 
As a result, and with new opportunities identified, we have increased our 
plan by £300m, to £1.6bn over the three years. This will help us mitigate  
a number of new input cost pressures.
OUR ORGANISATIONAL 
STRUCTURE
Global Functions
eRB
Hygiene
Health
Nutrition
Greater China
Getting the right balance between scale, focus and accountability 
is key. As such, during 2020 we moved to three category-focused 
business units with full P&L accountability: Hygiene, Health and 
Nutrition, with the latter comprised of the IFCN and VMS businesses 
which previously sat in Health. Within each of these three Global 
Business Units we are developing capability centres of excellence 
that can be leveraged across the company.
Due to its strategic importance for the business, we elevated China 
to an integrated unit that will work across the three business units. 
Digital, e-commerce and analytics are at a major turning point for the 
consumer and we can further speed rapid growth by building 
leapfrog digital capabilities. The digital platform we have in China is 
one that other rocket brands can leverage. For this reason, the China 
business unit will also house our global e-commerce capability.

20
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
DELI V ER I N G OU R STR ATEGY CO NTI N U ED
Clear decisions around capital allocation
Building a stronger balance sheet is a clear priority for us. During  
2020, we have reduced net debt by over £1.7bn through improved  
cash generation and maintaining a strong fiscal discipline around  
funding our investment programme through enhanced productivity  
and outperformance. As a result, our net debt leverage metric has 
improved with Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDA falling from 2.9x at the end  
of 2019 to 2.4x. Consistent with the policy outlined in February 2020 we 
have confirmed we will hold our full year dividend unchanged at 174.6p. 
This is so we can rebuild dividend cover to two times and confidently 
grow the dividend sustainably in the future in line with a stronger, more 
consistent EPS growth.
Fundamental to the transformation of Reckitt is the work underway on 
sustainability. During the year, we have stepped up our investments in a 
number of ways.
•	
Our purpose, fight and compass has been adopted across the 
business; strengthening our environmental and societal commitments 
and driving positive changes to culture
•	
Our Fight for Access Fund was launched to support our community 
engagement; initially focused on helping disadvantaged groups 
battling COVID-19 related issues; the equivalent of 1% of adjusted 
operating profit will be invested annually
•	
Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute launched to help inform public health 
recommendations and promote behaviours that improve global 
hygiene
•	
Accelerated the development of new sustainable sourcing, 
packaging and product innovations as a clear differentiator for 
purpose-led brand growth
•	
Launched our Climate Change commitments, accelerating work to 
deliver Paris Climate Agreement by 2030 and achieve carbon 
neutrality by 2040
PRODUCTIVITY IN ACTION
•	 Continued Reckitt manufacturing efficiency drive and 
continuous improvement programme across all sites
•	 Developed Reckitt production system focusing on 
performance management, leadership, consistent standards, 
continuous improvement routines on site and leveraging 
analytics / technology to highlight / solve problems
•	 Successfully deployed our new production system in pilot sites 
– Nijmegen (NL – Nutrition) and Nottingham (UK – Health)
ESTABLISHING CENTRES  
OF EXCELLENCE
Throughout 2020 we have invested to create four centres 
of excellence: central functions whose role is to support the 
GBUs in specific areas of speciality, sharing best practice, and 
committing dedicated resource. 
1
	
Marketing excellence – seeking to accelerate the growth of 
Reckitt’s brands through the development of a best in class 
Marketing function and to drive a step-change in our brand 
building capability. Organised around the five pillars of: 
Purpose-led brand building; Brand experience and Design; 
Insights and Analytics; Data-driven marketing and media; 
and Marketing Capability and Operations.
2
	 Sales outperformance – re-building this historic strength 
of Reckitt, turning our sales capability in to a competitive 
differentiator. Led by newly-appointed Chief Customer 
Officers for each of US and International, this function 
partners with customers to understand their business and 
develop mutual opportunities for growth.
3
	 eRB – the home of Reckitt’s e-commerce, CRM and digital 
execution initiatives, across three pillars: ‘Be Big’ (scale 
success, through platforms); ‘Be Fast’ (rapid experiments 
and D2C services); and ‘Be Bold and Open’ (minority 
investments in start-ups). 
4
	 Medical sales – seeking to transform the way we engage 
with healthcare professionals, through a consistent, efficient 
and commercially elevated approach to the medical channel.
The newly-created roles which sit within these functions 
have been filled with both internal and external talent. 
Whilst these functions will continue to build throughout 2021, 
there is evidence of early success, with improving customer 
relationships, and improved marketing and sales efficiency.
We are also taking decisive action to manage our portfolio. With markets 
for infant formula in Greater China continually evolving, we have been 
undertaking a strategic review of the infant formula business in China. No 
decision has yet been taken to the overall outcome and we will provide 
further updates as appropriate. At the same time, we have agreed the 
sale of Scholl and the acquisition of Biofreeze. Together, these deals are 
expected to be earnings neutral initially, but to position further the 
portfolio towards higher growth markets.
Delivering sustainable change to culture and purpose
Our strategy is founded upon a clear sense of purpose. We exist to 
protect, heal and nurture in our relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier 
world. We do all we can to ensure that access to high-quality hygiene, 
health and nutrition becomes a right not a privilege. Our purpose and 
fight are set out in more detail in our ‘business model’ overview in  
this report.
This purpose-led agenda is underpinned by the core set of values 
guiding our behaviour. They are set out in our compass (See page 13). 
This places integrity at the heart, with the goal of always doing the right 
thing. Our compass describes the values needed to promote a culture 
that puts consumers and people first, continually seeks out new 
opportunities, strives for excellence and builds shared success. It 
celebrates what made Reckitt successful in the past and aligns us  
with what is needed for sustainable growth in the future.

21
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Drivers of growth
Enablers of growth
Penetration
Share
New places
New spaces
Investment
Cultural
Customer service
eRB
Brand equity
Product innovation
Global Business Solutions
Stronger footprint
Organisational focus 
around purpose, 
fight and compass
Turning sustainability 
from compliance 
to a growth driver
Drivers of growth
Hygiene
4-5% growth pa1
Health
4-6% growth pa1
Nutrition
3-5% growth pa1
Our four growth drivers
Increased penetration
•	
Our category-leading disinfectant brands have seen exceptionally 
strong levels of penetration increase, with Lysol for example now 
present in over half of all US homes and used by over 100 million 
households globally; In Canada, Lysol penetration is up over 1200bps 
over the past year
•	
In India alone, Harpic is now used in over 100m homes, up by nearly  
30 million compared to 2019, as a result of purpose-led marketing 
campaigns centred around behaviour change
New places
•	
 Increased demand for Dettol and Lysol provided the opportunity  
for expansion into a total of 41 markets during the year
•	
Global Business Solutions – our professional business – growing 
strongly and expected to contribute c.100bps to Reckitt growth in 
2021 to represent c.8% of total disinfectant revenue
•	
Lysol’s entry into Brazil in May for example, launching Sprays, Wipes and 
Liquids, has already achieved prompted brand awareness of over 40% 
Market share gains
•	
70% of our core Hygiene category market units, and 85% in Health,  
held or gained market share in the year
•	
Finish has taken significant share in the US, up over 70bps, in a strong 
but competitive market, in part due to its purpose-led campaigns 
around the critical issue of water scarcity
•	
Gaviscon grew market share by over 100bps globally, including  
over 100bps in the UK, as a result of product innovation and  
strong execution
•	
Step-changed Mortein’s performance in key markets through building 
brand trust, product innovation and improved marketing
•	
Durex gains of c.130bps in China following the launch of the PU, 
ultra-thin condom
•	
Sequential improvements in market share performance for Mucinex, 
delivering unchanged market share overall, through better execution 
in weak US market conditions for medicated products
New spaces
•	
In Hygiene, we entered into the aromatherapy category in the US, 
with Air Wick essential mist – an innovation which was recognised 
amongst the Top 25 Breakthrough Innovations in this year’s US BASES 
awards – four of which were Reckitt products
•	
In Health, product innovation took Mucinex (All-in-One and Nightshift) 
and Strepsils (Herbals) into new product adjacencies
•	
Adult Nutrition launched in China
We see our strategy driving growth in four complimentary ways: 
increasing product penetration, driving market share gains, entering  
into new places and opening up new spaces. Increased penetration is 
about capturing new consumers entering the category, and pushing our 
products to gain a greater role in a category (e.g. germ protection in 
surface cleaning, auto dishwashing within dishwashing more broadly). 
We gain market share through winning with end-consumers and
by servicing existing consumers faster, better, and more efficiently  
with better and more relevant products than our competitors. 
New places is white space growth and taking our brands and products 
into new territories and countries through our existing network, via 
e-commerce and using our cross-border organisation. 
New spaces and adjacencies capture new market opportunities 
using our brand strength to penetrate other parts of the demand space 
a brand plays in. 
In the first year of our transformation plan, we have made 
significant progress against our four growth drivers.
1.	 Medium term growth rates

22
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
DELI V ER I N G OU R STR ATEGY CO NTI N U ED
C AS E S T U DY
Increased penetration
HARPIC 
PENETRATION  
IN INDIA
C AS E S T U DY
Market share gains
INNOVATION-LED 
PERFORMANCE  
IN THE US
C AS E S T U DY
New places
EXPANDING 
THE DUREX 
FOOTPRINT
In India, we have seen a continued 
increase in the penetration of Harpic 
following purpose-led behaviour 
change campaigns. Our campaigns 
have sought to encourage consumer 
use of a specialized toilet cleaner 
like Harpic rather than the non-
specialized detergents and water, 
frequently used historically. 
The central idea of the brand is that it 
“Removes 10/10 stains and disinfects 
your toilet” – a claim backed by a 
consumer tested product formula. The 
campaign was executed successfully, 
leveraging celebrity ambassadors, 
with heavy investment in Digital, 
TV, print, out-of-home and rural 
outreach, reflecting the diversity of 
the consumer base in the country. 
The brand is now used in over 100m 
homes, up by nearly 30m compared 
to 2019. This increase has been seen 
nationwide, with penetration in both 
urban and rural areas up significantly.
In doing so, and through a partnership 
with Network18, the largest TV news 
network in India, Harpic has built more 
than simply a brand that consumers 
trust. Rather it has become the 
champion of sanitation in India. In Q1 
2020, Harpic was rated the 3rd most 
trusted homecare brand in India.
In the US, we have seen good market 
share performances in Nutrition. 
The immunity segment within VMS 
has seen exceptionally strong growth 
given consumer concern around 
COVID-19, but in addition, Airborne 
has grown share as a result of strong 
innovation and rapid ramp up of supply, 
increasing threefold during the year. 
In Infant Formula, Enfa defended an 
already strong position in the WENR 
(‘WIC1 Exempt, Non-Rebated’) market 
growing over 5%. This was led in large 
part by strong insight-led innovation 
with NeuroPro – an Omega3-DHA-led 
product. The innovation was allied 
to strong consumer and healthcare 
professional marketing execution.
In 2020, Durex continued to 
democratise access, driving continuous 
improvement in availability even 
in the most fragmented consumer 
markets. In Russia, in partnership with 
Fractal Analytics – a leader in the use 
of Artificial Intelligence in decision 
making – Durex used leading edge 
machine learning to help us decide 
where our products should be sold, 
and in what ranges. Backed by vast 
quantities of data on consumer 
demographics, geographical nuances 
and commercial sales, these insights 
resulted in significant market share 
uplift as, for example, we adjusted pack 
sizes in certain 24/7 pharmacies located 
in close proximity to a nightclub. 
At the same time, we know that 
consumers will often want to make 
purchases whilst at home, when 
time can be of the essence. Thanks 
to our partnership with Glovo and 
Deliveroo, we are shaving further time 
off delivery, with many deliveries now 
taking place in under 900 seconds.
1.	 WIC – Women, Infants and Children 
programme

23
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
ENTERING THE 
PROFESSIONAL 
SPACE
C AS E S T U DY
New spaces
Global Business Solutions was established 
during 2020 in response to the growing need 
for germ protection as consumers want to 
feel safe outside the home, as well as inside. 
New opportunities have therefore emerged 
as workspaces, accommodation and other 
public spaces, such as hospitality venues and 
public transport, need to not only be clean, 
but be visibly clean. Our category leading 
disinfectant brands will enable customer 
facing businesses and venues to give their 
customers the appropriate reassurance. 
Reckitt offers ‘front-of-house’ solutions, 
where our brands are visible to our partners’ 
customers. For many of our partners, we work 
closely to develop and integrate ourselves 
into their existing cleaning protocols, thereby 
helping them to solve long-term challenges 
related to hygiene and cleaning on their 
premises and understanding the key risk 
areas and complexities. Partnerships signed 
so far have been with globally-renowned 
organisations such as: AirBnB, British 
Airways, Delta Airlines, Hilton and Uber. 
The 100+ strong GBS team has a global 
presence and is multi-functional. GBS is 
growing strongly and we expect the 
momentum to continue and contribute 
c.100bps to Group net revenue growth in 2021.
Our brands 
100+
people are part of our multi-functional 
team with global presence
C.100bps
Global Business Solutions expected 
contribution to 2021 Group revenue growth

24
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
K E Y PER FO R M A N CE I N D I CATO RS
PURPOSE-LED 
PERFORMANCE
Our strategy to rejuvenate 
growth draws on our 200 
year heritage of social 
impact. Our brands provide 
people with access to the 
highest quality hygiene, 
wellness and nourishment  
a right and not a privilege.
We create impact through our brands and how 
we work, with an emphasis on purpose-led 
brands, a healthier planet and a fairer society. 
Our ambitions for 2030 support long-term, 
purpose-led growth. They drive us to reach 
more people with our brands and create 
measurable impacts in their lives that also  
help tackle global social and environmental 
challenges and deliver the UN’s Sustainable 
Development Goals. 
As our approach towards sustainability 
has matured, so have our goals. Getting 
the fundamentals right means we can 
also drive outperformance. Our ambitions 
stem from engaging with our stakeholders, 
understanding the megatrends society 
faces, and an awareness of our role as a 
global corporate citizen. Our purpose-
led growth strengthens connections 
with our consumers and customers. Our 
partnerships, with customers, suppliers, 
civil society and governments, increase 
the impact we have on common goals. 
We innovate to create new opportunities 
and continually strengthen the safety and 
quality of our products. We strengthened 
our Global Safety Assurance function 
during 2020 with additional resources that 
also help identify and manage emerging 
issues across our sector. Our global quality 
programme reinforced standards throughout 
our supply network, during a year when 
we built significant additional capacity. At 
the same time, our innovation programmes 
progressively improve the sustainability of 
our products. Our Sustainable Innovation 
Calculator, which measures the impact of 
our brands, highlighted the need to improve 
our product environmental footprint to 
support our ambitions on climate change 
and water. Until recently, we prioritised 
our operational footprint, reducing our 
carbon emissions, increasing energy and 
water efficiency and reducing waste. 
We will continue that work but are more 
focused on reducing product footprints.     
Financial and non-financial KPIs
We assess operational and strategic progress 
against key performance indicators, or KPIs. 
These provide a clear direction as to ‘by how 
much’ and ‘in what way’ we should achieve our 
goals. Importantly, these robust measures are 
reflected in management targets and are 
aligned with our growth objectives and  
our purpose, fight and compass.
The KPIs here address financial goals 
as well as wider social, environmental 
and cultural aspects. Different business 
functions measure progress against 
specific targets in areas such as supply 
chain performance, customer satisfaction, 
product innovation and other efficiency 
measures. These are built into managers’ 
personal objectives and reviewed regularly. 
Integrating environmental, social and 
governance goals 
Our approach embeds non-financial 
performance into our business while  
meeting growing consumer and stakeholder 
expectations. Our organisational model 
strengthens collaboration between Global 
Functions and markets, helping us to deliver 
financial, environmental and social goals within 
a strong governance framework. Our Executive 
team reviews progress to continuously drive 
performance and our impact in society. 
Social and environmental impact is 
increasingly embedded in our product 
innovation, our ways of working, and in 
our partnerships. Our partnerships reflect 
the complex networks and ecosystems 
we are part of. They amplify our collective 
efforts for greater shared impact. 
As we close our 2020 targets we have 
made progress but know there is more to 
come. Looking forward, we are increasingly 
connecting our financial and non-financial 
goals. Our sustainability ambitions for 2030 
are to reach half the world with products that 
contribute to a cleaner, healthier world and 
to engage 2 billion people in programmes, 
partnerships and campaigns that create 
a positive impact and support the SDGs. 
Collectively these are both an opportunity 
for growth and positive societal impact. Our 
three areas of activity: purpose-led brands; a 
healthier planet; and a fairer society, are the 
platforms through which we will deliver this 
growth and impact. Product innovation will 
meet the growing needs and expectations 
of consumers and society. Our actions on 
climate change build both resilience and 
opportunity for the future, for example within 
a low carbon economy. Our work to enable 
a fairer, more diverse and inclusive society 
can strengthen economies, livelihoods and 
communities while also enabling core values 
within society. More details of our sustainability 
ambitions for 2030, and the full details of our 
targets, our approach and performance are 
available at www.reckitt.com/sustainability.

25
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
C AS E S T U DY
EMBEDDING 
SUSTAINABILITY  
IN PRODUCT 
INNOVATION 
Our Sustainable Innovation Calculator 
(SIC) strengthens how we measure  
our environmental footprint and use  
of ingredients, raw materials and 
packaging. This provides quantitative 
metrics and tracks progress to ensure 
our innovation programmes align with 
our sustainability goals. 
The SIC informs development decisions 
by comparing the impacts of new 
products against existing benchmarks, 
such as our carbon footprint, water 
impact or ingredients. 30% of our 
portfolio is already ‘more sustainable’.  
In 2020, we updated the calculator  
to strengthen measurement of the 
ingredients used, green chemistry and 
packaging. This will help deliver our 
ambitions for 2030, delivering more 
sustainable products to consumers, while 
reducing our chemical footprints and 
improving use of more sustainable 
ingredients and packaging.

26
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
K E Y PER FO R M A N CE I N D I CATO RS CO NTI N U ED
FINANCIAL
ORGANISATION
LFL Net Revenue Growth1 
KPI: An indicator of strong sales 
execution, innovation and customer 
service.  
2020
11.8%
2019
0.8%
2018
3%
2017
2016
0%
3%
Goal/Target: to rebuild consistent 
mid-single digit growth in the  
medium term. 
Adjusted Operating 
Profit Margin1 
KPI: An indicator of brand strength  
and return on investment in innovation 
and marketing.  
2020
23.6%
2019
26.2%
2018
26.7%
2017
27.1%
2016
27.8%
Goal/Target: our plan outlined a 
reduction in 2020 and 2021 and then 
recovering to the mid 20s by the 
mid-2020s. 
Gender diversity 
KPI: Percentage of female senior 
managers in our global workforce2.  
2020
30%
2019
26%
2018
25%
2017
2016
24%
20%
Target to 2022: 40%
Company wide, our gender balance is 
currently 49% female and 51% male. 
Lost Work Day Accident 
Rate (LWDAR)
KPI: Number of incidents resulting in at 
least one lost day of work per 100,000 
hours worked.  
2020
0.050
2019
0.076
2018
0.084
2017
2016
0.121
0.084
Goal/Target: Continued decrease of 
LWDAR rate.
Adjusted diluted EPS1 
KPI: An indicator of overall success.  
2020
327.0p
2019
349.0p
2018
339.9p
2017
2016
316.9p
287.6p
Goal/Target: to achieve consistent 
7-9% earnings per share growth as we 
deliver mid-single digit revenue growth 
and improving margins over time. 
FCF Conversion1  
KPI: A strong link to an efficient capital 
structure and well managed working 
capital.   
2020
131%
2019
87%
2018
84%
2017
2016
94%
93%
Goal/Target: to maintain the delivery  
of strong free cash flow conversion 
over time. 
1.	 2016, 2017 and 2018 figures are as originally reported within the relevant periods  
and have not been adjusted for any subsequent updates made to IFRS
2.	 Represented in our Senior Management Team, Global Leadership Team, and Group 
Executive Committee including our CEO and CFO
3.	 Excluding our Infant and Child Nutrition (IFCN) business – See Reckitt Insights  
(https://www.reckitt.com/sustainability/) and Reckitt Reporting Criteria Basis for 
Preparation (https://www.reckitt.com/sustainability/policies-and-reports/) for details
4.	 Calculated for 12 months ending 30th September 2020
5.	 2019 and 2020 year end zero waste to landfill performance includes IFCN sites.
6.	 Manufacturing and warehousing only

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SOCIETY
ENVIRONMENT
GHG emissions per unit of 
production3,6
KPI: The percentage reduction in 
Greenhouse Gas emissions per unit of 
production, against our 2012 baseline.
2020
53%
2019
42%
2018
35%
2017
2016
31%
22%
Target to 2020: 40% reduction.
Water use per unit of 
production3,6 
KPI: The percentage reduction in  
total water consumption per unit of 
production, against our 2012 baseline.
 
2020
39%
2019
37%
2018
38%
2017
2016
37%
32%
Target to 2020: 35% reduction. 
Purpose-led brands 
KPI: Total number of people informed 
through health and hygiene messaging 
and campaigns since 2013. 
2020
1.4bn
2019
1.0bn
2018
0.8bn
2017
2016
0.6bn
0.4bn
Target to 2025: Inform 1 billion people 
through health and hygiene educational 
programmes and behaviour change 
communications.
Social impact investment 
KPI: Total value of cash contributed, 
employee time in working hours and 
in-kind product donations valued at 
cost to the business.
2020
£52.8m
2019
£12.2m
2018
£14.4m
2017
2016
£10.5m
£5.2m
Target to 2025: £20m per year.
Sending zero waste to 
landfill5 
KPI: The percentage of our factories 
achieving zero waste to landfill, 
including both hazardous and 
non-hazardous waste. 
2020
96%
2019
96%
2018
93%
2017
2016
100%
97%
Target to 2020: 100%. 
Manufacturing waste per 
unit of production3  
KPI: The percentage reduction in 
manufacturing waste per unit of 
production, against our 2012 baseline
2020
28%
2019
27%
2018
26%
2017
2016
21%
20%
Target to 2020: 30% reduction.
Product innovation3,4 
KPI: Total Net Revenue from more 
sustainable products. 
2020
30.4%
2019
24.6%
2018
18.5%
2017
2016
18.2%
13.2%
Target to 2020: 33% of Net Revenue.
Carbon footprint per 
dose of product3
KPI: The percentage reduction in our 
total carbon footprint per dose of 
product sold against our 2012 baseline. 
 
2020
18%
2019
6%
2018
4%
2017
2016
2%
0%
Target to 2020: 33% reduction.
Water impact per dose of 
product3 
KPI: The percentage reduction in water 
used during the product’s life cycle, 
adjusted to reflect water scarcity, per 
dose of product sold against our 2012 
baseline. 
2020
13%
2019
4%
2018
-4%
2017
2016
8%
6%
Target to 2020: 33% reduction.

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PUTTING 
CONSUMERS 
FIRST
Consumers buy brands 
they trust. Rightly, they 
expect safe, effective and 
sustainable products, at a 
fair price. They also want to 
be sure that the products 
they buy are responsibly 
sourced and won’t damage 
the environment. And that 
the business behind them 
is playing its part to tackle 
global issues and support 
a sustainable future.
How we engage 
Consumers want great products and they put 
their trust in their favourite brands. Our brands 
are trusted by people all over the world, and 
we work hard to earn that trust. 
Consumers today know a lot more about 
how the world works and that affects 
their choices. With better information, 
they expect more from us and our brands. 
They are not satisfied by warm words and 
look for more assurance backed up by 
concrete commitments and actions. 
We share that expectation. We seek to 
understand, mitigate and preferably avoid 
any negative impacts while maximising our 
positive impact on society. Beyond that, 
our purpose is to make things better in the 
relentless pursuit of a cleaner healthier world. 
We exist to protect, heal and nurture. 
And we fight for access to the highest-
quality hygiene, wellness and nourishment, 
because we believe that’s everyone’s right. 
By reaching more consumers, in different 
markets, we will also increase our impact with 
the growth of our business. Our ambition 
is to reach half the world by 2030 with our 
purpose-led brands, engaging 2 billion people 
through our programmes and campaigns 
to promote a cleaner healthier world. Our 
brands are at the heart of the social and 
environmental impact we create, and we 
focus on enabling a healthier planet and fairer 
society. In doing so, we help to deliver the 
UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Most 
importantly, and reflecting James Reckitt’s 
heritage, we create social impact in the 
lives of people we serve, our consumers, 
their families and their communities. 
Our compass guides our direction 
and the value and behaviours we adopt. 
The goal of always doing the right thing 
underpins all our actions. Putting consumers 
and people first is a guiding principle. 
Sustainable products, plastics reduction 
and improved reuse and recycling have 
moved up the consumer agenda. Combatting 
climate change is central to expectations 
to build back better after the pandemic. 
Awareness of biodiversity and calls for 
ecosystem protection have also grown. 
We are responding on all of these fronts.
Societal impact and sustainability are 
at the heart of our business strategy and, 
alongside quality and value, are increasingly 
important consumer expectations. We invest 
in brand innovation that maximises consumer 
benefits and delivers positive impacts for 
society-at-large, aiming for new products 
that do more for consumers and for society. 
On climate change, we have increased our 
ambitions and are making quicker progress 
to reduce carbon emissions and support 
a healthier planet. Within our business and 
in our value chain we are enabling a fairer, 
more diverse and inclusive society.

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Responding to COVID-19
Reckitt became a key strategic supplier in 
the fight against the spread of COVID-19. 
Our priority was to reduce transmission while 
keeping people safe and addressing the 
stresses faced by consumers and communities. 
We launched the myth-busting COVID-19 
facts.com website and published warnings  
on improper use of disinfectants. We 
commissioned a major scientific study, which 
confirmed the virucidal effectiveness of our 
brands. Through Dettol, we also launched what 
became the largest public health campaign in 
history. Dettol’s #HandWash Challenge began 
in India in April. By the end of the year, it had 
garnered over 125 billion views on TikTok.
Maintaining stock availability
As the pandemic took hold, consumer 
demand for Dettol, Lysol and other market 
leading hygiene brands escalated dramatically. 
We had anticipated the demand surge 
in January and worked hard to ramp up 
supply. We maximised output. Production 
moved to a 24-hour, 7-day-week schedule 
at 35 of our factories. We also adapted 
and reconfigured production lines where 
possible to meet the emerging challenge, for 
example in Thailand, where our Durex lube 
production line was rapidly repurposed to 
meet the growing need for hand sanitiser. 
The pandemic posed unique challenges 
for global supply chains, which rely on steady 
supplies from numerous suppliers and 
shipping companies. Sourcing components 
and ingredients became a key problem across 
the industry. Our Jingzhou factory in China for 
instance gets over 100 different parts and raw 
materials from outside suppliers. When its usual 
suppliers ran out of stock our supply teams 
had to scour the markets for alternatives, and 
then qualify them to make sure they reached 
our quality thresholds. They succeeded. 
At times, getting these supplies meant 
moving tons of raw materials across 
continents, if necessary by air freight. 
But cost was a secondary consideration. 
Maintaining production and supply to 
consumers remained the priority. 
Our production centres worked flat out. 
Many of them had to find ways to do this 
while complying with strict social distancing, 
quarantine and curfew regulations. And of 
course, we also had to keep our people safe.
These were exceptionally challenging 
conditions, which tested our processes as 
never before. Global demand for Lysol and 
Dettol rose significantly. During some periods, 
it didn’t matter how much we produced, 
everything was selling out. We achieved 
tremendous output growth in a very short 
time-frame and have learnt important 
lessons about resilience and flexibility. 
It’s still hard to gauge whether all of this 
heightened demand for hygiene products 
will be reflected in a more permanent 
shift in consumer behaviour. However, 
we recognise that any future pandemic 
will rapidly expand demand. We are 
therefore making additional investments 
now to increase the capacity of COVID-19 
critical products such as disinfectants, 
sanitisers, soaps and surface cleaners, and 
to enhance our production flexibility.
Safe, effective and sustainable products 
Consumers have always valued safety and 
now increasingly they value the sustainability 
of the products they choose. They want 
products that are more effective and 
that they trust not to harm them or the 
environment. Those that can afford to are 
willing to pay a premium for products that 
are more sustainable. And expectations 
of basic performance are rising too. 
Reckitt’s innovation programme 
accelerated activity in 2020. It centred on 
developing more sustainable products, 
ingredients and packaging while building in 
safety by design and maintaining effectiveness. 
For all our brands, we’re researching even 
safer and more sustainable alternatives. We’re 
introducing products that preserve and, where 
possible, improve efficacy while using more 
natural ingredients. Our first natural-based 
laundry brand in the US, UK and Spain in 2020 
is an early example of this research. Botanical 
Origin appeals to eco-conscious consumers 
with a natural-based cleaning product that 
delivers performance which appeals to all.
Air Wick’s Botanica range of oils, 
sprays, candles and reed diffusers are all 
based on natural ingredients. From 2021 
onwards, over half of the feedstock for the 
entire Air Wick range of liquid electricals 
will use renewable ingredients.
In October, Dettol launched its first ever 
alcohol-free hand sanitiser. It uses bio-
renewable active ingredients, including lactic 
acid sourced from cane sugar, and citric acid 
sourced from corn, to boost efficacy. The 
sanitiser has been proven to kill 99.9% of germs, 
bacteria and viruses and is effective against 
COVID-19. Following its successful launch in 
China it will be rolled out internationally in 2021.
We’re acting to make our products as 
safe as they can possibly be, with strict 
controls on their development and testing. 
We are also developing products to take 
greater account of consumer preference. The 
Mucinex Free From cold and flu decongestant 
spray wax launched in 2020. This provides 
effective relief for adults and children over 
12 and is especially designed for consumers 
that prefer to avoid alcohol or sugar. 
We extended the Durex Naturals range of 
paraben and glycerine-free lubrication into the 
US under the KY brand in 2020. Durex also 
launched paraben-free intimate wipes in 
European markets to help protect women from 
infection and sexually transmitted disease.
Earning trust
Trust originates from our safe and effective 
brands and is reinforced by our attention 
to wider issues that matter to consumers 
and society as a whole. Our sustainability 
commitments, on climate change, plastics, 
the circular economy and human rights, 
resonate strongly with our consumers and 
customers. They want to know that the 
issues they believe in are important for the 
company that makes their favourite brands. 
But our sustainability agenda is not 
just about satisfying consumers. Broader 
considerations inform and infuse our approach, 
such as the increasing connection between 
a healthy planet and healthy lives for us all. 
We are trying to address a broad range of 
sustainability challenges to select, develop, 
make and sell products that advance the 
cleaner, healthier world we want to see. 
We want to build a more prosperous and 
resilient future for our company and society 
with purpose-led brands and initiatives that 
improve people’s lives and put the planet first.
125bn 
views on Dettol’s #HandWashChallenge  
on TikTok

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C AS E S T U DY
#HANDWASH 
CHALLENGE
Dettol’s #HandWashChallenge campaign 
became a vivid display of the power 
of the TikTok platform for younger 
demographics. Dettol India kicked off 
the campaign by inviting Bollywood 
celebrities and some of India’s top 
TikTok influencers to upload their own 
dance-based interpretations of the 
handwashing rap. The campaign went 
viral and soon, not just young people, 
but grandparents, health workers, all 
demographics were uploading videos. 
In just four days #HandWashChallenge 
had nearly 9 billion views. Dettol rolled 
out geo-specific versions for countries 
in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. By 
the end of the year, it had racked up 
more than 125 billion views. There were 
over 75 million unique videos as people 
all over the world uploaded their own 
rhythmic interpretations of correct 
handwashing techniques. And it didn’t 
end there; #HandWashChallenge spread 
beyond TikTok too, with over 565 million 
video shares across the internet.

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FOSTERING 
STRONGER 
CUSTOMER 
RELATIONSHIPS
Our interests overlap with 
those of our customers. 
Both of us want to serve 
shopper and consumer 
needs. We foster multi-
level, cross-functional 
relationships that help us 
pinpoint shared strategic 
objectives, and improve our 
operational performance, 
execution and availability.
How we engage 
Healthy, mutually beneficial relationships 
are based on more than category and 
brand sales, they are grounded in a shared 
sense of purpose. We express our purpose 
through the innovations we deliver, by 
meeting consumer needs, and by making a 
difference with our brands to the categories 
in which we operate. And we develop 
those categories more effectively by 
working closely with our retail customers. 
Customers prefer to work with agile 
manufacturers that have transformational 
ambitions for their brands and categories.  
And having closer connections with 
customers brings other benefits too. 
When our customers tell us how what  
we do looks to them it’s a chance to improve. 
They are the retail specialists, and they know 
what their consumers want. They have 
insights that can spur product innovation. 
Our top 25 customers contribute around  
a third of net revenue. We’ve invested 
significantly more time and resources in 
developing these customer relationships  
during 2020. 
The appointment of a global chief 
customer officer at executive board level has 
added weight and focus to this effort. He is 
supported by CCOs for North America and 
International Customers, each managing the 
leading customers in their respective regions. 
Depending on the profile of the customer,  
we coordinate our largest relationships globally, 
regionally or nationally. At the operational level, 
we have substantially expanded our customer-
facing teams to provide multi-disciplinary 
support to our major North American and 
international customers. We aim to grow 
mutually beneficial long-term relationships by 
building structural partnerships and vertically 
integrated networks with our customers.
Strong relationships start from the top. 
Top-to-top meetings help articulate shared 
objectives built on a common sense of 
purpose. We run strategy workshops with  
key major customers to identify areas of 
common interest. We are uncovering more 
ways to meet customer priorities by deploying 
our brands to address their priorities. 
Strong structural partnerships and 
relationships are fundamental. Our 
customers can draw on the expertise 
of category, shopper, sustainability, 
operational, channel and format, and 
regional specialists. It means that when 
there is a specific issue, they have someone 
with relevant expertise who can articulate 
and advance their interests at Reckitt.

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Where we engage 
Globally, our major physical trading channels 
include hypermarkets and supermarkets, 
pharmacies, drug stores, traditional trade 
and emerging trade (including discounters, 
convenience stores, mother and baby 
stores, travel and speciality retail). Online, 
we have well over 1,000 e-commerce 
customers. Our brands are on all the 
main portals, we trade via marketplace 
platforms, through physical retailers’ digital 
presence and via e-pharmacy outlets. 
Supermarkets are our primary channel 
in North America and developed markets, 
particularly for Hygiene. In Europe, 
supermarkets are the primary channel 
for hygiene and home products, while 
pharmacy is the largest single channel 
for our health and wellness brands. 
It is still the case that most sales are made 
through physical outlets, but online presence 
is getting more important. Many large retailers 
have already adjusted their business models 
and those that have not will need to pivot 
quickly to omnichannel fulfilment to remain 
competitive. We are matching this change 
by developing an omnichannel approach 
to category and customer engagement. 
Small independents with relatively 
few chain outlets make up the bulk of the 
pharmacy sector. This remains the primary 
channel for our health brand portfolio in many 
territories. We have built up an extensive 
network of expert local representatives 
who manage these relationships, and the 
cross-selling and detailing of our brands. 
In e-commerce, we will often invest 
in building ever closer partnerships. Our 
digital customers promote our brands 
online through their e-commerce outlet, 
but we also generate revenue for them 
by investing in media space on their 
platforms. As we sell more on a platform 
we often spend more on media space.
Whether the sales channel is online or 
offline, we aim to identify synergies at the 
strategic level, promote purpose-led innovation 
and invest in partnerships and networks 
that enhance and expand our categories. 
Joint value creation 
The leadership team made purpose-driven 
customer engagement a corporate priority in 
2020. We focused on building strategic retailer 
partnerships founded on common purpose. 
We identified common areas of interest and 
windows of opportunity through numerous 
top-to-top meetings and strategic workshops. 
Engagement is coordinated centrally to ensure 
customers connect with a unified Reckitt voice 
and have access to cross-functional and cross 
business unit support. Our digital capability 
allows us to deliver omnichannel support to 
customers and is a key engine for growth.
We find synergies when we work with 
customers on areas of common interest. 
This purposeful, coordinated approach is 
driving improved performance both within 
existing categories and in new spaces. 
Walmart is one of several big retailers 
with sustainability goals that mirror Reckitt’s 
approach. In September 2020, it announced 
plans to become a regenerative company 
targeting zero emissions by 2040. Its ambitious 
goals for regenerative agriculture, the circular 
economy and improved conditions for 
suppliers are consistent with our approach at 
Reckitt. The two companies work together 
to advance their shared agenda. For instance, 
following Walmart’s 2019 commitment to a 10% 
reduction in its chemical footprint by 2022, we 
contributed to that goal by reformulating our 
fragrances to make them more sustainable. 
We are embracing the digital revolution as 
we continue to invest in marketing expertise. 
In October 2020, we launched our virtual 
interactive Marketing Excellence Village. We 
invite partners and selected customers here 
to share and discuss our values, plans, and 
visions virtually in various online buildings. Our 
teams hold quarterly town halls in our main 
events building, the Curve. We discuss insights, 
data and analytics in the Hive; collaboration in 
the Design Lab focuses on brand experience; 
we meet in the Stack to discuss data-driven 
marketing and media topics; in the Forum for 
Good we work on purpose-led brands; and in 
the Academy we concentrate on marketing 
capabilities and operations. The cutting-edge 
concepts mapped out in the Village are carving 
out new ways of working in the digital arena.
Safer, cleaner retail spaces
In 2020, as society grappled to control 
the spread of COVID-19, physical retailers 
suffered as social interactions declined. 
Surveys revealed that some 60% of shoppers 
felt anxious about being in stores after 
lockdown. Not surprisingly, most retailers 
experienced a radical reduction in footfall. 
We worked with key strategic partners 
in the pharmacy and drugstore sector to 
reassure consumers by creating safer, more 
hygienic spaces. We introduced front-of-store 
sanitisation stations, put health and safety 
advice at strategic, in-store locations and 
installed protective zones for those waiting  
for prescriptions. We also worked with retailers 
to safeguard business areas and protect 
employees. Some retail partners introduced 
dedicated hygiene zones within their stores, 
which provided a focus for Reckitt brands.
Growth in e-commerce 
With widespread lockdowns and social 
distancing in place to combat COVID-19 
many consumers turned to digital channels 
for their groceries and provisions. Online 
sales experienced double-digit growth 
during the year. Our e-commerce 
operation continued to outperform: online 
operations now account for 12% of our 
global sales, a significant uplift since 2019.
The global pandemic turbo-charged online 
growth this year, but most analysts agree 
this was not a one-off event, rather, it has 
accelerated an underlying consumer trend. 
Much of this growth is now baked in and 
expected to remain when social distancing 
constraints ease. According to data from 
IBM’s US Retail Index, the pandemic has 
accelerated the shift from physical stores 
to digital shopping by roughly five years. 
Having already built a strong e-commerce 
capability Reckitt was equipped to respond 
quickly and flexibly to the rapid changes 
we saw during the year. As physical 
retailers migrated their offers online, we 
were able to adapt our supply chain and 
core offerings to maintain access to our 
products via multiple online channels. 
Reckitt has strong relationships with  
all the major global marketplace platforms, 
like Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com. A mix 
of 1P/3P, these platforms constitute our 
largest online channel. They account for 
more than half of Reckitt global online 
sales. We deploy advanced analytic and 
automation tools to optimise revenue here.

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Omnichannel/eGrocery retailers, our second 
major channel, returned the highest level of 
absolute growth in 2020. All large physical 
retailers are now leveraging their strengths in 
geographic reach and scale and developing 
omnichannel strategies. We can call on the 
multi-disciplinary skills and resources we’ve 
developed for marketplace online platforms  
to help them succeed in the digital arena.
In some domestic markets, the 
unemployment and job insecurity caused by 
the crisis reduced consumer demand. Cross-
border platforms with full localisation and 
familiar payment options helped our brands 
attract consumers in international markets. 
We are also building direct online relationships 
with consumers for our brands on a growing 
number of direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels.
E-pharmacy is another fast-growing channel. 
There has also been rapid development in the 
newly emerging ultrafast channel over the last 
two years. These on-demand platforms are 
attracting consumers by delivering products 
within minutes not hours. We are adapting to 
these challenging delivery criteria by mobilising 
highly responsive supply chains that can meet 
these requirements. 
For each of these channels, we’re 
developing closer customer partnerships 
and building up our brands. 
Consumers’ needs are evolving rapidly. 
And we have to be ready to respond 
at pace. To do that, we’ve designed 
our e-commerce operation to be fluid, 
adaptive and to share expertise globally. 
This is a highly dynamic environment where 
today’s innovation can be outdated in 
months. We take nothing for granted. 
C AS E S T U DY
AMAZON EVENTING
Amazon Global Events have gained traction 
as key staging posts for global 
e-commerce. This year, with the COVID-19-
led boost in e-commerce, they took on 
even greater significance. We coordinated 
preparation and execution for these events 
globally. In 2020, the coronavirus delayed 
Prime Day from July to October, moving it 
perilously close to the Black Friday-Cyber 
Monday dates. Our planning had to adapt. 
Our strategy enlisted over 1500 people 
during a 13-week lead-up that combined 
channel, supply chain, advertising and 
finance elements. Teams were equipped 
with advanced tools to enable automated 
website scraping, real-time performance 
tracking, and AI media buying.
Eventing execution was a huge collaborative 
effort involving 23 countries, 43 teams and 
multiple bots working 24/7. Many of our 
brands outperformed, with Finish, Durex 
and Enfamil all exceeding expectation. 
We saw stellar performance from our 
Dettol and Lysol brands which achieved 
triple-digit, year-on-year growth. 
Our combined experience and expertise 
have created a multiplier impact on a global 
scale for these events. Our eventing 
execution continues to improve. We’re 
learning more each year, building on our AI 
capabilities and locking in increasing levels 
of automation.
12% 
of global sales come from  
our e-commerce activities

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ENGAGING  
INVESTORS
Our long-term financial 
resilience depends on 
the continuing support of 
the investor community. 
It supports and sponsors 
our activities with 
the provision of debt 
and equity. We aim to 
communicate transparently 
with all investors so they 
understand and remain 
aligned with our strategy.
Why we engage 
Our investment community includes current 
and potential shareholders, mainly institutional 
and retail investors, as well as ‘sell-side’ 
research analysts, banks and ratings agencies. 
Our investors, as owners of the business 
are a critical stakeholder group and are the 
providers of the financial capital – equity or 
debt – that underpins our business and allows 
us to successfully execute our strategy. In 
return for this, they expect to earn good 
financial returns. These can be in the form of 
dividends, capital appreciation or interest. 
The cost of equity or debt is influenced 
by the quality of perceived risks. Maintaining 
an open, constructive dialogue around 
these issues is key so that investors can 
make appropriate decisions about the 
returns they can expect over time. 
It is important that all market participants 
have equal and timely access to information 
from the company and as such, we are 
committed to engaging transparently as 
we forge ahead with building a renewed 
purpose-led business that is sustainable for 
the long term. Our Investor Relations team is 
key in maintaining this dialogue and ensuring 
that there is a wide array of information 
accessible, be it online or through recognised 
platforms for the investment community. It is 
also the responsibility of the IR team to ensure 
the Information provided is compliant with 
market abuse regulations and guidelines. In 
addition to the active responsibilities of the 
IR team, our corporate website has played 
a central role in ensuring our retail investors 
have access to the same information at the 
same time as our institutional investors. 
Communication challenges with COVID-19
Over the past year, we have strengthened our 
IR team in recognition of our commitment to 
this area. The individuals within the team, 
together, bring over 50 years of corporate and 
capital markets IR experience gained from 
working across a range of companies and 
industries. Over the last twelve months, the IR 
team has developed stronger processes and 
channels of communication, including adapting 
and evolving the delivery of the IR programme 
to overcome the restrictions imposed by 
COVID-19. As a result of this, the team has had 
to be nimble and creative in its conversations 
with stakeholders as it has been more 
important than ever to deliver and provide 
useful and timely information to the market. 
We have delivered a proactive IR 
programme and have met our financial 
reporting obligations through a combination 
of one-to-one meetings, group meetings, 
webinars, roadshows, conferences, round 
tables and fireside chats this year. 
Beyond this, we have broadened our 
communication channels to all of our 
stakeholders through the use of regular 
e-Newsletters, fact sheets, presentations 
and broader updates to comment on 
recent and upcoming IR activity.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R I N V ESTO RS CO NTI N U ED
Despite COVID-19 restrictions driving much of 
our interaction online, in some ways, it made it 
much easier to engage with our global investor 
base and shareholders as we were able to be 
more flexible with allocating our time across 
the varying time zones. We look forward to 
holding face-to-face meetings again in the 
future, but it is likely that going forward, we 
may retain some of the benefits of more 
screen-based interactions as it has introduced 
a level of efficiency and flexibility as we better 
embrace digital IR communication. 
Explaining our strategy
The strategy laid out by our CEO in February 
2020 has brought renewed interest in 
Reckitt. Throughout the various meetings 
led by our CEO, CFO and the IR team, we 
focused on laying out our plans, including the 
required investments, delivery milestones 
and long-term goals. With the emphasis on 
clear corporate purpose and fight at the 
heart of our transformation, it was important 
to explain our strategy in the context 
of the impact that the ensuing market 
developments were having on the business. 
Presciently, in the strategy update in 
February, our CEO stated that hygiene was the 
foundation of health. As the pandemic took 
hold across the world in early Spring 2020, 
the subsequent focus on disinfectant and 
germ protection and the role of our portfolio 
of category leading and heritage brands in 
managing the spread of the virus could not 
have been better predicted or be more fitting.  
Our engagement activity in 2020
Given 2020 was a year like no other, it was 
necessary to adapt the investor engagement 
programme to meet the needs of transferring 
to the new virtual environment. We organised 
extensive engagement programmes with 
holders and non-holders alike. In 2020, we held 
over 300 meetings, with over 1,000 investors, 
representing over 350 institutions. As a result of 
the pandemic and ongoing social distancing 
practices, the meetings since mid-March have 
all been virtual. 
They included one-to-ones, large and 
small group meetings, as well as regional 
meetings with international investor groups. 
We conducted investor meetings with 
a global investor base. For example, we 
held a virtual roadshow with Paris based 
investors. This consisted of two mornings of 
meetings with 17 different French investors. 
Similarly, we held virtual roadshows for 
Australian, German, Scandinavian and Spanish 
investors, which gave us the opportunity to 
meet with many funds in these regions. 
  
For each of our quarterly results, we hold a 
presentation for analysts, investors and other 
interested parties, followed by a live Q&A. The 
full RNS, presentation and script are uploaded 
to our website shortly after the event, so that 
investors can spend time pouring over the 
details further, if they so wish. 
With meetings being held virtually, we were 
able to participate in numerous conferences 
hosted by the various investment banks. This 
facilitated connection with a wider volume 
of investors than we might typically have 
seen during the weeks after reporting. 
In total, we hosted presentations or 
attended meetings at over 15 conferences 
in 2020. The conferences were all heavily 
oversubscribed. Some of the conferences 
included key industry events on the annual 
conference agenda such as the Deutsche Bank 
Global Consumer Conference; the JP Morgan 
Flagship Consumer & Retail Conference; the 
Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail 
Conference and the Sanford Bernstein Pan-
European Strategic Decisions Conference. 
Beyond the conferences, it was 
important that shareholders had access 
to management on a regular basis and to 
that end, we met with each of our top 20 
shareholders consistently during the year. 
Fund Managers as at 31 December 2020
Holding %
BlackRock
7.95
MFS
6.02
Morgan Stanley
5.89
Capital Group
3.42
Vanguard
3.40
In 2020, we held over 300 
meetings with over 1000 
investors, representing 
over 350 institutions.
Understanding investor views
In July, we completed the re-organisation 
of the business into three business units 
– Hygiene, Health and Nutrition. Investors 
were keen to gain insight into the underlying 
trajectory of the businesses and our ambitions 
and priorities for sustainable growth. Our 
growth enablers and growth drivers featured 
high on their list of discussion points. Many 
wanted to delve deeper into subjects like 
innovation, the development of our core 
category market units (CMUs) and the 
new Global Business Services channel. 
With the significant changes to the senior 
leadership team over the year, investors 
have been keen to hear about how the 
culture of the organisation is changing. 
To fully understand and gauge the 
views of our investors and other financial 
stakeholders, we gather regular feedback 
using third party providers. On our behalf, 
the feedback company collected detailed 
comments and liaised not only with the 
investors we met, but also with the sell-side 
analysts who regularly write research on the 
company. The feedback obtained, which is 
shared and reviewed by the Group Executive 
Committee and the Board, helps us to better 
communicate the investment story in the most 
helpful manner to our investment community. 
Governance and remuneration are areas 
of enduring interest and against the backdrop 
of stronger interest in ESG, we spent a lot 
of time addressing queries on these topics, 
particularly towards the end of the year.

39
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
The trust that our 
employees place in the 
company is underlined  
by the high proportion 
that own shares in the 
company – which, at 
around 55 percent of the 
workforce, is amongst the 
highest for a publicly 
owned, UK-listed 
company. 
 
Employees as shareholders 
At Reckitt, employee interests are aligned 
with those of our institutional and retail 
shareholders. The trust that our employees 
place in the company is underlined by the 
high proportion that own shares in the 
company – which, at around 55 percent of 
the workforce, is amongst the highest for 
a publicly owned, UK-listed company. 
We have three separate plans which cater 
to our global workforce – the UK Sharesave; 
the US Plan and the GSPP (Global Stock 
Purchase Plan), which is for all other countries 
outside of UK and US. Our Group Leadership 
Team has share ownership requirements to 
increase alignment between management 
and shareholders and ensure focus on 
long term sustainable shareholder value.
Looking ahead
We will be looking to launch further initiatives 
in the coming year and will continue to adopt 
as flexible an approach as is necessary.
We will focus on building and enhancing 
our IR digital interaction and as COVID-19 
restrictions continue, we will seek to use 
the corporate website and video interaction 
in more innovative ways to showcase 
the business and our strategy and to 
highlight the breadth of our portfolio. 
ESG will also form a bigger part of our 
2021 investor relations programme as we 
roll out new targets. We will also look to 
uncover our heritage stories further and 
bring the richness and the great history 
of our brands to all of our stakeholders.
C AS E S T U DY
Articulating strategy at the Morgan 
Stanley Global Consumer & Retail 
Conference
In Laxman Narasimhan’s fireside chat at 
the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & 
Retail Conference in December 2020 he 
connected with international investors to 
outline Reckitt’s business transformation 
strategy and review its performance 
at the end of an eventful year. 
He began by reminding his audience that 
Reckitt’s strategy set out, pre-COVID-19, in 
February had focused on building long-
term sustainable returns with an initial 
emphasis on improving execution. He 
explained that the impact of COVID-19 
had in fact accelerated transformation and 
made the company more confident that 
it would achieve its objectives sooner. 
Laxman highlighted five tailwinds that 
supported the company’s positioning: 
hygiene as the foundation of health, 
the increase in sexual health concerns, 
the growth in self-care as public health 
comes under pressure, the need 
for nutrition solutions – for infants 
and, increasingly, for seniors – and 
the continuing disruptive effects of 
technology and in the digital arena. He 
explained why Reckitt is well-placed in 
all of these areas and took questions on 
how Reckitt intended to drive organic 
growth and improve shareholder returns. 
‘A GOOD HOUSE  
IN A GREAT 
NEIGHBOURHOOD’ 
Reckitt’s strategy  
set out, pre-COVID-19,  
in February had focused 
on building long-term 
sustainable returns with 
an initial emphasis on 
improving execution.

40
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R PEO PLE

41
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
INSPIRING AND 
SUPPORTING 
OUR PEOPLE
The talented people who 
work at Reckitt want to 
make a difference in the 
world. They are inspired  
by our purpose and our 
fight, and guided by  
our compass. We give 
colleagues the space,  
the opportunities and the 
chance to have a real and 
positive impact. It’s what  
we call Freedom to Succeed. 
How we engage 
Our success as a business is founded on 
our strong, distinctive culture. We want all 
colleagues to have a sense of belonging 
and take personal pride in what they do. 
Our approach is anchored by our purpose: 
the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier 
world. The behaviours we share are 
guided by our compass; doing the right 
thing, always, is fundamental for everyone 
here. Our Freedom to Succeed employee 
value proposition aims to instil, promote, 
reinforce and reward the positive behaviours 
and attributes that make that real. 
Our focus is on maintaining an open, 
positive, inclusive culture by promoting 
continuing dialogue across the company.  
We forge connections across the company  
in many different ways: via site visits, at  
virtual townhalls and through surveys, forums 
and focus groups for special interest areas.
Maintaining rich and active communications 
across the company is a priority for Laxman 
Narasimhan, our CEO. His popular car-pool 
conversations – informal chats with team 
members on the commute to work – were 
halted by COVID-19, but he along with other 
senior leaders continued to connect with 
colleagues with regular, screen-enabled sofa 
chats and through the Stronger Together 
series. All colleagues are encouraged to 
connect directly with senior leaders, via 
email and in live-streamed Q&A sessions. 
The pandemic constrained site visits this 
year, but the leadership team and Board 
directors held regular virtual focus groups, 
townhalls and broadcasts with our teams. 
We ran virtual onboarding sessions for 
new GEC members, which included tours 
of key markets. There were also regional 
and domain-specific meetings with 
general managers and function leaders. 
On social media our active LinkedIn 
presence is followed by over 30,000 
Reckitt employees. There is also high 
employee engagement on other social 
channels and increasing interaction 
on internal social platforms. 
We conducted regular surveys using an 
online tool, Glint, that yield detailed, in-depth 
insights into employee sentiment. There were 
two general all-employee surveys and three 
that asked for specific, COVID-19 related 
responses during 2020. Reckitt scored highly 
on overall engagement. Over 70% of those 
surveyed responded, including a significant 
number of responses from our manufacturing 
employee base. The feedback showed a highly 
motivated workforce, strongly committed to 
our purpose and fight. When asked to rate 
how proud they were to work here, they 
ranked Reckitt well ahead of our global peers.
The surveys also identified opportunities 
for improving performance. Colleagues 
were broadly positive about our equal 
opportunities policies, our investment in

42
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R PEO PLE CO NTI N U ED
Reckitt spirit
In crisis, the Reckitt spirit comes out even 
stronger among our people. We saw that after 
the Beirut explosion, colleagues set up online 
support groups and raised over $1 million for 
employees and their families. And we saw 
that by how people stepped up in the face of 
a global pandemic, we had factory workers 
living on site to keep production going. To take 
just one example, our IFCN facility in Makati 
in the Philippines keep vital nutrition supplies 
flowing for children under curfew conditions. 
They converted office space to make ‘the 
Reckitt hotel’. Some were living there for 
weeks on end without seeing their families. 
 When we had to close our offices 
colleagues adapted immediately. Face-to-face 
training programmes were swapped for virtual 
equivalents. Our IT specialists worked tirelessly 
to get our global systems fit for purpose. 
Reckitt has become a key strategic player  
in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19. 
This would never have been possible without 
the extraordinary efforts of so many of  
our colleagues.
Leading by example
In 2020 we developed leadership behaviours 
with the Group Executive Committee that 
translate our compass into meaningful action. 
The compass calls on colleagues to put 
consumers and people first, seek out new 
opportunities, strive for excellence, build shared 
success and above all, do the right thing, 
always. Our expectation of leaders is that they 
support and reinforce these behaviours. We 
ask them to own their area of the business and 
make decisions that matter. They should spot 
opportunities, innovating, iterating and scaling 
and building better in everything that they do. 
We expect them to care for their colleagues, 
actively listening and including and working 
together to deliver. These behaviours are 
being embedded into the assessment of talent 
and performance across the organisation.
Reckitt Leaders...
Own: Live our purpose, fight and compass. 
Know our business. Make decisions.
Create: Spot opportunities. Innovate, iterate 
and scale. Relentlessly build better.
Care: Actively listen, learn and include. Speak 
direct with respect. Act to unleash potential.
Deliver: Focus on what matters. Move boldly 
and at pace. Join forces to win bigger.
Diversity and inclusion (D&I)
We have over 43,500 colleagues operating in 
60 countries across six continents from 120 
different nations. It’s incumbent on us to work 
together to embrace our diversity and build 
inclusion into everything we do, not just to 
create a sense of belonging within the 
company but to make better connections  
with the global community we serve. 
In 2020 we have been working hard to 
make our culture more inclusive. We’ve 
established a D&I board chaired by our 
CEO. We also commissioned EY to give us 
an external perspective on where we are 
and where we could be. The EY diagnostic 
included an online listening exercise with 
feedback from 2,000 Reckitt people, 
focus groups in different languages, and 
interviews with key stakeholders, including 
members of the D&I board, Group Executive 
Committee and senior Reckitt leaders. 
We have six workstreams in our inclusion 
strategy: leadership, policies, people, 
partnerships, procurement and brands. The 
leadership pillar ensures that inclusion is 
role-modelled, endorsed and promoted at a 
senior level. Our policies should be inclusive by 
design; we are reviewing these to ensure that’s 
the case. The people pillar is about promoting 
a fully inclusive culture throughout the 
company. For partnerships, we seek out others 
that develop diversity and inclusion in society. 
We want to ensure our procurement policies 
support suppliers from diverse and minority 
communities. And we leverage the power of 
our brands to help build a more inclusive world. 
Gender pay report
As a UK-based group we are required by  
law to produce a gender pay report which 
highlights any difference between average 
male and female hourly earnings. But Reckitt 
goes further. In 2020, we extended our 
reporting to five of our main markets covering 
more than 50% of all our people. In 2021, we 
will extend to a further ten markets. 
C AS E S T U DY
IN THE FRONT 
LINE AGAINST 
COVID-19
Jingzhou city in Hubei province is close 
to Wuhan, where the coronavirus epidemic 
began. It is home to one of Reckitt’s biggest 
manufacturing plants for Dettol.
When Hubei went into lockdown the factory’s 
products were desperately needed, but most 
of its 400 workers had left the city for the 
weeklong Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) 
celebrations. Managers worked with the 
government to get travel permits and 
accommodation. Nearly 300 colleagues 
agreed to come back: one worker made a 
six-hour bicycle trip, another walked 13 hours. 
They boosted dwindling mask supplies with 
a donation from a nearby factory and put 
the workers up in local hotels, where they 
remained isolated for several weeks. 
Everyone understood that Reckitt was 
in the front line against COVID-19; the 
workers gave up a lot to play their part. 
The factory earned plaudits for its efforts 
and was recognised with a global award 
from the CEO – the Sir James Reckitt 
Award – Reckitt’s highest accolade.
people and our status as a smarter, leaner 
workplace, although we still have work 
to do to raise the bar in these areas. This 
tallies with the three key themes emerging 
from employee feedback generally. First, 
our people are concerned about inclusion 
and the associated topics of equality of 
opportunity and career development. Second, 
although they were positive about currently 
available opportunities they wanted more 
investment in training and development. The 
third strand, highlighted by the pandemic, is 
a desire for smarter, more flexible working 
practices. We are addressing all of these 
areas in a spirit of continual improvement. 
Stronger Together: 6 pillars to drive inclusion 
	 People: Building a culture of 
inclusive leadership
	 Policies: We continuously improve 
our policies to raise the bar on 
inclusion
	 Partnerships: Building selective 
partnerships
	 Brands: Leveraging the power of our 
brands to drive a more inclusive world
	 Procurement: Supporting suppliers 
from diverse and minority 
communities
	 Leadership: Senior level focus and 
sponsorship via a global D&I board

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
C AS E S T U DY
STRONGER 
TOGETHER 
In 2020, we set up the Stronger 
Together conversation series – a 
five-year commitment that aims 
to shine a light on the inclusion 
topics that matter most to our 
people. Laxman chairs employee 
storytelling sessions that aim to 
advance understanding across 
the organisation about the lived 
experience of people of colour, 
women, the LGBTQ+ community, 
those with disabilities and other 
marginalised or disadvantaged 
groups. We are also hosting 
conversations with external 
guests and thought leaders to 
challenge our thinking and inform 
our responses on these topics.
In the first of these conversations, 
in May 2020, Reckitt people 
spoke about the reality of being 
black in America. It provoked 
strong emotions and sparked 
a worldwide response. Over 
4,000 colleagues attended these 
sessions, which have also included 
conversations on LGBTQ+ and 
women in STEM. Colleagues have 
shown commendable courage 
and openness in coming forward 
to tell their stories. Their stories 
have helped us all to consider 
how different experiences impact 
on people’s life chances. 
Workforce Disclosure Initiative
In 2017, ShareAction and over 50 financial 
institutions formed the Workforce Disclosure 
Initiative (WDI) to address the demand from 
investors and NGOs for greater transparency 
from businesses on how they value direct 
employees and those in their supply chains. 
Reckitt has participated for three years. In  
2020, we were placed in the top quartile for 
transparency of the 140+ companies sharing 
information on pay, contract types, diversity, 
and their supply chains with a disclosure score 
of 82% compared with the 66% sector average. 
Reimagining the workplace
In common with many businesses, the 
constraints on working imposed by  
the pandemic have also unearthed  
new possibilities. 
In July 2020, we launched our Freedom 
Forum, a crowdsourcing platform that 
encourages colleagues globally to share 
their ideas on how we can change the way 
we do things. We request ideas in response 
to a particular theme. These are assessed 
for viability and the top five get proposed 
to leadership. The theme for the first forum, 
workplace of the future, attracted more 
than 600 ideas and over 10,000 votes. Ideas 
around how to enhance flexibility at work 
was most popular. We now have a cross-
functional global team focusing on the future 
of work. It’s looking not just at the practical 
implications of working flexibly, but at how 
it enables sustaining high impact at work 
and at home and broader cultural goals.
As people spend longer working from 
home, wellbeing and mental health are coming 
ever more into focus. In 2020, we paused 
global operations on two occasions to let 
people rest and recover in a stressful year, as 
well as ensuring our people have access to 
assistance programmes and other tools and 
resources to support individuals and build 
resilience. In 2021, this will be a key focus 
area when we have plans to dedicate more 
time and resources to employee wellbeing, 
enabling colleagues to thrive personally and 
professionally. Colleagues want to find ways 
to balance their workload more effectively. 
We recognise that space to stand back and 
sample different experiences can have a 
positive impact on productivity and innovation.

44
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R PA RTN ERS

45
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
EXTENDING OUR 
IMPACT WITH 
LIKE-MINDED 
PARTNERS
We work with our partners 
to deliver practical and 
sustainable solutions that 
further our purpose of 
creating a cleaner, healthier 
world. We want to build 
lasting solutions that have 
real social impact. To do 
that, we look for partners 
that share our purpose 
and endorse our values. 
How we engage
Reckitt is on a mission. Our purpose – the 
relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world 
– drives our actions and our compass guides our 
thinking. That sense of purpose underpins our 
sustainable business model. We further our 
purpose through purpose-led brands that serve 
a genuine social need. And that drives growth. 
We join forces with others to build shared 
success. External partners support our 
efforts with expertise, objective assurance, 
research and local knowledge. We forge 
purpose-led alliances that link with our 
categories and brands. We participate in 
local and global campaigns to advance 
social and environmental objectives. And 
we combine with trading partners to build 
efficient, resilient supply chains that meet 
consumer needs and expectations.
Sparking innovation
Innovation for us is not just about making 
world-beating products, it’s about connecting 
with our consumers in different ways, finding 
different ways to grow our business and making 
a difference to society and the environment. 
The best ideas can come from 
anywhere, but there are natural synergies 
with like-minded start-ups and small-
scale disruptors. They bring fresh thinking 
and new approaches. Our knowledge 
and resources can scale up their ideas. 
Together, we can have a lasting impact in areas 
that really matter to people’s lives. 
We reach out to entrepreneurs in many 
different ways. In 2020, we partnered with 
Startup Grind, the world’s largest independent 
start-up community, at its tenth anniversary 
event in Redwood City, California. We 
hosted a health innovation hack there. 
Reckitt mentors guided teams of 
entrepreneurs and creative leaders. They 
were supported by our R&D and marketing 
experts. We gave them 24 hours to prepare 
mental health solutions for expectant and 
recent mothers, which they then presented 
to an expert judging panel. As well as kudos, 
the winning team won a commitment from 
Reckitt to explore how to bring its idea to life.
The annual Reckitt Global Challenge 
is another way we reach out to talented 
innovators. Our flagship innovation competition 
attracts hundreds of entries. In 2020, they 
came from 32 countries on three continents. 
The teams were asked for ideas that contribute 
to positive social change. The national winners 
went to a global final at the annual One Young 
World conference. They got the chance 
to work at Reckitt, with their ideas going 
into our innovation pipeline and mentoring 
available to support their development.

46
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
ACCESS VC
B Corporations are purpose-driven 
organisations that want to use business as a 
force for good. The over 3,500 certified B 
Corps in 71 countries include some of the 
most innovative and progressive companies in 
the world. They are committed to combining 
profit and purpose. 
We want to encourage collaboration  
with these independent, purpose-driven 
entrepreneurs. Their objectives chime  
with our own. That’s why we’ve launched  
our own B Corp venture. 
Access VC has been set up to be agile, 
flexible and a great partner for purpose-
driven initiatives. It manages our existing 
Reckitt minority stake assets, including the 
Your.MD and Founders’ Factory investments.  
It will be the launchpad for B Corp start-ups  
in the coming years.
Access VC offers more than just venture 
capital: it’s a cooperative enterprise. Purpose-
driven entrepreneurs get access to Reckitt’s 
experts, brands, resources and scale.  
Clinical professionals
We engage with healthcare professionals 
internationally to exchange information, share 
best clinical practice and sponsor research. 
In South America we work with Neocosur, 
a non-profit, voluntary network of around 
30 neonatal units in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, 
Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. In India, we 
worked with senior paediatricians and 
dieticians to develop the country’s first ever 
milk ladder and tackle cow’s milk allergy 
(CMPA) in infants and young children. We 
also conducted clinical studies with the 
Department of Translational Medical Sciences 
at the University of Naples Federico II to 
better understand CMPA management.
In France, we worked with the paediatric, 
gastroenterology and allergy department 
at the Necker hospital for sick children, 
Europe’s largest paediatric hospital, on 
research into eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).
We manage numerous educational 
partnerships, including with Harvard School 
of Public Health, the Royal Children’s Hospital 
in Melbourne and SickKids in Canada. We 
also share our expertise in professional 
journals and at presentations for international 
symposiums and congresses, including a 
virtual CME Symposium sponsored by the 
Pediatric College of Nuevo Leon and at the 
World Congress of Pediatric Gastroenterology, 
Hepatology and Nutrition in Vienna. 
Innovative and responsible supply chains
We seek to encourage sustainable practice 
across the supply chain. To do that, we 
make sure we source responsibly and 
we collaborate with key suppliers and 
manufacturers to advance our purpose. 
Our Partners to Innovate programme aims 
to promote sustainable innovation and 
improve manufacturing processes. 
This has included work with Dow to 
develop a new polymer system for Finish 
products. These use recyclable feedstock 
and replace a key petrochemical ingredient 
with biodegradable materials. We are 
working with major polymer producers to 
develop the next generation of recycled 
materials for high-quality post-consumer 
recycled (PCR) plastic packaging. We have 
also developed 100% PCR packaging with 
Banyan Nation in India for Dettol handsoap.
Manufacture 2030 is a software platform 
that aims to halve resource use in global 
manufacturing over the next decade. This 
industry-wide, cloud-based initiative helps 
to evaluate and improve the environmental 
performance of manufacturers, especially 
in developing markets. We joined the 
platform in November 2020. We’re using 
it to encourage factories and suppliers to 
improve environmental performance. The 
initial 289 third-party manufacturers involved 
will soon be joined by others, bringing us 
a step closer to improving environmental 
performance across the whole supply chain. 
In Africa, we partnered with leading 
e-commerce platform Jumia to simplify 
consumer access for health and hygiene 
products. As part of this agreement, 
we finance free shipping in eight 
African markets, to reach consumers in 
Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, 
Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. 
And we’re increasing transparency across 
our supply chains. We have worked with key 
dairy suppliers, including Glanbia in Ireland 
and Friesland Campina in New Zealand, 
to trace milk to farm level. This provides 
reassurance that key Enfa products use milk 
from grass-fed cattle – an important issue 
for many consumers, especially in China. 
Responding to COVID-19
Trinity Challenge
In September, Dame Sally Davis, Master of 
Trinity College of Cambridge, launched the 
Trinity Challenge in response to COVID-19. She 
was motivated by the belief that humanity has 
the means to ensure future health emergencies 
will not disrupt and destroy lives and 
livelihoods. But to do that it must prepare now.
The Challenge aims to build a coalition 
of partners that use data and analytics 
to develop insights that can protect us 
all against future health emergencies.
Reckitt is a founding member. We’ve joined a 
network of 22 leading institutions including 
some of the world’s best minds and most 
influential leaders from business, academia and 
the social sector to help identify and evaluate 
potential solutions. 
Our collaborative research efforts focus on 
measuring and modelling the socio-economic 
impacts of pandemics and looking at the 
cost-effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical 
health and hygiene interventions.
COVID-19facts.com
There has been a lot of misunderstanding 
about COVID-19. There have been numerous 
competing narratives as the world struggled 
to get to grips with a fast-moving global 
pandemic. The World Health Organization has 
warned of an infodemic, with misperceptions 
on topics such as transmission, cures and 
protective measures circulating widely.
We teamed up with the Economist 
Intelligence Unit (EIU) to create a dedicated 
fact-checking website that aims to debunk 
common myths. Working in conjunction 
with Reckitt, EIU experts have been 
providing authoritative, science-based 
information on the COVID-19facts.com 
website since its launch in March 2020.
Advancing best practice
Illicit trade has grown well beyond the 
capabilities of individual governments and 
individual companies, and now demands a 
sustained, coordinated response. Reckitt joined 
the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade 
(TRACIT) in 2020. TRACIT is a private sector 
initiative to mitigate the economic and social 
damages of illicit trade and counterfeit goods. 
We also worked with Route 2, to assess 
the societal impact of our Durex brand. 
This quantified our impact throughout the 
value chain, from latex farmers through 
to end-consumers, as a Total Economic 
Contribution. Route 2’s analysis established 
that the sale and use of Durex condoms 
in 2019 had created an estimated £122 
million in value through the avoidance of 
deaths, unplanned pregnancies and sexually 
transmitted infections and diseases. 
With the Danish Institute for Human Rights 
and our supplier partners, we assessed the 
whole of our Durex and Enfa value chains 
in Thailand to understand our impacts 
and consider how we could strengthen 
human rights. The DIHR report and our 
associated action plan has been published. 
We are continuing our work to strengthen 
the human rights and livelihoods of people 
in our Durex and Enfa networks in Thailand. 
Our new Fair Rubber commitment is 
building community benefits and economic 
stability for the smallholder farmers in 
Thailand and Malaysia that provide us 
with high-quality latex for the brand. 
OU R PA RTN ERS CO NTI N U ED

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Regulatory intelligence
We engage actively in the continuing debate 
on international regulatory frameworks for 
nutrition, health and hygiene. 
Food law and regulation is a complex and 
evolving area. We are regularly consulted 
on policy and participate at high-profile 
educational events. For example, in 2020, 
Reckitt representatives presented to a 
global audience of industry professionals, 
academics and regulators at a Michigan 
State University programme on best 
practice for food safety and regulation. 
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s two 
Reckitt-sponsored white papers on self-
care and the future of health continue to 
influence global debate on healthcare policy. 
Reckitt specialists and partner organisations 
have published and presented in China, 
Thailand and elsewhere on the role of self-
care and the need to maintain transparent 
and consistent regulatory frameworks that 
protect people and support the sector. 
In Hygiene, we cooperated with numerous 
regulatory and industry bodies to authorise 
and approve biocidal products for use 
in the battle against COVID-19. Our US 
regulatory team successfully advocated for 
the US Environmental Protection Agency to 
publish its List N of disinfectant ingredients 
expected to kill the coronavirus. After 
receiving data confirming the efficacy of our 
products for this specific SARS-Cov2 strain, 
Reckitt worked with regulators to expedite 
registration approvals. In several markets, 
including Australia, the US and Canada, we 
were the first to obtain this approval.
We also work with industry groups to 
develop common standards and enhance 
international best practice. As active 
members of the International Association 
for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance 
Products (AISE) we are currently helping to 
develop the AISE Charter for Sustainability.
C AS E S T U DY
RECKITT GLOBAL  
HYGIENE 
INSTITUTE 
In July, we established the Reckitt 
Global Hygiene Institute (RGHI), a 
new, fully independent, not-for-
profit global initiative to develop 
insights and scientific analysis 
that can inform public health 
initiatives. Our £18m funding aims to 
strengthen the scientific evidence 
demonstrating hygiene’s importance 
as a foundation for health. RGHI will 
act as a research and innovation 
hub bridging epidemiology, public 
health, and behavioural insights to 
generate practical, high-quality 
scientific research that leads to 
enduring behaviour change.
The Institute aims to advance 
understanding of the links between 
hygiene and health, encourage 
behaviour change and higher global 
hygiene standards, and promote 
best-in-class hygiene science 
internationally. 
RGHI has assembled an expert 
panel of internationally renowned 
academics, which will drive and 
direct its research activities. Its 
early priorities include advocacy, 
establishing a new RGHI fellowship 
programme and publishing 
cutting-edge research.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
OU R CO M M U N ITI ES

49
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
INVESTING IN 
COMMUNITIES
We want to make access to 
the highest quality hygiene, 
health and nutrition a right 
not a privilege. We are 
investing to improve that 
access in communities with 
unmet needs where we can 
have the most impact and 
through our brands, making 
high-quality products 
available to more people. 
We empower people – 
with products, education 
and skills – to make small 
changes in their daily lives 
that can unlock progress 
that lasts a lifetime. 
How we engage
Reckitt seeks to play a full and constructive 
role in society. Our purpose and fight express 
what that means for us and guide how we 
make a difference. We believe that everyone 
has the right to high-quality hygiene, wellness 
and nourishment. And we fight on multiple 
fronts to make that happen. 
Our social impact investment programme 
focuses on projects where we can make 
a measurable, sustainable and meaningful 
difference. It is centred on three main areas 
of activity. Sexual health and rights and 
maternal and child health are two; the third 
area, which was critically important this year, 
is clean water, hygiene and sanitation. 
Fight for Access Fund
The launch in March of our Fight for 
Access Fund marked a new phase in our 
drive to translate our purpose – protecting, 
healing and nurturing in the relentless 
pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world – into 
transformative action for communities. 
The Fight for Access Fund is a rallying point for 
the energy and resources we spend serving 
our communities. It’s there to support projects 
that improve access to health, hygiene and 
nutrition for all. We’ve committed to allocating 
the equivalent of 1% of our annual adjusted 
operating profit every year to ensure we 
continue to broaden and deepen that access. 
We put this money to work through our brands 
on programmes that have a lasting, positive 
impact on people’s lives. The Fund invests to 
improve access in a range of ways: by donating 
funds to organisations on the ground, by 
ensuring high-quality products are produced 
and enhancing their availability, and by 
educating and informing people. 
Combatting COVID-19
In 2020, the collective battle against the spread 
of COVID-19 was the immediate and urgent 
priority. We mobilised £32m from the Fight for 
Access Fund and supplemented this with 
additional resources from savings during the 
year, which boosted our COVID-19 related 
funding to £52m.

50
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
combatting the virus with projects that 
promote clean water, hygiene and sanitation.
Clean water, hygiene and sanitation
We have collaborated on public service 
campaigns with government agencies,  
NGOs, national medical associations and other 
stakeholders and provide funding, products 
and educational resources to promote 
handwashing and sanitation in Africa, Asia 
and the Middle East. We use the strength of 
our brands to stress the importance of good 
hygiene. Dettol India’s #HandWashChallenge 
campaign was particularly successful 
at spreading a vital public health 
message to a younger demographic. It 
attracted billions of views on TikTok. 
The Banega Swasth India (BSI) campaign 
has been stressing the importance of 
hygiene as a foundation for health since 
2014. It has helped to instil behaviour 
change in 13m schoolchildren over the 
years, reducing diarrhoea and improving 
school attendance. The spread of COVID-19 
through the country added urgency to the 
campaign. BSI launched its Healthily app 
and donated Return to School kits, including 
masks, sanitiser and public health posters, to 
over a million schools across the country. 
For Mission Paani, Harpic teamed up with 
India’s News 18 to highlight the country’s water 
crisis. Their nationwide publicity campaign 
emphasised the importance of conserving 
water and ensuring sustainable sources for 
future generations. It also set up community 
pilot programmes to construct and renovate 
water harvesting structures in selected villages. 
In 2020, the programme partners 
recalibrated their message in response to 
the COVID-19 pandemic. They launched the 
Swachhta aur Paani campaign in October. 
This stresses the critical importance of clean 
water for good hygiene and the urgency of 
maintaining hygienic and sustainable supplies. 
In Kenya, where we have been at the 
forefront of handwashing campaigns for 
many years, the biggest obstacle has always 
been the lack of safe, clean sources of 
water. In 2020, we joined forces with water.
org, donating KSh69m (c.£460,000) from our 
Fight for Access Fund. This funding will help 
water.org reach around 68,000 Kenyans living 
in poverty over the next two years, getting 
them access to safer water and sanitation.
In the US, Lysol is investing more than $20 
million over the next three years to expand 
its HERE for Healthy Schools Program. It 
aims to reach the 15 million children in every 
Title 1 school in the country by 2022. The 
58,000 Title 1 schools across the US are those 
deemed to have large concentrations of low-
income students. The programme provides 
educational resources that will support the 
reopening of schools and encourage children 
to learn healthy habits to protect against 
the spread of germs in the classroom. 
Sexual health and rights 
We have a longstanding commitment to 
combat HIV and AIDS. We’ve joined forces  
with the United Nations Programme on HIV/
AIDS (UNAIDS) to help protect people with HIV/
AIDS during the pandemic. We’re using the 
UNAIDS network to distribute hygiene packs to 
around 220,000 people living with HIV across 
Africa. The packs contain a three-month  
supply of Dettol soap and JIK bleach. 
This latest initiative is in addition to 
our current Durex partnership with (RED) 
in South Africa, which is helping to keep 
40,000 girls in school. Keeping Girls in School, 
match-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates 
Foundation, is a $10 million commitment 
that aims to reduce new HIV infections in 
young women, reduce teenage pregnancies, 
improve access to sexual reproductive 
health services and encourage adolescent 
girls and young women to stay in school.
Maternal and child health
In 2020, we announced a partnership with the 
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this 
provides access and support to expectant 
mothers during the pandemic, in Mexico, 
Philippines and Thailand.
We also helped expectant mothers in China, 
our Embrace Life initiative provides access 
to expectant mothers during Lockdown. 
With the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund 
(CCTF), Chunyu Doctor, and NCP volunteer, 
we supported vulnerable expectant mothers 
in Wuhan and the Hubei Province. Their 
needs would otherwise have not been 
met during the pandemic, and the initiative 
helped them have a safe and healthy birth.
With CCTF, we also continued our ‘Better 
Start in Life’ programme. This is helping 10,000 
pregnant women and babies, and reduces 
stunting by 40% in rural China. Nutrition 
interventions and education aim to prevent 
stunting, and help break an intergenerational 
cycle of malnutrition in China.
In India, the Nutrition India Programme 
(NIP) aims to reach 177,000 mothers of 
undernourished children across 1,000 
villages to improve nutritional status 
during the first 1,000 days of life. In the 
five-year program, our goal is to reduce 
stunting in children under five by 40%.
Give time
Our Give Time programme offers colleagues 
around the world two paid volunteer days to 
work within their respective communities. In 
2020, Reckitt employees provided 23,147 hours 
of support to good causes globally, with 
colleagues donating time, skills and expertise 
to add real value in their local communities. 
The pandemic made volunteering much 
more difficult this year, but many colleagues 
found ways to give time virtually. Some 
connected with elderly and vulnerable people 
via telephone befriending services. Others sent 
letters to key workers, carers and healthcare 
C AS E S T U DY
DISINFECT  
TO PROTECT
In Asia, Lysol and the Philippine Red Cross 
(PRC) joined forces to launch Disinfect to 
Protect. This aims to break the chain of 
coronavirus infection by improving hygiene 
barriers and early diagnosis. Lysol Philippines 
contributed P36 million (c.£560,000) to boost 
mass testing. Half of this donation was used to 
build the Philippine Red Cross Molecular 
Laboratory, a mass-testing facility. The other 
half went to towards a COVID-19 Samaritan 
fund that prioritises testing for around 4,500 
of the most vulnerable Filipinos, including 
pregnant women, the elderly and those with 
pre-existing conditions. Lysol supplemented 
this financial support with support in kind. It 
has equipped the PRC’s sample collection 
facilities and testing laboratories with Lysol 
products to help keep frontline health 
workers safe.
We prioritised activities that addressed 
the stress faced by our consumers and in 
communities where we operate, to help stop 
the spread of the virus and break the chain of 
infection. The Fight for Access Fund supported 
governments and frontline health workers 
in 66 countries. The £1 million allocated for 
NHS workers in the UK was one of 20 major 
projects targeted globally. And there was 
strong backing too from our brands. Lysol, 
for instance, provided $2 million in matched 
funding to the US Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation. 
Dettol committed £6 million to frontline 
health workers and provided urgently needed 
medical equipment in Wuhan, China. It also 
gave 10 million units of Dettol soap to 
vulnerable communities. 
Dettol UK pledged to distribute 150,000 
care packages to help frontline health 
workers and their families stay clean and 
safe. And it donated pre-purchased media 
time to the UK Government to help amplify 
its public health messaging campaign. 
Globally, we donated over 27 million 
products, including 1 million litres of Lizol 
and Harpic disinfectant for Indian hospitals. 
And we provided essential PPE for frontline 
workers, including over 15 million face 
masks worldwide. We also supported 
public health messaging through our brand 
campaigns and by donating media space.
These are just a few of the many direct 
initiatives we undertook in 2020 to counter 
the spread of COVID-19. We have also been 
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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
professionals to thank them for the work they 
have been doing for their communities.
Reckitt’s globally-led Give Time initiatives 
provide opportunities for colleagues to use 
their skills and experience to volunteer on 
a longer-term basis. Reckitt’s long-term 
volunteer programme offers colleagues 
the opportunity to take part in a 13-week 
programme. At the start of 2020, four 
Reckitt employees managed teams of young 
volunteers in rural community projects in 
Nepal, Tanzania and Costa Rica. Through 
these programmes, Reckitt and Raleigh 
International bring young leaders and local 
communities together to work hand in 
hand to build lasting, positive impact.
Formed by One Young World, Lead 2030 
is the world’s biggest prize fund for young 
leaders that make an impact on the UN’s 
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Reckitt 
volunteers provided online mentorship to 
young people seeking Lead 2030 funding for 
their social enterprises. Our mentors shared 
practical and business knowledge to help them 
develop marketing strategies, e-commerce 
platforms and other key resources. 
Fairness across the value chain
Communities are at the heart of our value 
chains. We see it as our responsibility to 
support people who live and work in them, 
whether or not they are directly employed 
by us. Accordingly, supporting human rights 
across our value chain is an important 
part of our community engagement. We 
want to ensure reasonable livelihoods 
and good working conditions. Enabling 
decent livelihoods strengthens health and 
wellness in their communities, which helps 
us deliver our fight to make access to 
the highest quality hygiene, wellness and 
nourishment a right and not a privilege.
For the smallholder farmers that provide 
us with natural raw materials, this translates 
into programmes that help improve 
productivity or recognise sustainably sourced 
suppliers with premium payments. 
For larger suppliers, capacity-building 
programmes on both human rights and 
environmental performance protect and 
support the local communities where 
they operate. We work alongside peer 
companies through the AIM-Progress 
forum to promote responsible sourcing 
and strengthen delivery on human rights 
and working conditions. We are using the 
software-led initiative Manufacture 2030 
to help our factories and other suppliers 
improve their environmental performance.
C AS E S T U DY
ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN  
UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES
In June, Lysol announced a strategic 
partnership with UNCF (United Negro 
College Fund) to provide 100 scholarships 
for students pursuing studies in public 
health, nutrition and other STEM related 
fields, with the goal of supporting each 
recipient through their time at college  
over four years.
The Reckitt Scholars programme will 
expand Lysol’s current commitment in the 
area of public education and efforts to 
improve access to health, hygiene and 
nutrition in the US, particularly in 
underserved communities and those 
disproportionately impacted by the 
COVID-19 pandemic.
UNCF is the nation’s largest private 
scholarship provider for students of colour, 
and awarding more than $100 million in 
scholarships to students attending more 
than 1,100 schools across the US, including 
37 historically black colleges and 
universities (HBCUs).
“We were compelled to take action after 
observing the disproportionate impact of 
COVID-19 on underserved communities and 
the lack of representation of the black 
community in higher education. It is more 
important than ever that we use our voice 
and influence as a force for good and look 
forward to collaborating with UNCF on this 
effort,” said Ranjay Radhakrishnan, Chief 
Human Resources Officer, Reckitt.
“At a time when social, health and 
economic issues are all at the forefront of 
our national discourse, we are extremely 
grateful for support from donors, like 
Reckitt and Lysol,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, 
UNCF’s president and CEO. “This substantial 
gift is much needed and will have a lasting 
impact on students. Thank you for being a 
stellar example of what it takes to realise 
the vision of a nation where all Americans 
have equal access to a college education.”

52
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
BUILDING A 
SUSTAINABLE 
FUTURE 
  
Increasingly, our shared COVID-19 
experience is revealing the 
connection between a healthy 
planet and healthy people. As a 
responsible business we want to 
play our part in addressing key social 
and environmental issues – our 
societal impact. It’s the right thing 
to do and it’s good for our business. 
OU R EN V I RO N M ENT

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Embedding sustainability into strategy 
Our aim is to generate business growth 
through the positive impact we have on the 
world. Our progress rests on three main pillars: 
purpose-led brands, combatting climate 
change for a healthier world and enabling a 
fairer, more diverse and inclusive society. 
Our strategy is all about creating positive 
impact. We want to be a regenerative 
business that adds value to society and the 
environment. We’re combatting climate 
change with ambitious plans to reduce our 
own carbon footprint. We’re taking steps to 
improve the environmental performance of our 
products, factories, co-packers and suppliers. 
And all of these activities support the planet. 
By sourcing raw materials, ingredients 
and packaging responsibly we protect 
communities and the ecosystems in which they 
operate. By respecting colleagues, contractors 
and suppliers we are encouraging fairness 
across the value chain. By producing safer, 
sustainable products, reducing waste, and 
maximising recycling and reuse, we enable 
and promote circular economic principles. 
Combatting climate change
In June 2020, we announced our ambition to 
be carbon neutral by 2040, beginning with 
accelerating our delivery of the Paris 
Agreement by 2030, through science-based 
targets. Subsequently, Reckitt was one of the 
first three global companies to sign up to The 
Climate Pledge, co-founded in 2019 by Amazon 
and Global Optimism. Our ambition for carbon 
neutrality by 2040 is a full decade ahead of the 
world’s goal of 2050. 
Over 30 global companies are now 
Climate Pledge signatories. By agreeing to 
accelerate decarbonisation, we are signalling 
the need for a new wave of investments 
and innovative, low-carbon products and 
services. Collaboration will drive markets 
for these and speed up their adoption.
This means reducing carbon emissions 
from our sites by 65% and powering our 
operations with 100% renewable electricity 
by 2030. We are already sourcing renewable 
electricity where markets allow, and now 
have 100% renewable coverage in our largest 
manufacturing bases in the US, Europe, India 
alongside a number of other countries. All 
the electricity bought for manufacturing our 
Hygiene business’s brands is now renewable. 
We are also expanding on-site generation, 
using solar technology. We are building on 
successful investments in the US, Columbia, 
Pakistan, Mexico and India, and creating 
new projects in Thailand and elsewhere. In 
Pakistan, our Mauripur factory has expanded 
its solar energy system by 370kW. The 
factory had set itself the objective of having 
50% of its energy load generated by solar 
energy. This has now been achieved. Its 
507kW capacity solar farm is reducing its 
GHG emissions by 420 tonnes annually, 
equivalent to planting around 70,000 trees. 
During 2020, we continued to invest in 
energy-efficiency projects. Several sites 
implemented initiatives, such as installing 
electric chillers and automated pump controls. 
These steps have helped to propel us 
past our 2020 goal of reducing Greenhouse 
Gas (GHG) emissions per consumer 
unit by more than 40% since 2012 – we 
in fact achieved a 53% reduction. 
We have increased energy efficiency by 
27% and will continue to improve on that. 
While this falls short of our 35% improvement 
target, this is in part because other urgent 
priorities, notably GHG reduction, took 
precedence; we also focused on strengthening 
product quality and productivity. We 
will, however, target an additional 25% 
improvement in energy efficiency from 
current levels as part of our drive towards 
delivery for the Paris Agreement by 2030.
In parallel, we have been strengthening 
our approach to assessing climate change 
risk. This began in 2018 with a detailed initial 
study of climate-related risks across all 
business units. We’ve continued assessing 
risks and are progressively mitigating 
How we engage
Our new sustainability ambitions mark a 
step-change in how we engage with the 
wider world. We are not just concerned with 
mitigating our negative impacts, we want to 
do what we can to make things better. 
Our new targets reflect our conviction 
that engaging positively with social and 
environmental issues underpins long-term 
growth and offers business opportunities. 
Reducing emissions, waste and water-use can 
lower our cost base. Integrating sustainability 
into our business model drives innovation 
and resilience. Our purpose-led approach is 
motivating our people to make change happen, 
and engages customers and consumers. 
Our purpose relentlessly pursues a cleaner, 
healthier world. That extends far beyond 
personal hygiene and health, we need 
urgent action to build a cleaner, healthier 
planet. Our pro-active stance extends 
across our supply chain and through all our 
operations. We have strengthened our 
climate change commitment with a pledge 
to deliver for the Paris Agreement by 2030 
and an ambition to be carbon neutral by 
2040. We share learnings globally across our 
supply chain to meet consumers’ evolving 
priorities more sustainably and at pace. 
In 2020, this included partnering with 
energy suppliers to accelerate our commitment 
to renewable electricity around the world. We 
also partner with raw material suppliers and 
others to improve ingredients, make packaging 
more sustainable and use better chemistry. 
Our sustainable innovation programme 
aims to reduce our carbon footprint, packaging 
and plastics, waste and water-use, while 
maintaining or enhancing product efficacy. 
We are reviewing our product range to ensure 
we deliver purposeful products that meet 
genuine consumer needs and advance circular 
economy principles. These principles apply to 
the energy we use, our ingredients and the 
way we package and deliver our products. 
We have adopted a science-based 
approach to innovation. Our research 
and development effort is built on eight 
global science platforms. These trigger 
insights and pool expertise to generate 
more sustainable, even safer and more 
effective new product innovations. 
We are also alert to the effect on nature 
of our activities and for those communities 
living in areas where we work or source our 
raw materials. We are working with local 
communities to protect the ecosystems 
that provide key natural raw materials 
for us, while safeguarding their human 
rights and dignity, and supporting their 
ability to earn sustainable livelihoods.
C AS E S T U DY
SAVING TREES  
WITH SMARTER 
INVOICING
In India, we are saving trees by reducing 
paper. Statutory and operational requirements 
in India require a paper-based invoice trail for 
all transactions. Invoices make up at least 98% 
of all the paper consumed by Reckitt India. 
The India country team revised layouts to 
reduce the average invoice length from nine 
to two pages. This will save an estimated 5 
million A4 sheets every year, equivalent to 100 
tonnes of CO2 in avoided emissions – simple, 
but effective.

54
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
these in our operations and in our products 
through our environmental programme. 
Our new environmental agenda is a further 
step along this journey. In 2020, we established 
a partnership with Judge Business School at 
Cambridge University. This will further assess 
the risks and opportunities posed by climate 
change. This work, which considers both 
supply networks and product development 
will become a central foundation for our 
climate strategy for sustainable growth. 
We’re developing a ‘digital twin’ approach 
with Judge Business School to model a range 
of climate risk and opportunity scenarios across 
the business. This is part of a comprehensive 
investigation across 2021 to further assess 
the detailed risks to global supply chains and 
our sites. It will factor in consumer responses 
and purchasing patterns related to climate 
change. This frames our mitigation and 
adaptation responses in supply chains and 
product development. For example, in water-
stressed locations it will prioritise site and 
catchment activity on water. We will continue 
to report on the risks we envisage and our 
response to them. A detailed disclosure on 
climate-related financial risk, including our 
climate-related risks and our activities to 
address them is in our Climate change insight.
Promoting the circular economy
Consumers are increasingly aware of their own 
environmental responsibilities – a trend driven 
in part by more widespread access to data. 
There is growing awareness of the importance 
of biodiversity and ecosystem protection. The 
demand for plastics reduction is growing. And 
they expect companies to play their part.
Society is transitioning from one based on 
taking, using and disposing of resources to one 
that applies systems thinking to reduce, reuse, 
recover and recycle them. The companies 
that are ready to meet this paradigm shift will 
be best positioned for long-term growth.
Packaging and plastics
We are actively reducing our reliance on 
plastics and improving the sustainability  
of our packaging. By using less material and 
increasing its recyclability we are reducing  
cost, promoting the circular economy and 
addressing consumer, customer and  
regulatory concerns.
We continue to progress our work to 
reduce our use of virgin plastics. In 2020, 
we joined the US Plastics Pact, which 
works collectively towards the common 
vision of a circular economy for plastics, as 
outlined in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 
New Plastics Economy initiative.
We work with numerous partners to extend 
our ability to deliver impact at scale. Under the 
Partners to Innovate programme, we are 
exploring future plastics opportunities by 
expanding PCR inclusion, developing bio-
based resins and investigating chemically 
recycled resins. Strategic partnerships, with 
companies like Dow, on new materials, and 
Veolia, on jointly developed solutions to replace 
virgin plastic, will help us achieve these goals. 
The Veolia partnership has delivered 
several successful projects in Europe. The 
injection moulded containers for Finish 
Quantum now incorporate 30% recycled 
polypropylene (r-PP) content. Vanish Oxi 
Powder tubs have 35% recycled polyethylene 
(r-PE) content. These programmes are 
being rolled out for other products in 
Europe and extended to other regions.
We are also working with Veolia on broader 
circular economy initiatives to stimulate 
waste collection, add value to waste and 
influence consumer behaviours to promote 
the right sorting and recycling habits. 
Our Yoyo project in France was a circular 
economy proof-of-concept initiative to 
demonstrate cost-effective HDPE recycling. 
Recycling high-density polyethylene (HDPE) 
is hampered by the lack of demand for the 
recycled product. We equipped consumers 
with distinctive pink recycling bags for 
their HDPE plastic bottles. These were then 
returned, via municipal sites, to Veolia facilities 
for reprocessing. The resulting r-HDPE 
was used as feedstock, providing 25% of 
the content in brand new Vanish tubs.
Reducing waste
Our campaign for zero waste across the 
business has been highly successful. We met 
our zero waste to landfill (ZWTL) target at all 
our baseline sites in 2020. Overall, we have also 
reduced waste by 28% since 2012, almost 
reaching our 30% target. But we can’t and 
won’t stop there. We’ll save another 25% as 
part of our new targets, and increase recycling. 
Our Chonburi nutrition plant in Thailand 
met its ZWTL target in 2018, but in 2019, 
6% of its waste was still being incinerated. 
The factory set out to eliminate all waste 
incineration by recycling or reusing all of its 
waste. It achieved this by converting more 
waste streams to material which could be 
used by others. For example, developing a 
new supply stream of spent processed milk 
and powder for farmers to use as animal feed. 
Through these and other measures, Chonburi 
became the first of our sites to achieve not just 
ZWTL but zero waste to incineration (ZWTI).
C AS E S T U DY
CIRCULAR  
FASHION 
Minimising waste goes beyond making our 
own production processes more efficient, it is 
also about changing consumer behaviour. 
Fashion has been cited as one of the world’s 
most polluting industries, responsible for 4% 
of global emissions. It’s an entire industry that 
was built on waste, with the idea that clothes 
constantly need to be replaced. But it doesn’t 
have to be like that. 
Vanish has a different mission. It aims to 
promote sustainability and responsible 
clothing consumption. And through its new 
partnership with the British Fashion Council, 
its ideas are now percolating through to the 
fashion industry. The brand has become 
a founding partner of the Institute of 
Positive Fashion (IPF). It has been named 
as a research partner on the IPF’s launch 
project, The Waste EcoSystem, which aims 
to understand what it will take to create 
a circular fashion industry in the UK, and 
how that can be expanded globally.
Innovating for a cleaner healthier world
We’ve developed a rigorous methodology for 
developing safe and sustainable products that 
serve a genuine and growing consumer need. 
Our global research effort is organised around 
science platforms on key topics that span 
business areas. Concentrating expertise in 
scientific specialisms maximises our ability to 
develop differentiated science and related 
insights. These provide the basis for new 
technologies, materials and formats which can 
then be developed into superior, even safer 
and more sustainable products. 
OU R EN V I RO N M ENT CO NTI N U ED

55
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Science platforms 
Our eight centres of scientific excellence cover 
specialisms that relate to Reckitt areas of 
interest. They focus on allergy and immunity, 
digestive health, entomology, microbiome 
management, nutrition and cognition, polymer 
science, sensory enrichment and surface 
chemistry. Our approach in each reflects 
principles underpinning the fast-emerging  
area of green chemistry. 
We apply this knowledge in over 20 
core technology areas, such as controlled 
release or surfactants, to a circular design 
process where consumer, sustainability 
and business benefits are reinvested in 
continuing improvement. This innovation 
process aims to improve on current offerings 
by developing differentiated products that 
are more effective and more sustainable. 
Careful management of the ingredients 
we select for inclusion in our products 
combined with global safeguards form the 
cornerstone of our approach to product 
stewardship. We collaborate with partners, 
suppliers and our customers to find new 
solutions that both delight consumers and 
improve on our collective chemical and 
environmental footprints. Reckitt is proud to 
have been recognised for these efforts as a 
‘frontrunner in chemical footprinting’ in the 
Chemical Footprint Project’s 2020 results.
Sustainable innovation
Our Sustainable Innovation Calculator helps  
us compare the sustainability of product 
innovations with existing benchmarks. We 
evaluate a product’s ingredients, raw materials, 
packaging and its consumer impacts to assess 
whether new products are more sustainable. 
The tool is continually evolving as sustainability 
knowledge improves. In 2020, we put more 
focus on ingredients and packaging, alongside 
carbon and water footprints. We improved its 
integration into all three global businesses. This 
helped us deliver 30% of our net revenue from 
more sustainable products. 
We know we need to improve the 
carbon and water impact of our brands. 
Since 2012, we have delivered 18% carbon 
reduction and 13% water reduction. This has 
improved in the last 2 years but needs to 
accelerate further. Until now, we have largely 
focused on our manufacturing operations to 
reduce emissions. Our new goals go further, 
reducing product carbon and water footprints 
alongside reducing plastic and helping 
consumers recycle after using our brands.
Managing water 
Managing water resources effectively is 
essential for the health of our planet. Millions  
of people are affected by water scarcity and 
with climate change the number will rise. 
Our biggest challenge is not within our 
own operations, it’s that consumers need 
water to use many of our products. We are 
campaigning to help consumers recognise 
looming water crises and take steps to 
address them by using our products more 
efficiently. We also work with communities in 
water-stressed areas to give people better 
access to clean water and sanitation.
The Finish no rinse campaign, which 
urges consumers to abandon pre-rinsing to 
save over 50 litres per wash on average, is 
highlighting the need to conserve in water-
stressed regions. Following a successful launch 
in Turkey, it has continued internationally, with 
major campaigns in Australia and the US. 
Globally, thousands of people have pledged 
to save million of gallons of water annually. 
In the long term we aim to be water 
positive in water-stressed locations within 
the Group and to sustain water resources 
in our supply chain. Reckitt is pursuing 
initiatives that increase water efficiency 
in all our operations and deliver savings 
across the value chain. We have surpassed 
our target of improving water efficiency 
by 35% by 2020, achieving 39% overall, but 
we know that to support water resources 
everywhere, our work cannot stop there.
Many of our factories, especially in water-
stressed regions, introduced water-saving 
and recycling measures. Our Hosur site in 
India worked with local government agencies 
and communities to assess hydrology, future 
supply risks and planned production needs. 
It then agreed a plan to reduce water use, 
improve efficiency and enhance access and 
water retention in its catchment area. It built 
new dams, excavated ponds and de-silted 
drainage canals. In Indonesia, the Cileungsi 
factory built a new reverse osmosis system, 
upgraded steam traps and reduced its water 
use by 30%. And on a smaller scale, our 
Agbara factory in Nigeria has introduced a 
system for siphoning off ion-rich water from 
its borehole that it can’t use in production, to 
provide grey water for cleaning purposes. 
Protecting ecosystems
We rarely buy natural materials in their raw 
state, but as the ultimate user of natural refined 
materials we are as responsible for their 
sustainability impacts as our suppliers. 
In 2020, we joined the CGF Forest Positive 
Coalition as one of 19 members committed 
to ending deforestation. With a collective 
market value of over $1.8 trillion, the coalition 
has the scale and resources to accelerate 
systemic efforts to protect ecosystems and 
move towards a forest positive future.
Sourcing responsibly is in our own interests. 
We make future supplies more resilient by 
respecting the communities that produce our 
raw materials and the ecosystems in which 
they live and work. We work with partners on 
the ground to combat biodiversity loss while 
supporting labour rights and human dignity. 
Currently, much of the seven million hectares  
of forest land lost annually is converted to  
palm oil production. More than 40% of palm 
plantation land is farmed by smallholders. They 
face intense competition and in many cases 
cannot afford to farm sustainably. We monitor 
deforestation through supplier programmes 
and the Starling satellite mapping approach  
we operate with our peers, but to reduce  
this consistently we also need to change  
the economics of land clearance for farmers. 
Our programme with the Earthworm 
Foundation improves livelihoods for small 
farmers. It supports certification and assists 
them with intercropping projects to make 
their land more productive and sustainable. 
Alleviating the pressure on them to clear 
new land helps to prevent deforestation. 
In 2019, we commissioned the Danish 
Institute for Human Rights to a conduct 
country-level human rights impact assessment 
(HRIA) of our Durex and Enfa value chains in 
Thailand. Following its report in 2020, and to 
reduce the risk of deforestation in rubber 
farming, we have introduced our Fair Rubber 
commitment. This provides latex farmers in 
Thailand with a price premium that supports 
their livelihoods while also strengthening 
the supply of latex we depend upon and 
reinforcing sustainable farming principles. The 
programme is similarly investing in communities 
working on rubber plantations in Malaysia 
to support their long-term sustainability. 
C AS E S T U DY
POLLEN  
COUNT
Understanding the importance of biodiversity 
requires more than abstract, intellectual 
engagement. Although a relatively small 
project on its own, the Nowy Dwor employee-
led bee-keeping project has the potential to 
open minds to the importance of biodiversity.
The Nowy Dwor site joined a national 
project to promote biodiversity led by 
Polish NGO, Liga Ochrony Przyrody (LOP). 
Reckitt is hosting four beehives and Reckitt 
employees are being taught how to care 
for bees. Honey is collected and packed 
for us. The honey is also laboratory tested 
and is helping conservation organisations 
to monitor the state of the environment.

56
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
The information below is intended to help our stakeholders understand our position on key non-financial matters, following the new non‑financial 
reporting requirements contained in sections 414C(7), 414CA and 414CB of the Companies Act 2006.
Reporting requirements
Policies and standards  
which govern our approach
Additional information and risk management
Environmental matters
•	
Environmental policy
•	
Responsible sourcing of 
natural raw materials 
policy
•	
Plastics Pledge
Group Environmental	 Management System1
How Purpose drives our performance
Our Sustainability Performance
Environment
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)2
Pages 12-15
Pages 24-27
Pages 52-55
Employees
•	
Code of Conduct
•	
Our Values
•	
Occupational Health & 
Safety
•	
Speak Up policy
•	
Policy on Human Rights 
and Responsible Business
How Purpose drives our performance
Our Sustainability Performance
People
CRSEC Committee Report
Gender Pay Gap Report
Group Occupational Health & Safety Management System1
Pages 12-15
Pages 24-27
Pages 40-43
Pages 128-133
Human rights
•	
Policy on Human Rights 
and Responsible Business
•	
Modern Slavery Act 
Statement
•	
Commitments to 
international standards
How Purpose drives our performance.
Our Sustainability Performance
Partners 
Environment
Pages 12-15
Pages 24-27
Pages 45-47
Pages 52-55
Social and community 
matters
•	
Breast-Milk Substitute 
(BMS) Marketing Policy
•	
Product Safety Policy
Our commitment to auditing and transparency on BMS	
How Purpose drives our performance 
Our Sustainability Performance
Communities
Social Impact Investment Report
Pages 12-15
Pages 24-27
Pages 49-51
Anti-bribery and 
anti-corruption
•	
Code of Conduct
•	
Speak Up policy
People
CRSEC Committee Report
Pages 41-43
Pages 128-133
Policy embedding, due 
diligence and outcomes
Risk Management and Principal Risks
CRSEC Committee Report
Pages 80-92
Pages 128-133
Principal risks and impact of 
business activity
Principal Risks
Pages 82-92
Description of business model
Our Business Model
Pages 10-11
Non-financial key 
performance indicators
Pages 26-27
1.	 Information not in the public domain
2.	 TCFD disclosure can be found in our Climate change insight
Most of our reporting on these topics and KPIs are contained in our Strategic Report under the sections entitled How purpose drives our performance, Our Sustainability Performance, 
Consumers, Customers, Employees, Partners, Communities, Environment, and Risk Management (or are incorporated into the Strategic Report by reference for these purposes from the 
pages noted). Reckitt has formulated appropriate policies and due diligence procedures regarding all the non-financial information presented in this Annual Report. We make it our 
responsibility to follow legislation and policy diligently. Insights into key policies and due diligence procedures, and the basis and methodological principles for the collation of our key 
sustainability metrics, can be found online at https://www.reckitt.com/sustainability/policies-and-reports/.
Gender diversity1
Definition: the percentage of women in our global workforce.
Target: expand our focus on diversity and talent by improving the retention rates of women from managers to senior managers. This is in line with 
our goal of doubling the number of women in senior management roles from a 2016 baseline. 
Board Directors
Senior managers
Other employees2
7 (2019: 7) male
448 (2019: 417) male
21,611 (2019: 20,472) male
5 (2019: 4) female
182 (2019: 148) female
17,300 (2019: 16,708) female
1.	 Diversity data is taken as of 31 December 2020 for active Reckitt employees (excluding contractors)
2.	 34 persons with undisclosed gender
N O N - FI N A N CI A L I N FO R M ATI O N STATEM ENT

57
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption
Metric
Unit
2020
2019
Total Scope 1 GHG emissions
tCO2e
138,105
140,117
Total Scope 2 GHG emissions
tCO2e
123,709
201,902
Total Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions
tCO2e
261,814
342,019
Emissions intensity1
tCO2e per unit of production
0.0291
0.0424
Energy consumption resulting in above GHG emissions
kWh
1,341,712,724
Proportion of GHG emissions arising from UK operations
%
9
Proportion of energy consumption arising from UK operations
%
12
We reported the above emissions on a market-based approach in line with the WRI/WBSCD Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Scope 2 Guidance and our 
Reporting Criteria. Following a location-based approach, our Scope 2 emissions for 2020 were 256,993 tonnes of CO2e (2019: 273,688) and our total 
Scope 1 and 2 tonnes of CO2e were 395,098 (2019: 413,805).
Our GHG and energy data includes emissions and energy consumption from operations covered by the Group Financial Statements for which we 
have operational control. Where we acquire new businesses, we include their emissions and energy consumption from the first full calendar year of 
our ownership onwards.2 CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is the effective amount of CO2 generated by all gas emissions which add to the 
greenhouse effect and global warming. 
1.	 The scope of our GHG emissions per unit of production KPI is for manufacturing and warehousing. Including R&D and offices the GHG emissions intensity per unit of production in 
2020 and 2019 would be 0.0319 tCO2e and 0.0447 respectively
2.	 For further information on the methodologies used to calculate our emissions and energy metrics please see our Reporting Criteria Basis of Preparation
Our policies
Anti-bribery and corruption
Our policy is that all Reckitt companies, employees and contractors must comply with the anti-bribery, anti-corruption and competition laws of all 
countries in which they operate. Directors and managers must ensure that the employees and contractors they supervise are aware of and comply 
with this policy. All employees and contractors must certify annually that they have complied with our Code of Conduct and the Audit Committee 
reviews internal audit findings in relation to this.
Employee policies
Reckitt’s Code of Conduct governs standards of conduct in relation to our employees, as well as our stakeholders. In addition, Reckitt has policies 
committing to equal opportunities at work and to providing a safe and healthy working environment. Health and safety performance is monitored 
through our Group Occupational Health and Safety Management system, enabling us to investigate any incidents and take any necessary action. We 
have a Speak Up policy and process, allowing any employee or third party to confidentially report a violation of the Code of Conduct, local law or 
regulation, or unethical behaviour.
Human rights
Our Human Rights and Responsible Business Policy is based on the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) 
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. We also follow the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Organisation 
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Product safety policy
The purpose of this policy is to assure our stakeholders of the safety of our products by describing our approach to Safety Assurance for products of 
Reckitt. We have a responsibility to develop products that are as safe and nourishing as they can be; to monitor their in-use safety and listen to 
feedback from users, and if things change, to react quickly and effectively to mitigate harm. 
Responsible sourcing policy
This commits us to ensuring that natural raw materials in our products are produced in a manner that meets or goes beyond applicable laws and 
regulations, respects human rights, safeguards health and safety, protects the environment and generally supports sustainable development.
Environmental policy
This sets out our objectives for reducing our environmental impacts. It requires us to comply with relevant legislation, consider environmental issues 
in key decisions, and engage with multiple stakeholders for better environmental performance.
See more: https://www.reckitt.com/sustainability/policies-and-reports/

58
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S 172 STATEM ENT
This statement, which 
forms part of the Strategic 
Report, is intended to show 
how Reckitt’s Directors 
have approached and 
met their responsibilities 
under section 172 of 
the Companies Act 
2006 during 2020. The 
statement has been 
prepared in response to the 
obligations set out in the 
Companies (Miscellaneous 
Reporting) Regulations 
2018, and the UK Corporate 
Governance Code 2018.
As required by section 172 of the Companies 
Act 2006, a Director of a company must act in a 
way s/he considers, in good faith, would most 
likely promote the success of the company for 
the benefit of its shareholders. In doing this, 
the Director must have regard, amongst other 
matters, to the: 
•	
likely consequences of any decisions in the 
long-term;
•	
interests of the company’s employees; 
•	
need to foster the company’s business 
relationships with suppliers, customers and 
others; 
•	
impact of the company’s operations on the 
community and environment; 
•	
company’s reputation for high standards of 
business conduct; and 
•	
need to act fairly as between members of 
the company. 
As a Board our aim is always to uphold the 
highest standards of governance and business 
conduct, taking decisions in the interests of the 
long-term sustainable success of the company, 
generating value for our shareholders and 
contributing to wider society. We recognise 
that our business can only grow and prosper 
over the long term by understanding the views 
and needs of our stakeholders. Engaging with 
stakeholders is key to ensuring the Board has 
informed discussions and factors stakeholder 
interests into decision-making.
Considering stakeholder interests
The Board is responsible for promoting 
the long-term sustainable success of the 
company, generating value for shareholders 
and contributing to wider society. The Board 
aims to ensure effective engagement with, 
and participation from its shareholders and 
stakeholders. The Board commissioned 
independent research in 2019 to identify 
stakeholder views and expectations of 
Reckitt. The findings were incorporated 
into, and continue to form part of, the 
Board’s decision-making processes. This 
includes the use of meeting paper templates 
which set out stakeholder considerations, 
providing the Board with assurance that 
potential impacts on stakeholders are being 
carefully considered by management when 
developing plans for Board approval.
The Board is also responsible for assessing 
and monitoring the company’s culture 
and for ensuring its alignment with the 
company’s purpose, values and strategy. 
The Board’s normal meeting schedule 
includes meetings with local functional 
teams and members of the workforce 
and visits to different operational areas of 
the business, including offices, sites and 
factories. The September Board meetings 
are normally held off-site, to enable the 
Board to engage with different areas of 
the business. In 2020, the normal meeting 
schedule was impacted by the COVID-19 
pandemic and the consequent inability to 
have face to face meetings. However, even 
with meetings needing to happen virtually, 
workforce engagement took place virtually. 
The Designated Non-Executive Director 
for engagement with the company’s 
workforce, Mary Harris, engages with the 
Group’s workforce throughout the year and 
provides updates to the Board on workforce 
engagement activities. The Board receives 
meeting papers which provide updates on 
employee culture and the results of internal 
employee surveys. The Board also reviewed 
internal video broadcasts including from the 
‘Stronger Together’ series, in which employees 
spoke directly about their experience. 
How the board engaged with its 
stakeholders during the year
Interests of our employees
The Board recognises the benefits of personal 
interaction and informal discussions in 
learning more about day-to-day operations, 
the development and execution of strategy, 
and gathering direct insights into culture 
from workforce engagement. The Board 
had regular reviews of talent, employee 
engagement and culture. There were direct 
interactions at Board meetings with key 
people in the business on a variety of topics.
As part of the September 2020 Board 
meeting schedule, Board Directors and the 
General Counsel & Company Secretary worked 
together to hold virtual roundtable sessions 
with small groups of Reckitt employees. 
Employees shared their thoughts on working 
at the company, its culture, purpose and 
mission, and their ideas about what could be 
improved. Following these meetings, each 
pairing provided feedback to Mary Harris, 
who in turn fed this back to the Board. The 
Chairman and other Board members were 
also actively involved in meeting top talent 
and future leaders during the year. These 
insights were invaluable in helping the Board 
understand employees’ interests and factor 
them into its discussions and decision-making.
Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 
ensuring continued wellbeing for employees, 
both physical and mental, has been a high 
priority for the Board and senior management. 
Safe social distancing was preserved for 
all office-based employees as in most 
countries they worked from home throughout 
the pandemic. Maintaining safe working 
environments in our operational sites was also 
key and we established COVID-19 working 
practices including temperature checks and 
the provision of PPE. We updated our people 
policies and practices, encouraged virtual 
learning and leadership support through 
our Reckitt learning platform. We also ran 
virtual social events such as cook-alongs, 
quizzes and fitness classes and challenges. 
Management maintained visibility by 
way of regular virtual townhalls and by 
direct engagement through broadcasted 
sofa conversations with senior leaders. We 
have conducted regular employee surveys 
as one way to measure our success and to 
help us adapt our approach to supporting 
our workforce. These showed employees 
overall were happy with our internal 
response to the pandemic. Willingness to 
recommend Reckitt as a place to work was 
higher than ever before during this time.

59
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Our compass is key to our distinct culture and 
is also encapsulated in Freedom to Succeed, 
our employee value proposition, which rolled 
out during 2019. Freedom to Succeed 
represents the environment at Reckitt, where 
colleagues are empowered to share ideas, 
generate solutions, and contribute to the 
successful running of the company. In 2020, we 
also launched the Sir James Reckitt Award as a 
way to acknowledge outstanding teams who 
truly go above and beyond. This highly coveted 
award celebrates exceptional teams doing 
exceptional work in service of our purpose, 
fight, and compass. The worthy recipients for 
the inaugural award were the team in the 
factory near Wuhan, China for their 
commitment to manufacturing essential 
disinfectant through the early stages of the 
COVID-19 pandemic in China. 
In the realm of diversity, inclusion and 
belonging, our culture was further enhanced 
in early 2020, with the launch of the ‘Stronger 
Together’ conversation series. These sessions 
focus on employee storytelling, enabling 
greater understanding across the organisation 
of race, gender and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Board 
members have attended the sessions this 
year, hearing first-hand the lived experiences 
of colleagues. We use this awareness to 
foster a more inclusive environment – to be 
‘stronger together’. There is an initial five-year 
commitment to the series, with a review of 
the frequency and effectiveness after the first 
12 months. These sessions will continue to be 
about listening and learning, covering a broad 
range of inclusion and diversity topics. There 
is also a commitment, three times a year, to 
invite external voices to join these sessions, 
giving Laxman and the senior management 
team the chance to ask questions and to 
hear from customers, suppliers, partners and 
thought leaders about these important topics. 
All employees are encouraged to make their 
voices heard. Our Purpose Council, comprised 
mainly of younger employees, identifies and 
adds momentum to social and environmental 
initiatives. Senior managers have mentors 
who are earlier in their career and in more 
junior roles. These mentors are empowered to 
provide input and share the wisdom of younger 
generations. Our Speak Up whistleblowing 
policy provides safe communication channels 
for those wishing to raise concerns. More 
information on our engagement activities 
can be found on pages 41 to 43.
The Board has undertaken a thorough 
exercise to understand the composition of the 
Reckitt workforce, and while we are primarily 
focused on permanent employees, we remain 
alert to any issues with employees of our 
subcontractors and ensure our procurement 
contracts have the highest possible 
requirements regarding working conditions.
CONNECTING  
WITH PEOPLE  
WITH PURPOSE
I will continue to 
engage actively with 
employees in 2021 
alongside my fellow 
Directors to ensure the 
Board’s decision-
making is enriched by 
their insights and 
reflects their 
experience.
Mary Harris
Designated Non-Executive Director  
for engagement with the  
company’s workforce 
During 2020, direct Board engagement with 
colleagues has been invaluable in helping to 
ensure that, in an extremely challenging 
year, we put colleague safety and wellbeing 
first, while ensuring we fulfil our purpose 
for our consumers, customers and the 
communities in which we operate.
My meetings and conversations with 
colleagues during the year have reinforced 
my sense of the company’s culture of 
ambition and commitment, with a clear 
purpose at its core. The opportunity to 
make a positive difference is a major 
motivating factor for the people here. It 
validates the Board’s decision in February 
2020 to endorse our purpose-led strategy. 
The new purpose, fight and compass 
continue to inspire and unite colleagues. 
In the unfamiliar and testing conditions 
imposed by COVID-19, feedback from 
surveys and direct conversations 
suggested even greater shared 
determination to deliver our purpose, 
despite an inevitably intensified 
workload. Management’s response 
to that, a gift of two additional 
holiday days for all employees, was 
warmly endorsed by the Board.
The Board has monitored the impact of 
COVID-19 on colleagues closely, including 
understanding the initiatives taken to 
support physical safety, as well as their 
broader wellbeing and mental health. I saw 
this for myself in the future workplace 
initiative, which solicited feedback on 
employee experience. My participation in 
the ‘Stronger Together’ conversation series 
deepened my appreciation of colleagues’ 
concerns on Black Lives Matter and broader 
diversity and inclusion themes. Feedback 
from these sessions influenced the new 
Diversity and Inclusion strategy endorsed 
by the Board in 2020. 
The Board is monitoring the strategic 
and cultural transformation at Reckitt 
through periodic surveys and direct 
interactions with colleagues. Regular 
employee engagement allows rapid 
follow-up where issues occur, and 
informs resourcing requirements 
and investment in new capabilities, 
as evidenced in 2020 by the Board’s 
agreement to launch an entirely new 
business line, Global Business Solutions.

60
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S 172 STATEM ENT CO NTI N U ED
The employee voice was further enhanced 
through the appointment in 2019 of Mary 
Harris as the Designated Non-Executive 
Director for engagement with the company’s 
workforce. As part of her role, Mary has the 
same access to internal communications 
materials, channels and events that Reckitt 
employees do. During the year, Mary has 
been involved in key conversations with 
the workforce, relaying this information in 
Board discussion where appropriate.
Shareholders 
The Board also continued engagement 
with investors. Several Non-Executive 
Board members participated in one-on-
one investor meetings, in addition to the 
normal meetings between executive 
management and investors and analysts. 
Our Chairman, CEO and CFO had extensive 
interactions with many of our key shareholders, 
particularly upon the announcement of our 
new strategy. The restrictions imposed 
by COVID-19 limited our ability to meet in 
person. However, we were able to participate 
in a number of virtual meetings. Our CEO 
participated in numerous conferences, many 
of them hosted by banks, in forums and 
fireside chats with international investors. 
The Chair of our Remuneration Committee 
has continued to have a close dialogue 
with shareholders in respect of executive 
remuneration, and we are pleased to note the 
continued support for our approach to the 
Remuneration which shareholders approved in 
2019. The Chairs of both our Audit and CRSEC 
Committees also participated in one-on-
one investor meetings on an ad-hoc basis.
We welcomed the opportunity for 
individual shareholders to submit questions 
ahead of our AGM in 2020, which was held as 
a closed meeting with a virtual webcast due 
to the COVID-19 pandemic. Board members 
listen and respond to shareholder views 
and feed back to the business as necessary. 
More information on our engagement 
activities can be found on pages 37 to 39.
Fostering relationships with our customers, 
partners and suppliers
Our CEO engaged with several key customers, 
partners, and suppliers to maintain and 
build on our existing relationships and 
ensure that key stakeholder concerns are 
understood and reported back to the Board.
We engaged with our customers to 
improve supply provision and communications. 
Increased international demand, particularly for 
hygiene products, combined with the global 
supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, 
required continuing close engagement 
with our suppliers and logistics partners.
Output was increased by focusing on full 
pallets, shipped direct from factory to 
customers and we prioritised essential 
products across our customers. Service 
was a constant element of our supplier 
engagement agenda, which helped maintain 
supply, when for many products such as Lysol 
and Dettol, demand increased hugely during 
the pandemic. Collaboration with suppliers 
in every market helped ensure continuity of 
supply of ingredients and packaging, while 
also enabling us to qualify new suppliers 
and co-packers to help meet demand. 
Reckitt’s ‘Partners to Innovate’ 
programme with suppliers not only enabled 
this unprecedented increase but also 
supported our innovation pipeline with, 
for example, access to new packaging 
materials that meet growing consumer 
demand for recycled plastics and our own 
sustainability ambitions. A virtual meeting 
with key suppliers in December, involving 
our CEO and Chief Supply Officer, further 
strengthened our supplier relations, while 
generating support to deliver our strategy, 
standards of customer service, innovation 
opportunities and wider ESG agenda.
Our Third Party Code of Conduct, available 
on our website, sets out the standards we 
expect of any suppliers (and their contractors) 
working directly with or on behalf of the Group 
to maintain trusted business relationships in 
accordance with the Group’s values, culture, 
policies, procedures and applicable laws.
From a customer perspective, support for 
business partners in delivering their hygiene 
standards through the pandemic has been 
a strong element during 2020. An entirely 
new professional business channel was 
developed, based on the trust consumers 
have in our brands. Reckitt’s Global Business 
Solutions came from a standing start to build 
partnerships with Avis Budget Group, Transport 
for London, Amtrak, Airbnb, British Airways and 
Delta Airlines, amongst others. Reckitt supports 
them with the expertise, knowledge, and 
products they need to provide their customers 
with the highest standards of hygiene and 
safety that our brands guarantee. Reckitt 
partnered with the Hilton Group, to launch 
the ‘Hilton Cleanstay’ programme to deliver 
high standards of cleanliness and disinfection 
in Hilton properties around the world. In a 
first for the hospitality business, Reckitt and 
Hilton are collaborating with the Mayo Clinic 
to help Hilton guests enjoy an even cleaner 
and safer stay from check-in to check-out.
Reckitt’s reputation with customers and 
consumers is strengthened by our scientific 
experience and global capabilities. We 
continued to develop our scientific credentials 
during 2020, and in July launched the ‘Reckitt 
Global Hygiene Institute’ with key partners in 
medical science, health and education. The aim 
of the Institute is to generate high-quality 
scientific evidence to inform public health 
recommendations and promote behaviours that 
improve global hygiene, underpinned by our 
belief that access to the highest quality hygiene 
is a right not a privilege and that hygiene is the 
foundation of health. More information on our 
engagement activities can be found on pages 
33 to 35 and pages 45 to 47.
Impact on our communities and the 
environment 
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic meant we 
had to act with urgency to address the stress 
faced by our consumers and communities 
where we operate, to stop the spread of the 
virus and break the chain of infection. Reckitt’s 
Fight for Access Fund was established to 
work with partner organisations, help frontline 
health workers, promote behavioural change, 
and help the communities in which we live 
and work. We mobilised over £52m to address 
our fight against the spread of COVID-19, 
across 66 countries, including donating Reckitt 
products to the NHS, partnering with Meals 
on Wheels Australia to support and protect 
the elderly and partnering with UNAIDS to 
help protect people living with HIV across 
Africa. More information on the Fight for 
Access Fund can be found on our website 
at www.reckitt.com/sustainability or in the 
Communities section on pages 49 to 51.
Our purpose – to protect, heal and 
nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, 
healthier world – puts us at the centre of 
the most pressing issue facing the world 
today. Our commitment to this purpose is 
evidenced by our new sustainability ambitions 
for our products and business activities 
and the impact we have on society and 
the environment as a whole. In developing 
these, as outlined in pages 52 to 55 we 
have considered the most material issues 
facing Reckitt, and are working with peers, 
customers, governments, and civil society 
to meet shared aims. For example, our 
commitment to accelerate delivery on the 
Paris Climate Agreement for 2030 and our 
ambition for carbon neutrality by 2040 aligns 
with Governments globally and many of our 
key customers, including Amazon with whom 
we are partners in delivering their Climate 
Pledge. We have also joined the global 
consumer-facing ‘Count Us In’ coalition to 
mobilise consumers and indeed our own teams 
in measures to combat climate change at an 
individual level. With these points in mind, 
it was pleasing to secure FTSE4Good Index 
accreditation for the 17th consecutive year.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
The Board will look to continually engage 
stakeholders to drive sustainability 
performance and deliver positive societal 
impact. An immediate example of this was 
our Board listening session to investigate 
the impact of climate change and especially 
water scarcity on our business, value chains 
and people living in the communities where 
we work. Members of our CRSEC Committee, 
joined by our CEO and leading executives, 
heard from representatives of international 
NGOs, Indian State Government, the investor 
community, the UK Government who are 
hosting the 2021 global climate conference, 
and a key Reckitt customer, Amazon, 
which has prioritised climate change in its 
work. The session provided an excellent 
review of the issues facing business and 
communities, and the perspectives of the 
different stakeholders on climate change 
and water scarcity. It enabled Reckitt to 
embrace these perspectives in its work 
and supported stronger oversight of the 
agenda amongst the CRSEC Committee 
members involved. Further sessions are 
planned during 2021 on a range of ESG 
issues. More information on our engagement 
activities can be found on pages 49 to 55.
Stakeholder influence on long-
term strategic decisions
Strategic review 
The strategic review which commenced in 
2019 continued into 2020. Feedback from 
multiple stakeholders, including customers, 
shareholders and employees, has informed our 
new strategy. The Rejuvenating Sustainable 
Growth strategy, including our new purpose, 
fight and compass, was approved by the Board 
in February 2020. 
From early on, the priority was to listen 
and to learn. In the months leading up to the 
announcement of our new strategy, Laxman 
and his team spent time in markets all around 
the world and met key customers. They 
visited field operations, factories, research and 
development centres, and spent time with the 
sales teams. Laxman spoke to shareholders, 
alumni and many employees, a large portion 
of whom are shareholders in Reckitt. The 
team analysed our performance and assessed 
our capabilities versus our competitors. 
The conversations with customers and sales 
teams identified numerous opportunities for 
collaboration based on areas of common 
interest that remained underdeveloped. This 
helped to highlight the importance of investing 
more in global customer relationships. An 
entrepreneurial, can-do spirit and a sense of 
personal commitment to their work emerged 
as common attributes among Reckitt 
employees. And even before the COVID-19 
pandemic, many stakeholders, including 
employees and institutional investors, 
expressed the view that Reckitt should focus 
on long-term growth and that this was best 
achieved by strengthening its social and 
environmental commitments. 
These discussions helped Laxman and his team 
crystallise a purpose-led strategy, with several 
mega-trends acting as tailwinds, to rejuvenate 
long-term sustainable growth. We announced 
that our business would operate as three 
Global Business Units: Health, Hygiene and 
Nutrition, leveraging scale to build capabilities 
and reflecting our core purpose of protecting, 
healing and nurturing. There would also be 
a specific focus on China and a company-
wide digital capability. The implementation of 
this strategy will be resourced by a three-
phase investment plan, largely funded by 
productivity. At the heart of the plan is the 
creation of long-term shareholder value, 
which will be achieved by meeting the needs 
of all stakeholders, through the relentless 
pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced 
key elements of the new strategy; it has, 
for example, become sadly all too apparent 
that hygiene is the foundation of health. 
Our new purpose, fight and compass have 
proved timely and relevant. As an example 
of putting the new strategy into action in 
the context of the pandemic, in June, the 
Board endorsed the launch of a new business 
unit, Global Business Solutions. The business 
case for the launch rested on consultations 
and initiatives with Reckitt’s customers and 
professional partners. We also see digital 
as a key area of growth and the pandemic 
has accelerated the switch to digital 
consumption. Our strategic priorities include 
driving business performance, engaging 
with our workforce and other stakeholders, 
and managing potential risks, including 
those arising from numerous workstreams 
running concurrently under our transformation 
programmes. The transformation programmes 
that will help position us to meet our 
business objectives may prove easier to 
implement in a fast-changing world.
Diversity and Inclusion strategy 
Stakeholders play an increasingly important 
role in shaping key decisions. The Board 
incorporates their feedback into its discussions 
as a matter of course. It also factors 
stakeholders’ views into its decision-making 
process. For example, before endorsing the 
company’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy in 
June 2020, the Board listened to employee and 
external stakeholder voices in the ‘Stronger 
Together’ conversation series and via other 
forums. Their views and stories had a profound 
influence on the final approved strategy. 
2021 Financial Plan
In November 2020, the Board approved 
Reckitt’s 2021 Financial Plan. Although 
no formal engagement with stakeholder 
groups contributed to this decision, the 
2021 plan was a continuation of Reckitt’s 
February 2020 strategy. As such, it advanced 
Reckitt’s purpose-led strategy, which aims 
to deliver strong, sustainable returns to all 
stakeholders. The plan included mechanisms 
and resources to represent stakeholder 
interest and increase engagement. 
Throughout this Annual Report are further 
examples of how we take into account 
the likely consequences of our long‑term 
decisions. It demonstrates how we build 
relationships with our stakeholders; the 
importance of engaging with our employees; 
and how we understand and address 
our impact on the environment and the 
communities in which we operate; and how 
we strive always to behave responsibly.

62
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
O PER ATI N G R E V I E W: H YG I EN E
Hygiene
NEVER HAS 
HYGIENE
BEEN MORE
IMPORTANT

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
2020 performance highlights
Key strategic priorities 
	 To maximise the opportunity for our disinfectant brands 
created by COVID-19, entering new markets and broadening 
our product offering; 
	 Continue to build those capabilities that will set us up for 
sustained outperformance, especially in science and 
innovation, e-commerce and customer service; 
	 Evolve the culture of Reckitt, including embedding the new 
leadership behaviours. 
Hygiene net revenue grew +19.5%  
on a Like-for-Like basis to £5,816m  
for the full year. Lysol and Finish both 
delivered very strong growth, with 
Lysol up over 70% for the year as a 
whole. Air Wick, Harpic, Mortein and 
nearly all other power brands 
delivered healthy growth. 
Overview
Hygiene has long been seen as a foundation of health and never more so 
than in the current environment. Driven by the strong megatrends that 
support sustainable market growth, our hygiene business plays a crucial 
role in delivering the Group’s overarching purpose as our consumers 
seek to lead cleaner, healthier lives. With globally recognised brands 
such as Finish, Lysol and Air Wick, we have category-leading products in 
a number of household and homecare market segments. More people 
around the world are using our products than ever before, with Lysol 
now used in over 100m households globally, and Harpic in over 100m 
households in India alone. 
Underpinning much of what we do, our people have developed 
a clear purpose and fight around which our hygiene brands are built. 
For example, Finish seeks to alleviate the burden of dishwashing 
whilst saving water compared to manual dishwashing. Through 
Air Wick, our new Botanica range is helping people connect to 
nature, though more natural fragrances and a refreshing design.
2020 saw our Hygiene business rise to the challenging environment 
created by the pandemic, to deliver a step-change in customer 
service, manufacturing capacity and product development. Overall, 
we delivered a major step-change in sales, adding an additional 
£800m to revenue, with strong share gains and the entry in to new 
geographies and product adjacencies for many of our brands. 
LFL Net Revenue growth
+19.5%
Adjusted Operating Margin1
25.9%
2020 turned out to be  
an extraordinary year, 
where we fully lived our 
purpose and fight. The 
world saw the importance 
of Hygiene as the 
foundation of Health.
Harold van den Broek
GBU President
1.	 Non-GAAP measures are defined on page 77

64
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
2020 performance
Hygiene net revenue grew +19.5% on a like  
for like basis to £5,816m for the full year. This 
reflected volume growth of +17.7% and price/
mix improvements of +1.8%. 
Throughout 2020, the business delivered 
strong penetration-led growth with good 
market share gains in most categories, with 
70% of net revenue of core CMUs growing 
or holding share as consumers continue 
to choose our trusted brands. This broad-
based performance was notably driven 
by good share gains from our leading 
disinfectant (Lysol, Sagrotan etc.) and 
dishwasher (Finish) brands. All major Lysol 
CMUs delivered share gains, with particularly 
strong growth and gains in North America. 
By brand, Lysol was the strongest 
performer overall, with net revenues up well 
over 70%, led by growth in North America, but 
with strong performances in all other markets, 
including growth in a range of new countries 
and categories where we expect to sustain 
progress and deliver good growth in the future.
Finish also grew strongly, with growth in 
excess of 20%, reflecting strong execution, 
market share gains and an increase in the 
frequency of use of domestic appliances. 
Finish net revenues improved year-on-year 
in all geographies, with particularly strong 
performances in the USA and UK. Air Wick 
also delivered good growth in the year, after a 
slow start, led by the USA and Europe, in part 
reflecting the successful launch of Air Wick 
Essential Mist and a strong performance from 
the base scented oils business. Mortein and 
Harpic also delivered growth in all their major 
geographies, with Harpic particularly strong 
in India. Cillit Bang also delivered double digit 
growth for the year. Overall, of our power 
brands, only Vanish saw reduced sales in the 
year, reflecting the impact of ‘stay at home’ 
behaviour on the demand for stain removal.  
Adjusted operating profit for Hygiene 
at £1,505m was up 21.3% on a constant 
FX basis and 17.7% on a reported basis. 
Adjusted operating margin was 25.9%, 
50bps higher than last year. While we 
accelerated investments under our plan to 
rejuvenate sustainable growth, notably in 
e-commerce and digital capabilities, the 
increased investment was more than offset by 
record productivity and the strong leverage 
generated by growth in the business.
O PER ATI N G R E V I E W: H YG I EN E CO NTI N U ED
C AS E S T U DY
PURPOSE-LED 
MARKETING  
IN FINISH
Finish, our leading dishwasher 
brand, has defined a purpose 
related to saving finite resources 
through simple behaviour change. 
This led to a programme with 
National Geographic and other 
partners to firstly raise awareness 
of the criticality of water in our 
lives and inspire consumers to 
change their behaviours to save 
water – starting with dishwashing 
and skipping pre-rinsing of dishes. 
We started in 2019 in Turkey and 
Australia and immediately saw 
that purpose activation not only 
led to market share gains but also 
positively impacted our brand 
equity and our product performance 
credentials. In Turkey we grew 
market share by 240bps, interacting 
with 4 million people and delivering 
over 20 million impressions in 
Australia, we managed to grow the 
category penetration by 190bps 
while 170,000 people pledged 
to save water with Finish.
This was followed by extending the 
programme in 2020 to 11 markets in 
North America and across Europe, 
reaching over 350 million consumers 
to drive positive impact through 
behaviour change.
INCREASED 
GLOBAL 
HYGIENE HABITS
Hygiene habits have increased due to the 
pandemic and are becoming embedded
Hygiene habits improved1
Intend to continue hygiene 
habits post-pandemic1
85%
79%
1.	 Based on Reckitt research

65
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
  
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
EXPANDING OUR LEADING 
DISINFECTANT FOOTPRINT 
GLOBALLY
Presence pre-COVID-19
Presence by end of 2021
Our category-leading 
brands have strengthened 
further over the past year
We’re on track for expanding  
our footprint to 70 new markets 
by the end of 2021
Protects me 
from illnesses1
Trust / 
credibility1
+800bps
+800bps
+800bps
+2200bps
+600bps
+500bps
+1200bps
+500bps
2021
2021
2019: 83 markets
2019: 20 markets
112 MARKETS
61 MARKETS
1.	 Source: H&P Equity and Reckitt internal brand attribute tracking. Q4 2020 vs Q4 2019

66
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
O PER ATI N G R E V I E W: H E A LTH
Health
IMPROVING 
CUSTOMER 
SERVICE AND 
INNOVATION 
PIPELINES

67
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
LFL Net Revenue growth
+12.1%
Adjusted Operating Margin1
27.3%
2020 performance highlights
Key strategic priorities 
	 Capturing opportunities in new markets, segments, formats 
and categories;
	 Strengthening our innovation pipeline to bring new products to 
market and to drive category growth;  
	 Further developing our digital health offering; and exploiting 
e-commerce opportunities; 
	 Remaining focused on productivity gains and simplification, 
creating the funds to invest in growth.
Health revenue grew Like-for-Like  
+12.1% in 2020 to £4,890m. Dettol was 
the stand out brand, with over 50% 
growth in the year. Durex grew 
strongly in the second half, while 
our over-the-counter products 
successfully met exceptional 
consumer demand in the first half, 
before a weaker cough, cold and flu 
season at the end of the year held 
back overall growth.
Overview
Our Health business operates across a number of fast growing 
categories, driven by many of the same megatrends as Hygiene and 
Nutrition. As a result, our well-positioned portfolio of leading global and 
regional brands all have strong opportunities for growth. For over-the-
counter or ‘consumer health’ brands, like Mucinex, Nurofen, Gaviscon and 
Strepsils, this reflects the growing focus on self-care as state resources 
become more constrained; for Durex and our other sexual wellbeing 
brands, the growing importance of sexual health and awareness of 
the transmission of infection; and for disinfection, the pressure of 
globalisation and urbanisation which are driving the speed, variation 
and penetration of viruses. The importance that consumers place on 
these health and wellness issues, drives their desire for trusted solutions, 
as they are reluctant to risk a compromise in quality. These dynamics 
favour trusted brands – particularly in current times of uncertainty. 
The 2020 performance in part reflects a number of dynamics 
borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted the cough, 
cold and flu season, socialisation, and the demand for good hygiene. 
Strategically, good progress has been made in 2020, as we seek to 
In 2020, we articulated 
our purpose – and were 
immediately thrust into a 
public health crisis, where 
Reckitt had a chance to 
contribute and do our 
part. That we were able 
to play a role in keeping 
consumers and front line 
workers protected has 
been a source of pride 
and satisfaction for 
our teams.
Kris Licht,
GBU President
1.	 Non-GAAP measures are defined on page 77

68
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
GAVISCON DRIVING 
MARKET SHARE 
GAINS
In Digestive Health, uninterrupted by 
the COVID-19 environment, Gaviscon 
continued a three year run of very 
strong results across all major countries. 
Underpinning this was the sustained 
execution of a well-established Healthcare 
Professional and Consumer success 
model, continued white space expansion 
and a growing innovation pipeline. 
During the year, we grew market share 
globally by c.100bps, with double-digit 
revenue growth.
C AS E S T U DY
Market share optimisation
Market share growth vs. 2019

+110bps
 +210bps
 +390bps
 +380bps

+180bps
 +340bps
O PER ATI N G R E V I E W: H E A LTH CO NTI N U ED
rejuvenate long term sustainable growth 
in the Health business. We remain focused 
upon delivering consumer-centric health 
solutions, leveraging our heritage brands, and 
drawing on innovation and partnerships.
2020 performance
Health revenue grew LFL +12.1% in the full year 
to £4,890m. This reflected volume growth of 
+8.4% and price/mix improvements of +3.7%. 
Overall, Health delivered strong market 
share growth, with 85% of core category 
market units by revenue growing share in 2020. 
Although driven principally by broad-based 
gains for Dettol, Durex and Gaviscon also 
outperformed their respective markets.  
Consumer demand for disinfectants drove 
strong demand for Dettol throughout 2020, 
with the brand growing over 50%. With an 
increased focus on effective antibacterial 
agents, Dettol achieved strong market share 
gains in most major geographic regions for the 
brand. In addition, a major expansion of the 
geographic and category reach of the brand 
was started, leveraging the proven capabilities 
and heritage of the Dettol portfolio. The 
benefits of this expansion are expected to 
underpin performance in 2021 and help lock-in 
the market gains to date and achieve strong 
growth for the brand in the years ahead. 
Following a more challenging first half of 
the year, relaxations of social distancing 
regulations resulted in improved demand for 
our sexual well-being products, led by Durex,  
in the last six months. As a result, the category 
delivered good growth in revenue for the  
year as a whole. The positive trend has been 
particularly pronounced in markets where  
the rate of pandemic infection has materially 
improved. In addition, we launched ‘Durex 001’ 
in China in October – marking our entry into the 
fast-growing Polyurethane (ultra-thin condom) 
segment. With strong sales execution and 
innovative marketing support through 
partnerships in music and lifestyle brands,  
we are seeing strong share performance,  
with total share in China up c.130bps in 2020. 
We expect this innovation will help reverse 
previous market share losses over the coming 
quarters. Elsewhere, where our ‘Invisible’ 
portfolio and Naturals lubricants platform  
have been the focus, share performance  
has been strong in most major markets.  
In aggregate, our over-the-counter (OTC) 
portfolio saw revenue decline 3% in the full 
year. The year started strongly, with good 
early gains for Mucinex and the benefits 
of pantry loading in the early stages of the 
pandemic. The category saw lower consumer 
demand during stay-at-home conditions 
and as a result of the weaker cough, cold 
and flu season towards the end of the year. 
For example, the Influenza-like-Illness Index 
was down over 80% in December. Within 
OTC, several brands have performed well, 
including Gaviscon, which delivered share 
gains of over 100bps globally and double 
digit revenue growth in the year, as a result 
of sustained execution of a well-established 
go-to-market models, continued white space 
expansion, and growing innovation. Looking 
forward, we expect the weak cough cold 
and flu season to significantly impact revenue 
in the first quarter of 2021 as the category 
laps the exceptionally strong start to 2020. 
Progressively, comparatives become easier 
and with a strong pipeline of investments and 
innovations, we expect the segment to return 
to good growth in the second half of the year.
Our portfolio of personal care products 
grew overall, despite some weaknesses in  
the early part of the pandemic, with good 
performances from Veet and E45. Clearasil  
was also steady and while Scholl declined 
overall, demand showed some signs of 
recovery in the second half.
Adjusted operating profit for Health at 
£1,334m was down 0.2% on a constant FX basis 
and down 2.6% on a reported basis. Adjusted 
operating margin was 27.3%, down 340 basis 
points year-on-year reflecting the significant 
investments made under our plan to rejuvenate 
sustainable growth and some product mix 
effects, partially offset by the benefits of  
our enhanced productivity programme.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
To keep up with the commitment to 
continuously improve consumer adoption of 
safe sexual behaviours via better experience 
with protection products, Durex is now 
offering a consistent condom orientation so 
that users can open and wear them “right side 
up”, always. The brand is also on the journey to 
offer a better fit because “when it fits right, it 
feels right.” These experience improvements 
are being communicated across the 
consumer journey, and in lead roll-out markets 
we already see positive early results, with 
share gains in both Germany and Russia. 
Our premium condom products 
have been supported with extensive 
innovation across the world. 
In China, a key market for us, we entered 
in to the fast-growing PU segment, whilst 
in the Performance segment, we have 
extended our platform with several new 
propositions. Along with strong sales 
execution and innovative marketing 
support with music and lifestyle brand 
partnerships, we see strong share gains. 
In the rest of the world – AiR, and our 
Naturals lubricant platform have been the 
focus. Within AiR, we have increased the 
number of sizes available to drive both 
comfort and sensation. In Naturals, the new 
variants, along with our #LadiesLetsLube 
campaign, continued to bring in new 
category and brand users as we breakdown 
the stigmas on using the category. 
With first sex being so critical to shaping 
long-term attitude and behaviours, we 
continue to focus on the point of market 
entry programs to help young people 
make informed and confident choices, 
fight AIDS and STIs and celebrate 
diversity and inclusivity around the world. 
Throughout the year we have led with 
partnerships such as Stonewell, Her, 
Durex Red (Global), National AIDS Control 
Organisation (India), Solidarte (France), 
Dance 4Life (Netherlands), UNFPA (Mexico), 
and the Ministry of Health in Russia.
C AS E S T U DY
FOCUS ON:  
SEXUAL WELLBEING
In a year where the COVID-19 pandemic 
has significantly impacted sexual wellbeing 
behaviours, Durex has continued to 
challenge conventions to help break down 
stigmas and taboos so that people can 
enjoy sex that feels good for them. From 
India to Russia, to Italy, we are increasingly 
getting Durex into daily conversations and 
making the brand a part of the culture.
Even during the lockdown, Durex has 
found new ways to reach consumers, 
with new ‘ultra-fast’ partnerships with 
Glovo, Deliveroo, and Ocado Zoom. As 
shoppers shifted their spending towards 
e-commerce channels, Durex made the 
necessary supply chain adjustments 
to meet exceptional levels of demand. 
The brand provided the consumers with 
the content and products to support an 
increase in solo sex occasions with lube-
specific bundle packs that helped deliver 
market share gains in e-commerce.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
O PER ATI N G R E V I E W: N UTR ITI O N
Nutrition
INVESTING  
TO BUILD A 
STRONGER 
PLATFORM  
FOR GROWTH

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
The creation of a focused 
Nutrition business gives us 
the opportunity to 
leverage our outstanding 
technology base across a 
wider range of growth 
markets in infant, adult 
and specialty nutrition.
Aditya Sehgal,
GBU President
2020 performance highlights
Key strategic priorities 
	 Improve the performance of our business in China through 
driving efficiencies, reinvestment in growth and evaluating 
potential strategic options; 
	 Invest in the business more broadly to deliver mid-single digit 
growth, capturing opportunities in vitamins, minerals and 
supplements and adult nutrition;
	 Drive further productivity to fund increased re-investment.
2020 was an important year as we 
integrated our nutrition portfolio  
and invested to address a number  
of legacy issues. During this time,  
we delivered a stable performance in 
challenging conditions. Performance 
in North America was particularly 
strong with both our infant formula 
and immunity products delivering 
good growth. The Greater China 
infant nutrition market remained 
challenging due to the closure of 
cross-border sales from Hong Kong 
and increased domestic competition. 
Overview
Our Nutrition business seeks to protect heal and nurture through 
providing the highest quality nutrition to those at all stages of life  
– from infancy to old age. With products spanning infant formula,  
allergy nutrition and Vitamins Minerals and Supplements (‘VMS’),  
we seek to build and develop 1:1 relationships with consumers  
– personalising solutions at scale. 
Our business is currently centred around infant nutrition – a large, 
global market with significant barriers to entry and with the opportunity 
for highly attractive margins. But with ageing populations and growing 
importance placed on nutrition throughout the life cycle, we see 
opportunity to rejuvenate sustainable growth for the business unit 
through further expansion in to the adult and senior segments. This 
leverages our science and technology expertise, with existing go to 
market capabilities and in certain instances our existing brand equity in 
Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements. Like our other businesses, Nutrition 
LFL Net Revenue growth
UNCHANGED
Adjusted Operating Margin1
14.1%
1.	 Non-GAAP measures are defined on page 77

72
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
is a leader in the use of e-commerce tools that 
have underpinned our market development 
and customer service.
2020 performance saw good underlying 
growth in many of our markets, with 
exceptional demand for a number of our VMS 
products more than offsetting market-specific 
challenges in our infant business. 
2020 performance
Nutrition revenue was unchanged on 
a LFL basis in the full year at £3,287m. 
This reflected a volume decline of 1.0% 
and price/mix growth of +1.0%. 
Infant and child nutrition (IFCN) revenues 
were down 4% year-on-year, despite the 
strong performance in North America from 
Enfamil, where new innovations such as 
NeuroPro helped the business defend a 
strong share position in a growing WENR 
(un-subsidised) market. In particular, the 
Omega3-DHA-led innovation, strong consumer 
insight and good execution helped improve 
competitiveness and market shares in the 
second half of the year. Performance in 
Latin America was largely as expected, after 
the successful overhaul of a key spray-
dryer facility in Mexico, although underlying 
markets remained soft, reflecting the 
prevailing economic climate in the region. 
The Greater China business remains a focus 
area for the Group as we seek to improve 
operational performance and continue our 
review and analysis of strategic options. We 
will provide further updates through 2021. 
Performance of infant formula in Greater 
China, which represents around 25% of our 
Nutrition business and around 6% of Group 
revenues, was adversely impacted by ongoing 
restrictions on cross-border trade activity 
between Hong Kong SAR and mainland China. 
In mainland China itself, a steady market share 
performance in the first few quarters of the 
year was offset by a challenging fourth quarter 
where, as expected, sales were adversely 
affected by increased price competition, 
particularly in the large Mother and Baby 
Store channel. We continue to compete 
well with our multi-national peers and grow 
share in the high-premium and super-high-
premium market. However, a slowing rate 
of premiumisation and more competition 
from local suppliers is expected to reduce 
growth opportunities in the near-term.
In 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic 
additional uncertainty has been introduced 
into the annual impairment review of the 
goodwill and other intangible assets of IFCN. 
To reflect this uncertainty management 
has increased the pre-tax discount rate. 
This resulted in the IFCN net book value 
exceeding its recoverable amount, therefore 
management have recorded an impairment 
loss against IFCN goodwill of £985m. Detailed 
information can be found in Note 9.
2020 was a transformative year for some 
of our vitamins, minerals and supplements 
brands which now represent around 15% of 
the Nutrition business and grew over 30% in 
2020. Airborne, our immunity supplement, 
grew in excess of 100% in the year, with strong 
growth in brand awareness and consumer 
demand as a result of heightened health 
concerns. Neuriva, launched in 2019, continued 
to deliver good growth with the product 
now commanding a 16% share of its category 
– up c.10% points over the previous year.
Adjusted operating profit for Nutrition at 
£462m was -34.3% lower on a constant FX 
basis and -35.7% lower on a reported basis. 
Adjusted operating margin was 14.1%, down 
730 basis points year-on-year reflecting a 
number of one-off charges in the second 
half of the year and the impact of weaker 
market conditions and limited cross-border 
trading in Greater China. In particular, as a 
result of the Hong Kong SAR / China border 
closures, stock write-downs of stranded 
product resulted in around £40m of charges 
in the last quarter. Looking forward, a number 
of initiatives are underway to improve 
performance and we expect to be able to 
make some improvements to margins in 
2021, and more substantially beyond, through 
productivity savings, trading improvements, 
the benefit of product innovations and the 
non-repeat of the 2020 one-off charges. 
O PER ATI N G R E V I E W: N UTR ITI O N CO NTI N U ED
The impact of the 
pandemic on our markets 
has been challenging, with 
lower cross-border trade 
and, short-term, a lower 
birth rate. We are taking 
action to position the 
business to turn these 
challenges into 
opportunities and drive 
back towards mid-single 
digit growth in the 
medium term. 
Aditya Sehgal,
GBU President

73
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
C AS E S T U DY
After 61 years of successful operational use, 
during the first half of 2020 we invested 
c.$60m in our LATAM Nutrition factory 
dryer in Mexico to expand the capacity 
by 20% and improve performance. 
The resilience of our employees was 
tested as the planned refurbishment 
coincided with the start of the COVID-19 
crisis and lockdown. However, the team 
worked together to maintain availability of 
important SKUs across the LATAM region. 
Using insights and creativity, and 
demonstrating the Reckitt ‘can-do’ 
attitude, the team managed to improve 
the IFCN business and quickly switched 
to virtual tools to maintain open lines 
of communication with the various 
medical teams with which we partner.
FACTORY  
UPGRADES IN 
MEXICO DURING  
THE COVID-19 CRISIS
$60M
investment in our Latam  
Nutrition factory dryer
+20%
increase in capacity by 20%,  
and improved performance

74
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
G ROU P FI N A N CI A L R E V I E W
We’ve delivered a strong financial 
performance in 2020. Net revenues were 
nearly £14bn, up 11.8% LFL, driven by volume 
led growth in a COVID-19 environment.
Adjusted operating profit of £3,301m was 
up 0.7% at constant currency. Our adjusted 
operating margin was 23.6%, 260bps lower 
than last year. This was largely due to the 
planned investment programme announced 
in February 2020, as the operational leverage 
from the strong revenue growth was 
reinvested in growth initiatives and used to 
offset COVID-19 related costs. On a reported 
basis, operating profit was £2,160m and 
included an impairment loss of £985m on 
IFCN goodwill reflecting the volatility and 
uncertainties relating to COVID-19. Adjusted 
diluted earnings per share were 327.0p, 
considerably ahead of our initial expectations. 
We’ve generated very strong free cash 
flow of £3,052m, up 42%. Free cash conversion 
was 131%, benefiting from the negative 
working capital position. We anticipate this 
working capital inflow will partially unwind in 
2021, albeit free cash conversion over 2020 
and 2021 is expected to be very strong.
Building a stronger balance sheet is a clear 
priority. In 2020 we reduced net debt by £1.7b 
to £9.0b, through improved cash generation 
and maintaining strong financial discipline. 
As a result, our net debt leverage metric has 
improved, with Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDA 
falling to 2.4x, a reduction of 0.5x in the year. 
Consistent with our statement in February 
2020, the Board has recommended holding 
the full year dividend unchanged at 174.6p. 
We will maintain the dividend per share at 
2019 levels until we rebuild dividend cover 
to target levels, at which time we will be 
able to resume growth in dividends in line 
with the growth in adjusted net income. 
Looking to 2021, set against our strong 
top-line growth in 2020, we expect our 
business to grow in 2021 with like for like net 
revenue growth in the range of flat to +2%. 
Our margin expectation for 2021 is broadly 
unchanged; in line with previous guidance 
we will continue to invest in growth resulting 
in adjusted operating margins in 2021 being 
between 40-90bps lower than 2020 levels. 
Looking to the medium term, our 
outlook remains unchanged. We continue 
to expect to progress towards achieving 
sustained mid-single digit organic 
revenue growth in the medium term, and 
a mid-20s margin by the mid-2020s.
Jeff Carr
Chief Financial Officer
STRONG 
FINANCIAL 
PERFORMANCE

75
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Detailed Group Financial Review
Net revenue 
On a Group basis, net revenue was £13,993m, representing 11.8% growth 
on a LFL basis of which 9.6% was volume and 2.2% price/mix. This very 
strong growth was volume led in a COVID-19 environment, as customers 
sought trusted, heritage brands, reinforced by stronger purpose-led 
brand equity and strengthened execution. Total net revenue at actual 
exchange rates was up 8.9%, reflecting a foreign exchange headwind  
of 2.9% principally driven by Latin American currencies.
Hygiene net revenue was £5,816m, up 19.5% on a LFL basis, of which 
17.7% was volume and 1.8% price/mix. This very strong net revenue 
growth was driven by Lysol and Finish, with strong growth for Air Wick, 
Harpic, Mortein, Veja, Calgon and Cillit Bang. Hygiene net revenue at 
actual exchange rates was up 15.6%.
Health net revenue was £4,890m, up 12.1% on a LFL basis, of which 
8.4% was volume and 3.7% price/mix. This growth was driven by very 
strong Dettol growth in all major markets, strong growth from Gaviscon 
and improved Durex momentum. Nurofen and Strepsils declined year on 
year, reflecting the weak cough, cold and flu season towards the end of 
the year. Health net revenue at actual exchange rates was up 9.6%.
Nutrition net revenue was £3,287m, unchanged from the prior year  
on a LFL basis, of which -1.0% was volume and 1.0% price/mix. US IFCN 
growth and increased customer focus on wellness and immunity, with 
Airborne up over 100%, offset the adverse IFCN market in Greater  
China. Nutrition net revenue at actual exchange rates was down 2.0%.
e-commerce delivered channel growth of 56% in 2020, estimated  
to be c.12% of Group net revenue.
Net revenue in the year reflects the deferral of certain shipments not 
reaching customers by 31 December 2020, consistent with the passing 
of control requirements under IFRS. Prior year net revenues included 
these shipments, the year-on-year impact of which was not significant. 
The deferral reduced net revenue for the Group by £67m in 2020, of 
which £25m related to Health, £36m related to Hygiene and £6m  
related to Nutrition.
Gross margin 
Gross margin decreased by 20bps to 60.3% as a result of adverse 
product mix principally in Health, COVID-19 related expenses and higher 
costs in IFCN, including c.£40m of inventory write-downs following the 
Hong Kong border closure, which together more than offset productivity 
savings within our cost of goods sold. 
The impact of the deferral of shipments, as disclosed above, was 
negligible on gross margin. 
Net operating expenses 
Brand Equity Investment (BEI) was up 7%, or £138m, on a pound spent 
basis (at constant currency), at 13.9% of net revenue, 50bps lower 
than the prior year, reflecting leverage benefits from strong net 
revenue growth in 2020, productivity initiatives to improve the ratio 
of working to non-working media spend and investments in digital 
talent. In absolute terms BEI increased by 5% on a reported basis.
Other costs increased by 290bps as a percentage of net revenue, 
reflecting higher year-on-year performance related costs, investments  
in capabilities and finite-life transformation costs. 
Group operating profit 
Group adjusted operating profit was £3,301m (2019: £3,367m) at an 
adjusted operating margin of 23.6%, in line with our mid-year guidance 
and 260bps lower than the prior year (2019: 26.2%). This largely reflects 
the impact of the planned investment programme announced in 
February 2020. As announced at the half year, the operational leverage 
from the strong revenue growth was reinvested in our growth initiatives 
and used to offset COVID-19 related costs of around £120m (c.80bps). 
These COVID-19 related costs are incremental to our planned 
investments and we expect them to continue into 2021. 
Reported operating profit was £2,160m (2019: £1,954m operating loss)  
at a reported operating margin of 15.4% (2019: -15.2%). In the year to 
31 December 2020, adjusting items of £1,141m are included in reported 
operating profit (2019: £5,321m), this includes £985m (2019: £5,037m) of 
goodwill impairment (note 9), intangible asset amortisation of £80m 
(2019: £81m) and a charge in relation to the Korea HS issue of £69m (2019: 
£nil). Further details on adjusting items can be found on page 78.
Net finance expense 
Adjusted net finance expense was £260m (2019: £188m). The increase  
of £72m is principally due to comparison with adjusted net finance 
expense in 2019 which included income from significant items not 
repeated in 2020. Excluding these items, adjusted net finance expense  
in 2020 slightly increased as lower net interest costs on the Group’s 
borrowings were offset by the interest element of an indirect tax 
provision and other finance expenses recorded in 2020.
Reported net finance expense of £286m (2019: £153m) includes 
£26m of finance expenses on tax balances (2019: £35m finance income) 
which are reclassified to income taxes on an adjusted basis.
Tax 
The adjusted tax rate, which excludes the effect of adjusting items,  
was 22.7% (2019: 21.8%) in line with expectations.
The reported tax rate was 38.4% (2019: minus 31.6%). The tax rate in 
2020 and 2019 was impacted by the non-taxable goodwill impairment. 
Excluding this item from both years, the reported rate in 2020 increased 
by c.3% to 25.2%, primarily due to the impact of the enacted increase in 
the UK corporation tax rate from 17% to 19% on deferred tax liabilities 
recorded on intangible assets.
Discontinued operations 
Income from discontinued operations of £50m (2019: £898m expense) 
relates to a partial release of a provision relating to the prior year 
settlement with the Department of Justice (DoJ) in relation to Indivior 
plc matters. This follows a review of outstanding items relating to the 
DoJ settlement and the associated provisions. The prior period expense 
reflects the charge to the Income Statement for the $1.4bn settlement 
agreed with the DoJ, which was paid in full by the end of 2019, and 
amounts deemed necessary to cover any remaining litigation exposure.
Earnings per share (EPS) 
Adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations was 327.0p (2019: 
349.0p), the decrease of 6.3% primarily driven by lower adjusted 
operating profit and higher adjusted net finance expense. 
Reported diluted EPS from continuing operations was 159.3p  
(2019: loss per share of 393.0p).
Balance sheet 
As at 31 December 2020, the Group had total equity of £9,159m 
(31 December 2019: £9,407m). 
Current assets of £5,314m (31 December 2019: £5,033m) increased by 
£281m, driven by higher inventories and cash and cash equivalents offset 
by lower trade and other receivables.
 Current liabilities of £6,938m (31 December 2019: £8,931m) decreased 
by £1,993m. This decrease principally resulted from significantly lower 
short-term borrowings, following repayment of commercial paper  
and term loans in the year, which more than offset higher trade and 
other payables.  
Non-current assets of £25,978m (31 December 2019: £27,106m) 
primarily comprise of goodwill and other intangible assets of £22,979m 
(31 December 2019: £24,261m) and property, plant and equipment. The 
£1,128m decrease in non-current assets is driven by goodwill and other 
intangibles, as the result of the £985m IFCN impairment charge in 
addition to a decline due to the retranslation of foreign currency 
denominated assets.

76
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
G ROU P FI N A N CI A L R E V I E W CO NTI N U ED
Non-current liabilities of £15,195m (31 December 2019: £13,801m) 
increased by £1,394m, driven predominantly by higher long-term 
borrowings following the issuance of new bonds of just under £2bn  
in the year. 
Net working capital 
During the period, net working capital improved by £802m to negative 
£2,229m (31 December 2019: negative £1,427m). Net working capital as a 
percentage of 12-month net revenue is -16% (31 December 2019: -11%).
The improvement in net working capital was primarily driven by higher 
trade and other payables, up £922m to £5,742m (31 December 2019: 
£4,820m), and lower trade receivables, down £158m to £1,921m 
(31 December 2019: £2,079m) partially offset by higher inventories, up 
£278m to £1,592m (31 December 2019: £1,314m). The increase in trade and 
other payables is due to higher manufacturing activity, volume related 
increases to trade spend accruals and higher variable pay accruals.
Cash Flow 
 
 
31 Dec 2020 
£m 
31 Dec 2019 
£m 
Cash generated from continuing operations 
4,557 
3,408 
Less: net interest paid 
(267) 
(210) 
Less: tax paid 
(762) 
(647) 
Less: purchase of property, plant & 
equipment 
(394) 
(306) 
Less: purchase of intangible assets 
(92) 
(137) 
Plus: proceeds from the sale of property, 
plant & equipment 
10 
37 
Free Cash Flow 
3,052 
2,145 
Free Cash Flow Conversion 
131% 
87% 
Cash generated from continuing operations was £4,557m (2019: 
£3,408m), higher by £1,149m primarily driven by favourable net working 
capital movements of £802m. Net cash generated from operating 
activities was £3,518m (2019: £1,411m) after net interest payments of 
£267m (2019: £210m) and tax payments of £762m (2019: £647m). 
Free cash flow is the amount of cash generated from continuing 
operating activities after capital expenditure on property, plant and 
equipment and intangible assets and any related disposals. Free cash 
flow reflects cash flows that could be used for payment of dividends, 
repayment of debt or to fund acquisitions or other strategic objectives. 
Free cash flow as a percentage of continuing adjusted net income was 
131% (2019: 87%).
Net debt 
 
 
31 Dec 2020 
£m 
31 Dec 2019 
£m 
Opening net debt 
(10,749) 
(10,746) 
Free cashflow from continuing operations 
3,052 
2,145 
Shares reissued 
131 
61 
Purchase of investments and acquisition of 
businesses 
(36) 
(36) 
Dividends paid 
(1,257) 
(1,242) 
Movement in lease liabilities 
(86) 
(63) 
Exchange and other movements 
1 
272 
Cash flow attributable to discontinued 
operations 
(10) 
(1,140) 
Closing net debt 
(8,954) 
(10,749) 
During the year to 31 December 2020 net debt reduced by £1,795m to 
£8,954m. The significant reduction in net debt was driven by strong free 
cash flow of £3,052m offset by dividend payments of £1,257m. The 
Group regularly reviews its banking arrangements and currently has 
adequate facilities available to it. 
The Group has committed facilities totalling £5,500m (31 December 
2019: £5,500m) which are undrawn and available to draw. The Group 
remains compliant with its banking covenants. The committed facilities 
are not subject to renewal until from 2022 onwards. During 2020, the 
Group temporarily drew down part of its committed facilities due to 
short term illiquidity in the commercial paper market. This was repaid  
in full during 2020.
Dividends 
The Board of Directors recommends a final 2020 dividend of 101.6 pence 
(2019: 101.6 pence), to give a full year dividend of 174.6 pence (2019: 174.6 
pence). The dividend if approved by shareholders at the AGM on 28 May 
2021, will be paid on 14 June 2021. The ex-dividend date is 6 May 2021. 
The final dividend will be accrued once approved by Shareholders.
Capital returns policy 
Reckitt has consistently communicated its intention to use its strong 
cash flow for the benefit of Shareholders. Our priority remains to  
reinvest our financial resources back into the business, including through 
value-adding acquisitions, in order to deliver sustainable growth in net 
revenue and improving earnings per share over time.
In managing the balance sheet, we intend to maintain key financial 
ratios in line with those expected of an A-grade credit-rated business. 
This will broadly define acceptable levels of leverage overtime.
Repatriating cash to shareholders through a growing dividend 
remains a long-term goal of the business. As a result of the investments 
being made in 2020 and expected to be made in 2021, which will benefit 
long-term sustainable growth, our dividend pay-out for the current year 
is above the threshold set out in our policy, i.e. of paying an ordinary 
dividend equivalent to around 50% of total adjusted net income. As set 
out in February 2020, we will maintain the dividend pay-out per share at 
2019 levels until we rebuild dividend cover to target levels, at which time 
we will be able to resume growth in dividends in line with the growth  
in adjusted net income.
In line with the investment priorities, we expect to invest an 
incremental capital expenditure of around £400m in total, spread over 
the next few years.
We will continue to rigorously evaluate our portfolio to actively 
migrate it to higher growth. 
Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
The Group continues to focus on employing capital appropriate to drive 
long term value creation for its shareholders. The Group’s ROCE in 2020 
was 10.1% (2019: 10.3%). This is largely the result of Adjusted Operating 
Profit at constant exchange rates being broadly flat compared to the 
prior year coupled with a higher adjusted tax rate in 2020 than 2019.

77
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Adjusted and Other Non-GAAP Measures 
The financial information included in this Annual report is prepared  
in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)  
as well as information presented on an adjusted basis. 
Financial information presented on an adjusted basis excludes certain 
cash and non-cash items which management believe are not reflective 
of the underlying financial performance of the business. Financial 
information on an adjusted basis is consistent with how management 
reviews the business for the purpose of making operating decisions. 
Adjusting items comprise exceptional items, other adjusting items  
and the reclassification of finance expenses on tax balances. 
•	
Exceptional items are material, non-recurring items of expense or 
income. 
•	
Other adjusting items relate to expenses or income that the Group 
adjust for because their pattern of recognition is largely uncorrelated 
with the underlying performance of the business. This includes the 
following items: 
–	 Amortisation of acquired brands, trademarks and similar assets; 
–	 Amortisation of certain other intangible assets recorded as the 
result of a business combination; 
–	 Profits or losses relating to the sale of brands and related 
intangible assets; 
–	 Changes to deferred tax liabilities relating to (a) acquired brands, 
trademarks and similar assets and (b) certain other intangible 
assets recorded as the result of a business combination; and 
–	 Re-cycled foreign exchange translation reserves upon the sale, 
liquidation, repayment of share capital or abandonment of a 
subsidiary previously controlled by the Group. 
•	
Adjusting items include a reclassification of finance expenses on tax 
balances into income tax expense, to align with the Group’s tax 
guidance. As a result, these expenses are presented as part of 
income tax expense on an adjusted basis. 
Adjusted measures 
•	
Adjusted Operating Profit and Adjusted Operating Profit margin: 
Adjusted operating profit reflects the IFRS operating profit excluding 
items in line with the group’s adjusted items policy. See page 78 for 
details on the adjusting items and a reconciliation between IFRS 
operating profit and adjusted operating profit. The adjusted 
operating profit margin is the adjusted operating profit expressed as 
a percentage of net revenue.
•	
Adjusted tax rate: The adjusted tax rate is defined as the Adjusted 
continuing income tax expense as a percentage of Adjusted profit 
before tax.
•	
Adjusted diluted EPS: Adjusted diluted EPS is the IFRS diluted EPS 
excluding items in line with the group’s adjusting policy. See page 78  
for details on the adjusting items and a reconciliation between IFRS 
net income and adjusted net income. The weighted average number 
of shares for the period is the same for both IFRS EPS and adjusted 
EPS.
•	
Adjusted net working capital: Adjusted net working capital 
excludes the impact of the Department of Justice (DoJ) accrual  
in respect of the 2019 settlement with the DoJ in relation to  
Indivior plc matters. 
Other non-GAAP measures 
•	
Like-for-Like (LFL): Net revenue growth or decline at constant 
exchange rates (see below) excluding the impact of acquisitions, 
disposals and discontinued operations. LFL growth also excludes 
Venezuela. 
•	
Constant exchange rate (CER): Net revenue growth or decline 
adjusting the actual consolidated results such that the foreign 
currency conversion uses the same exchange rates as were applied 
in the prior period. 
•	
Brand Equity Investment (BEI): BEI is the marketing support 
designed to capture the voice, mind and heart of our consumers. 
•	
Net working capital (NWC): NWC is the total of inventory, trade and 
other receivables and trade and other payables. NWC is calculated as 
a % of last twelve months net revenue to compare changes in NWC 
to the growth of the business. 
•	
Net Debt: The Group’s principal measure of net borrowings being a 
total of cash and cash equivalents, short-term and long-term 
borrowings, lease liabilities and derivative financial instruments on 
debt. 
•	
Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow Conversion: The Group’s 
principal measure of cash flow defined as net cash generated from 
continuing operating activities less net capital expenditure. A 
reconciliation of cash generated from operations to Free Cash Flow is 
shown on page 76. The Group tracks Free Cash Flow on a % of 
adjusted net income to understand the conversion of adjusted profit 
into cash. 
Other definitions and terms 
•	
E-commerce: e-commerce channel net revenue is defined as direct 
sales from Reckitt to online platforms or directly to consumers. 
Estimates of total e-commerce sales as a percentage of group 
revenues includes direct sales and an estimate of sales achieved by 
our brands corresponding to sales through our omnichannel 
distributors and retailer’ websites. 
•	
Continuing operations: Continuing operations excludes any credits 
or charges related to the previously demerged RB Pharmaceuticals 
business that became Indivior plc. Net income/(loss) from 
discontinued operations is presented as a single line item in the 
Group Income Statement. 
•	
Return on capital employed (ROCE) is defined as adjusted 
operating profit after tax divided by monthly average capital 
employed. Capital employed comprises total assets less current 
liabilities other than borrowings-related liabilities. Total assets exclude 
cash, retirement benefit surplus, current tax and a technical gross-up 
to goodwill that arises because of deferred tax liabilities recorded 
against identified assets acquired in business combinations. Total 
assets has been adjusted to add back the impairment of IFCN made 
in 2019 and 2020, so that ROCE is not increased by these impairments. 
Current liabilities exclude legal provisions recorded as a result of 
exceptional items and current tax.

78
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
G ROU P FI N A N CI A L R E V I E W CO NTI N U ED
The table below reconciles the Group’s reported IFRS measures to its adjusted measures for the year ended 31 December 2020.
Adjusting items
Year ended 31 December 2020 
Reported 
£m 
Exceptional 
items1 
£m 
Other 
Items2 
£m 
Finance 
Expense 
Reclass3 
£m 
Adjusted 
£m 
Operating Profit 
2,160 
1,061
80 
– 
3,301 
Net finance expense 
(286) 
– 
– 
26 
(260) 
Share of loss of associate 
(1) 
 –
 –
– 
(1) 
Profit before income tax 
1,873 
1,061
80 
26 
3,040 
Income tax expense 
(720) 
(3) 
59 
(26) 
(690) 
Net income from continuing operations 
1,153 
1,058
139 
– 
2,350 
Less: Attributable to non-controlling interests 
(16) 
– 
 –
– 
(16) 
Net income from continuing operations attributable to owners of the parent 
company 
1,137 
1,058 
139 
– 
2,334 
Net profit for the period from discontinued operations 
50 
(50) 
– 
– 
– 
Total net income for the year attributable to owners of the parent 
1,187 
1,008 
139 
– 
2,334 
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations 
159.3p 
 
 
327.0p 
1.	 Exceptional items include £985m impairment on IFCN Goodwill (2019: £5,037m) (note 9), a charge of £69m (2019: £nil) relating to the Korea HS issue and a charge of £7m relating to 
previously announced restructuring projects (principally RB 2.0 costs). Included within income tax expense is a £3m tax credit for these exceptional costs  
2.	 Other adjusting items of £80m relate to the amortisation of certain intangible assets recognised as a result of the acquisition of MJN. Included within income tax expense is a net 
£59m charge, being a £19m tax credit in respect of this amortisation offset by a £78m tax charge to adjust deferred tax liabilities for intangible assets for the UK tax rate change   
3.	 Adjusting items of £26m relate to the reclassification of interest expense on income tax balances from net finance expense to income tax in the adjusted measures
The table below reconciles the Group’s reported IFRS measures to its adjusted measures for the year ended 31 December 2019. 
Adjusting items
Year ended 31 December 2019 
Reported 
£m
Exceptional 
items2 
£m
Other 
Items3 
£m
Finance 
Expense 
Reclass4 
£m
Adjusted 
£m
Operating (Loss)/Profit 
(1,954) 
5,240 
81 
– 
3,367 
Net finance expense 
(153) 
– 
– 
(35) 
(188) 
(Loss)/Profit before income tax 
(2,107) 
5,240 
81 
(35) 
3,179 
Income tax expense 
(665) 
(45) 
(18) 
35 
(693) 
Net (loss)/income from continuing operations 
(2,772) 
5,195 
63 
– 
2,486 
Less: Attributable to non-controlling interests 
(13) 
– 
– 
– 
(13) 
Net (loss)/income from continuing operations attributable to owners of the 
parent company 
(2,785) 
5,195 
63 
– 
2,473 
Net loss for the period from discontinued operations 
(898)1 
898 
– 
– 
– 
Total net (loss)/income for the year attributable to owners of the parent 
(3,683) 
6,093 
63 
– 
2,473 
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations 
(393.0)p 
 
 
 
349.0p
 
1. 	 Exceptional items within Discontinued Operations of £898m relate to charges in relation to the settlement amount for the US Department of Justice (“DoJ”) and the US Federal Trade 
Commission investigations. Refer to Note 29 for further details
2. 	Exceptional items within Operating Profit of £5,240m relate to MJN integration / RB2.0 costs (£113m), restructuring and other projects (£11m), IFCN impairment of goodwill (£5,037m) 
and Oriental Pharma impairment of intangible assets (£79m). Included within income tax expense is a £45m income tax credit for these exceptional costs
3. 	Other adjusting items of £81m relate to the amortisation of certain intangible assets recognised as a result of the acquisition of MJN. Included within income tax expense is a £18m 
income tax credit in respect of these costs
4. 	Adjusting items of £35m relate to the reclassification of interest income on income tax balances from net finance expense to income tax in the adjusted measures

79
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G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
CLI M ATE- R EL ATED R IS K A N D O PPO RTU N ITI ES
CLIMATE-
RELATED 
FINANCIAL RISK
Climate-related financial risk 
is monitored through our 
executive and Board, with 
mitigation and adaption activity 
in our product development 
and supply chain operations. 
Following an initial assessment 
of the potential areas of climate-
related financial risks in 2018 
which helped to inform our 
activity, we have begun a further, 
more detailed assessment in 
conjunction with Judge Business 
School. This is considering both 
risks and opportunities posed by 
climate change through our value 
chain, from the origin of our raw 
materials, to our manufacturing 
operations and how they may 
be affected by adverse weather 
patterns and rising temperatures, 
to the potential changes to 
consumer spending patterns 
that climate change may bring. 
This will further inform our activity, 
for example influencing product 
development to create more 
sustainable products with lower 
carbon and water footprints; 
reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions 
and using renewable energy; and 
increasing resilience to water 
stress. That work includes our own 
operations and those of our suppliers, 
considers the way ingredients 
are developed and sourced, and 
considers how consumers use 
and dispose of our products. 
A detailed disclosure on climate-
related financial risk, including 
our climate related risks and our 
activities to address them are in 
our Insight on Climate Change, 
which can be downloaded at 
www.reckitt.com/sustainability/
policies-and-reports.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
R IS K M A N AG EM ENT
Our approach to integrated  
risk management at Reckitt
Risk management occurs at different levels in Reckitt with identification and 
assessment performed at the functional, Global Business Unit, corporate and Group 
levels to provide both a ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ three-dimensional view of risk 
and is implemented as follows:
Functional 
risk assessments
Consolidation and critical 
challenge by Risk Management
Global Business Unit/ 
corporate risk assessments
Group principal and  
emerging risk assessment
Board 
oversight
Annual
Report
Reviewed by Global Business Unit /
corporate function leadership teams
Principal and emerging risks identified 
through the Group Risk Assessment are 
disclosed in Reckitt’s Annual Report 
•	
Identifies and monitors risks 
impacting the operation of 
each function or functional 
area
•	
Controls are mapped to the 
three lines of defence
•	
Detailed management action 
plans are developed to 
address control gaps
•	
Identifies and monitors risks 
with the potential to impact 
each Global Business Unit and 
the corporate centre
•	
High-level control strategies 
and action plans are 
documented for each risk. 
Supporting functional risks  
are referenced
•	
Identifies the most significant 
principal and emerging risks 
with potential to impact  
the Group
•	
Principal and emerging  
risks are disclosed in the 
Annual Report
•	
Oversight across each 
principal risk provided by a 
nominated Board Committee
WHAT
WHEN
HOW
WHO
•	
Completed annually,  
reviewed quarterly with 
updates provided to the  
Audit Committee
•	
Risk assessment owned by 
functional leadership team
•	
Functional risk owners 
assigned to each specific risk, 
controls and action plans
•	
Functional risks are reviewed 
in detail annually to identify 
any changes to the risk profile 
including new risks and 
changes in assessment 
•	
Formal sign-off by functional 
heads with Group CFO 
•	
Updates on top risks and 
associated mitigations are 
reported to the Risk, 
Sustainability & Compliance 
Committee (RSCC) and  
Audit Committee on a 
quarterly basis 
•	
Completed annually in 
advance of the Global 
Business Unit strategic 
planning process
•	
Global Business Unit/
corporate management 
teams led
•	
Global Business Unit risk 
assessments are reviewed 
and updated annually through 
a series of one-to-one 
meetings with Global 
Business Unit leadership 
•	
For corporate functions, the 
functional risk assessments 
are reviewed and challenged
•	
Completed annually in 
advance of the Global 
Business Unit strategic 
planning process
•	
Group Risk Management
•	
GEC owners assigned with 
principal and emerging risks 
circulated to the Board for 
final review and sign-off
•	
One-to-one meetings are 
held with all Group Executive 
Committee (GEC) members, 
Group functional and 
assurance heads, external 
advisors and Non-Executive 
Directors (NEDs)
•	
Synthesised output formally 
reviewed and signed off by 
the GEC and thereafter by  
the Board
•	
Periodic reporting and risk 
deep dives occur with input 
from the risk owner
•	
GEC owner

81
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Our approach to principal and emerging risk assessment
The Group principal and emerging risk assessment is an integral part of the integrated risk 
management framework above, identifying the principal and emerging risks with the greatest 
potential to impact the Group. The assessment is completed annually in advance of the Global 
Business Unit and corporate strategic planning process as follows:
Identification 
of risks
What could impact Reckitt 
and the achievement of its 
objectives?
What are we doing to 
manage the risk?
How comfortable are we 
with the level of risk?
What more do 
we need to do?
Control 
strategy
Assessment of net risk 
and prioritisation 
Management 
action
•	
Identifies the most significant 
principal and emerging risks 
with potential to impact  
the Group
•	
One-to-one meetings are held 
with all GEC members, Group 
functional and assurance heads, 
external advisors and NEDs
•	
Functional, Global Business Unit 
and corporate risk assessments 
feed into this process
•	
Identifies sources of risk, key 
drivers and areas of impact
•	
Completed annually in advance 
of the Global Business Unit 
strategic planning process
•	
Control strategy is reviewed to 
establish if it is appropriate and 
operating as intended
•	
Where we identify control 
gaps, what more do we need 
to do?
•	
Considering the controls we 
have in place to manage  
each risk:
–	 What is the probability that 
the risk will materialise?
–	 If it did, what would the 
likely impact be?
–	 How comfortable are we 
with how the risk is being 
managed?
–	 Is the risk within an 
acceptable level of 
appetite?
•	
Assessment identifies those 
risks and controls where 
management should focus  
its effort
•	
The decision to act will be 
based on which risks are no 
longer acceptable
•	
Having identified areas of 
highest risk that require 
attention, action plans are 
developed by management to:
–	 address any control gaps 
identified
–	 improve the effectiveness 
of existing controls, thereby 
reducing the probability 
and impact to an 
acceptable level
•	
GEC owners assigned, with 
principal and emerging risks 
circulated to the Board for final 
review, sign-off and ongoing 
monitoring
•	
Principal and emerging risks 
are disclosed in the Annual 
Report

82
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
R IS K M A N AG EM ENT CO NTI N U ED
Our principal and emerging risks, as at 31 December 2020
Key to principal risks
Category
ID
Risk title
Risk statement
Operational
1
COVID-191
COVID-19 causes significant disruption to core business processes in key markets, 
impacting our ability to meet customer and consumer demand and protect our 
employees.
2
Product Safety
Robust process, systems and culture for the development and assessment of product 
safety are not in place or operating effectively, leading to safety risk to consumers.
3
Supply Disruption1
Disruption to the continuity of supply as a result of inability to procure critical ingredients 
and/or reliance on single factories that supply key markets without actively qualified 
contingencies in place.
4
Cyber Security
As a complex global organisation, there is a risk that Reckitt falls victim to increasingly 
sophisticated cyber-attacks aimed at causing disruption to our information assets by 
destruction, circumventing confidentiality, integrity or availability controls.
5
Employee Health & Safety 
Work accidents leading to death, injury or illness of Reckitt employees wherever they are 
working and other workers on Reckitt premises or premises under Reckitt supervision, in 
case of outsourced operations.
6
Sustainability1
Failure to address existing and emerging environmental and social risks and 
opportunities, and changing societal expectations of businesses in addressing these, 
creates underlying risk to business resilience and growth, risking stranded assets or 
missed growth opportunities.
7
Adherence to Product  
Quality Standards1 
Non-compliance with applicable quality regulations, guidelines and internal/external 
standards across the product lifecycle governing how we produce and supply product.
Strategic
8
Innovation1 
The current innovation pipeline does not meet the changing needs of our consumers and 
new go-to-market channels, and is not sufficient to achieve organic growth ambitions 
and drive gross margin accretion.
9
Disruption1
Inability to respond, adapt and evolve both our products and processes to disruptive 
market forces including e-commerce, digital and new formats, impacting our ability to 
effectively service our customers and consumers with the required agility. 
10
China1 
Risk of economic uncertainty in China, changing regulations and changes in current or 
new partners impacting growth and business performance.
People
11
People1
Failure to achieve strategic objectives as a result of significant management churn and 
inability to attract and retain top talent.
Financial
12
Tax Disputes 
Significant unprovisioned cash outflows as a result of tax authority challenge to filed tax 
positions in territories.
Compliance
13
Product Regulations 
Non-compliance with product classification regulations, guidelines, internal standards 
and/or registrations across the supply chain and throughout the product lifecycle. 
14
Legal & Compliance 
We are not fully compliant with relevant laws and regulations, including anti-corruption 
laws, data privacy laws and global competition laws.
15
South Korea 
Financial and reputational risk as a result of the health issues caused by consumers 
inhaling a humidifier sanitiser previously sold by Oxy, which Reckitt acquired in 2001.
Other
BS
Black Swan Event
Multiple brands and territories impacted by an unforeseen probably reputational incident.
1.	 See Viability Statement on page 93

83
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
Probability
Impact
Critical
Highly Likely
Moderate
Possible
Major
Likely
Manageable
Remote
1
8
4
5
2
9
7
 10
3
 11
 12
 13
 15
 14
 BS
6
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
Principal risks
Interconnectivity of risks
Mitigation activity
Colour indicates extent of activity outstanding to mitigate in 
line with risk appetite.
  All significant mitigating actions are in place and operating effectively
  Some significant actions remain in progress
  Significant and urgent actions remain under way
Risk movement 
Arrows indicate movement from prior year position.
  Direction and distance of movement.
Action planning to mitigate principal risks is complicated by 
the interconnectivity between them, requiring robust 
oversight by leadership teams to prioritise time and 
resources as appropriate.
  Strategic
  Operational
  People
  Financial
  Compliance
  Emerging
S	 Sustained/deepening economic recession
P	 Pandemic-related litigation and regulation 
G	 Geopolitical
15
1
BS
S
P
G
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

84
Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
R IS K M A N AG EM ENT CO NTI N U ED
1.	 COVID-19
Risk movement:
New risk 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with the 
Group Executive Committee, with each Global 
Business Unit responsible for their respective 
deliverables. Board oversight is provided by 
the main Board. 
The risk: COVID-19 causes significant disruption to core business 
processes in key markets, impacting our ability to meet customer and 
consumer demand and protect our employees.
Potential impact
The impacts of this risk are broad reflecting the wide-ranging disruption 
caused by the pandemic. Chief among these has been the impact on our 
workforce, both protecting those working at Reckitt sites and supporting 
the remainder through a prolonged period of remote working; and the 
supply chain disruption that has impacted our ability to produce and ship 
our products.  
Mitigation progress in 2020
In response to the pandemic, a Group-wide cross-functional COVID-19 
Decision Making Forum was established to oversee the Group’s response  
to the evolving crisis. The Forum was supported by Global Business Unit 
crisis teams tracking local developments, including infection rates. 
Essential business functions, roles and critical processes were identified 
and subject to contingency planning. 
Site-specific protocols and remote working safeguards were 
introduced where required. A programme of global and local wellbeing 
initiatives was established to support employee health and wellbeing. 
Across the Supply organisation, continuity responses were activated 
which included engagement of new suppliers for critical materials, daily 
reviews of manufacturing capacity across our network of factories and 
manufacturing partners, and partnership with logistics providers ensuring 
we could move products across closed borders.  
Current control strategy
As the pandemic continues into 2021, return to work protocols have  
been established to ensure both compliance with local government 
requirements as well as respect for each individual’s personal situation. 
Additional safety measures have been introduced across our sites and are 
supported with a set of global procedures. We continue to support our 
employees through regular updates and dedicated resources online. 
Activity impact for 2021
Our Group-wide and local COVID-19 response procedures are continually 
reviewed to ensure they are appropriate and reflect any further 
developments. It is anticipated that, while some disruption will continue 
into 2021, this will reduce as our new ways of working become further 
embedded. Target rating from current Red to Green by the end of 2021.
2.	 PRODUCT SAFETY
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides with the Chief 
R&D Officer, who drives activity through  
each of the Global Business Unit executive 
leadership teams. Board oversight is provided 
by the CRSEC Committee. 
The risk: Robust process, systems and culture for the development and 
assessment of product safety are not in place or operating effectively, 
leading to safety risk to consumers.
Potential impact
Product safety issues lead to reputational damage with consumers, 
customers or regulators. Significant financial losses could arise from supply 
disruption, product recalls, delayed launches, penalties and a loss of 
consumer trust, as well as possible criminal liability for senior management. 
Any gaps in the completion of our safety assessments and a lack of 
anticipation of new safety concerns could exacerbate any potential impact.
Mitigation progress in 2020
Several product safety related programmes have been completed or 
remain on plan for completion. PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) 
implementation is ongoing and includes the digital integration of cross-
functional systems (Safety, Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance, Quality, Supply 
and Procurement) to provide greater control, compliance and reduce 
manual intervention across the product lifecycle.
A Chief Safety Officer has been appointed with additional medical 
safety personnel now in role. Product safety training has been rolled out  
to all employees, as well as specific training for relevant employees to 
understand their role in ensuring SQRC (safety, quality and regulatory 
compliance) for Reckitt products.
We have made investment into consumer relations to improve consumer 
data insights and awareness of social media to identify emerging trends, 
themes and safety concerns.
Current control strategy
As part of the evolution of our product safety and regulatory processes, the 
SQRC function has now been integrated into the Supply and R&D functions. 
This restructure will help to further embed product safety into each of the 
Global Business Units by driving proximity to markets whilst also providing 
centralised oversight and assurance services.  
 A robust quality management system is underpinned with clear policies 
and supporting systems, which are subjected to comprehensive and 
independent regular audit review. Consumer safety and vigilance teams 
within the Global Safety Assurance function conduct pre-market safety 
reviews and monitor and report on adverse events.
Our Global Safety Assurance function reports through R&D and is 
accountable to the Risk, Sustainability & Compliance Committee (RSCC) 
and thereafter to the Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability, Ethics & 
Compliance (CRSEC) Committee.
Activity impact for 2021
2021 will see the continued roll-out of the upgraded PLM system to better 
enable compliance management throughout the lifecycle. The Product 
Integrity Review (PIR), ensuring all Reckitt products have a refreshed 
compliance review, and change management programmes will be 
completed in the first half of 2021. Innovation and business processes 
continue to be adapted to ensure safety diligence requirements are fully 
implemented. Target rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021. This is a 
multi-year deliverable to replace current systems.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
3.	 SUPPLY DISRUPTION
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with  
the Chief Supply Officer. Board oversight is 
provided by the main Board. 
 
The risk: Disruption to the continuity of supply as a result of inability to 
procure critical ingredients and/or reliance on single factories that 
supply key markets without actively qualified contingencies in place.
Potential impact
Such disruption could result in supply shortages and importation barrier 
issues, leading to loss of sales and market share. Also, potential loss of 
competitiveness and profitability from service level deterioration arising 
from factory capacity constraints, warehouse or transport set-up charges 
or insufficient change capability in factory and/or supply services, including 
forecasting accuracy and capabilities.
COVID-19 has further heightened this risk, through global shortages of 
critical materials required for COVID-19 essential products, the impact of 
the virus on labour availability, capacity constraints and disruption to 
logistics as a result of closed borders and other factors. 
Mitigation progress in 2020
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency business continuity 
projects were activated to ensure continuity in servicing our customers. 
These included increasing safety stock levels, shifting volumes across the 
network and to external manufacturing partners, and activating alternative 
suppliers of key materials. 
An end-to-end planning reset is under way to drive proactivity and 
better balance supply and demand. This will help to strengthen the resilience 
of our supply chain through investments in upstream supply resilience; 
alternative sites of manufacture; adequate manufacturing capacity; robust 
products; manufacturing processes and holistic packaging design.
Current control strategy
Procurement, manufacturing and supply services have defined 
manufacturing and quality control processes to ensure products are safe 
and meet all regulatory and legal requirements. 
Continued investment to reduce monosourcing risk across raw and 
packaging materials through dedicated programmes focusing on priority 
materials in Hygiene, Health and Nutrition. 
Increased investment in manufacturing facilities to enhance reliability 
and continuity of supply. Factories have been assessed and those 
considered key or strategic have received investment to attain Highly 
Protected Risk (HPR) status by our insurers. Review of business interruption 
insurance policies to ensure adequate cover is in place.
Activity impact for 2021
A Group-wide business continuity programme has recently commenced  
to strengthen existing business continuity arrangements for products,  
sites and functions, including ongoing delivery of ingredient planning  
across specific brands and markets alongside qualification of secondary 
manufacturing sites. This will allow us to increase the resilience of our 
supply chain and provide more robust business continuity processes 
throughout the portfolio. Target rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021.
4.	 CYBER
Risk movement:
Increasing
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with the 
Group Chief Information & Digitisation Officer. 
Board oversight is provided by the main Board. 
The risk: As a complex global organisation, there is a risk that Reckitt 
falls victim to increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks aimed at 
causing disruption to our information assets by destruction, 
circumventing confidentiality, integrity or availability controls.
Potential impact
Significant business disruption, data destruction or theft, regulatory 
non-compliance, reputational damage, financial loss and constraints in 
delivering global business strategy. 
This risk is heightened by the increasing volume and types of sensitive 
personal data held, a strengthened regulatory environment including 
significant financial penalties for non-compliance and the growing number 
and complexity of connected digital systems. These include third parties, 
cloud and digital service providers. 
Mitigation progress in 2020
Phase 1 of the Cyber Transformation Programme was successfully completed 
in early 2020 and included removal of legacy platforms; increased IT security 
team headcount; new cyber response playbooks and processes; advanced 
threat protection; and continued improvements to system recovery speed 
and capability. It also covered areas such as improving baseline identity and 
access management for some financial systems as well as multi-factor 
authentication to protect Reckitt system identities. 
We have launched the next phase of our multi-year cyber security 
strategy which will further reduce cyber risk through investment in our 
cyber security baseline, agility and innovation to stay as close as possible  
to emerging cyber threats.  
Current control strategy
Our strategy places continued focus on reducing cyber risk whilst 
improving the maturity of our security posture, upgrading our capabilities 
and supporting business agility, innovation and the strategic growth 
agenda. We apply industry standards and methodologies to establish the 
control framework including ISO and National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST) guidelines.  
Through increasing engagement with the business and partners, 
advancement of our cyber capabilities and renewed focus on risk 
ownership and accountability, the Group Cyber Transformation Programme 
will continue to evolve the cyber security strategy and framework, and 
implement the correct controls to mitigate cyber risk. 
Activity impact for 2021
Phase 2 of the Cyber Transformation Programme begins in 2021 and over 
the next three to four years will continue to invest in and embed cyber 
security processes across the Group. 
This includes enhancements to operational technology in critical 
factories, identity and access management for critical business 
applications, digital security, building stronger cyber defence detection and 
response capabilities to cover our multi-cloud strategy as well as uplifting 
Reckitt colleague cyber awareness and education. This risk is dynamic and 
constantly evolving, and as such target rating to remain Amber at the end 
of 2021.

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R IS K M A N AG EM ENT CO NTI N U ED
5.	 EMPLOYEE HEALTH  
& SAFETY
Risk movement:
Decreasing 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with the 
President of each Global Business Unit. Board 
oversight is provided by the CRSEC 
Committee.
The risk: Work accidents leading to death, injury or illness of Reckitt 
employees wherever they are working and other workers on Reckitt 
premises or premises under Reckitt supervision, in case of outsourced 
operations.
Potential impact
Impacts are wide ranging and variable in materiality; they may include loss  
of life, debilitating injury, ongoing damage to brand/employer reputation, 
reduced operational efficiency from factory closure or significant supply 
disruption, impaired financial performance from lost sales, fines or 
remediation cost and possible criminal liability for senior management.
Mitigation progress in 2020
COVID-19 health and safety policies, standards and return to work 
protocols have been published and adopted across our sites, with key 
messages cascaded through the GBU and Supply leadership teams.  
Local audits were completed where required by regulators to comply  
with COVID-19 regulations. 
We have launched an extensive programme to embed a heightened 
Employee Health & Safety (EH&S) culture across the enlarged Group 
through rigorous auditing, culture days, surveys and training initiatives.  
A Driver Safety Standard programme has been deployed. Engineering 
standards are in place and a Global Engineering Compliance team for 
structural auditing has been established. Group ISO 45001 or OHSAS 18001 
certification is complete across all Reckitt in-scope sites and our Group EHS 
Standards continue to be enhanced to meet scope.
Current control strategy
Policy and enhanced EH&S standards are in place and reinforced through 
an audit compliance programme (including self-assessment, site visits, 
assurance of improvement actions, KPI tracking and culture surveys) by a 
second line of defence compliance team within Supply, and ongoing EH&S 
training across all sites including commercial offices. During COVID-19 
related travel restrictions, technology aided inspections and site coaching 
calls. Oversight from the Supply leadership team as well as the Group Risk, 
Sustainability & Compliance Committee (RSCC).
Activity impact for 2021
We will continue to roll out the programme of culture surveys and safety 
days to increase awareness and continue with the rigour of auditing and 
supporting the business through supply, commercial and R&D site visits 
Target rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021.
6.	 SUSTAINABILITY
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with  
the CEO and the Head of Corporate Affairs  
& Chief Sustainability Officer. Each Global 
Business Unit is responsible for their 
respective deliverables. Board oversight  
is provided by the CRSEC Committee.
The risk: Failure to address existing and emerging environmental and 
social risks and opportunities, and changing societal expectations of 
businesses in addressing these, creates underlying risk to business 
resilience and growth, risking stranded assets or missed growth 
opportunities.
Potential impact
Failure to increase the sustainability of our environmental and social 
footprint may lead to increased scrutiny from consumers, customers,  
NGOs and ESG related investors. The impacts of this are broad in range  
and include reputational damage; adverse public perception; resource 
inefficiency; loss of market share as consumers shift towards ‘greener’ 
products; omission from established sustainability indices impacting  
future investment; and potential regulatory penalties.
Climate change has the potential to significantly disrupt Reckitt’s 
operations through an increased number of extreme weather events,  
water crises and ecosystem loss.
Mitigation progress in 2020
We continue to focus on strengthening our processes, programmes  
and controls alongside our external stakeholder relationships, through 
partnerships with NGOs, academia, and critical opinion formers. Our 2030 
Sustainability Strategy has been launched and appropriately resourced to 
progressively deliver performance targets. 
A holistic packaging strategy is in development, supporting both 
e-commerce and traditional retail channels with levels of packaging use. 
The expansion of our Human Rights programme beyond our supply chain, 
using the Societal Impact Framework to assess and address human rights 
impacts along the full value chain, is on track. 
Our sustainability and governance capability has been enhanced 
through the establishment of the Risk, Sustainability & Compliance 
Committee (RSCC). 
Current control strategy
We are progressively embedding plans and resources to deliver an 
environmental strategy in the supply chain in support of climate change 
and water efficiency, with capex plans, environment project identification, 
local and global capabilities and capacity to support environmental 
performance improvement. 
At a Global Business Unit and brand level, we are driving sustainability 
through customer-facing programmes, delivery of ingredients, packaging 
and sourcing programmes. We continue to embed sustainability into the 
product development process by evaluating all new innovation against a 
set of sustainability criteria. 
Activity impact for 2021
Internal and external initiatives, along with greater transparency on 
non-financial sustainability indicators, will help to drive increased 
awareness of our sustainability agenda across our global network. Target 
rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021. This is a multi-year deliverable 
to build and embed the significant actions required.

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S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
7.	 ADHERENCE TO PRODUCT 
QUALITY STANDARDS
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with  
the Chief Supply Officer, who drives activity 
through each of the Global Business Unit 
executive leadership teams. Board oversight  
is provided by the CRSEC Committee. 
The risk: Non-compliance with applicable quality regulations, guidelines 
and internal/external standards across the product lifecycle governing 
how we produce and supply product.
Potential impact
Impacts are wide ranging and may include a consumer safety incident, 
regulatory failures, loss of sales (including product recall) and adverse 
reputational impact, a supply disruption or factory closure, or potential  
civil/criminal actions against individuals. The risk is heightened by the 
increasing scrutiny, complexity, frequency and stringent audit requirements 
enforced on our factories by regulators.
Mitigation progress in 2020
We have made significant investment in ensuring the upmost quality of  
our products and compliance with all applicable regulations and standards. 
These measures include assurance programmes covering predictive  
quality, culture of quality, technology enabled fail-safe controls, quality 
audit programmes across manufacturing sites and supplier facilities,  
and transformation of our consumer relations function. 
Quality KPIs and metrics are routinely presented and discussed at each 
Global Business Unit, Risk Sustainability & Compliance Committee (RSCC) 
and the Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability, Ethics & Compliance 
(CRSEC) Committee meeting. 
Current control strategy
Reckitt’s Quality standards have been defined, communicated and 
embedded within our standard operating procedures. A quality audit 
programme to assess compliance with Reckitt’s Quality standards across 
manufacturing sites has been established and is being delivered against.  
In 2020, the audit schedule was reprioritised and adapted to respond to 
COVID-19 travel restrictions. 
Continued investment in key Quality transformation programmes 
including implementation of a systematised product safety and compliance 
programme through the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) project,  
and an end-to-end quality review of the product portfolio through the 
Product Integrity Review (PIR). COVID-19 impact assessments have been 
performed to identify risks to programme delivery and agreed timescales.
Activity impact for 2021
We continue to look for opportunities to optimise our quality assurance 
processes and the use of quality data to drive continuous improvement 
across the product lifecycle. Target rating to remain Amber at the end  
of 2021.
8.	 INNOVATION
Risk movement:
Decreasing 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with the 
President of each Global Business Unit. Board 
oversight is provided by the main Board.
The risk: The current innovation pipeline does not meet the changing 
needs of our consumers and new go-to-market channels, and is not 
sufficient to achieve organic growth ambitions and drive gross margin 
accretion.
Potential impact
Failure to understand and effectively respond to changing consumer  
wants, needs and behaviours (including COVID-19) may lead to loss  
of market share to small entrepreneurial companies leveraging new 
channels and digital media.
Inability to execute innovation may result in failure to achieve the 
necessary innovation rate hurdles (in terms of growth contribution and  
GM accretion), impacting organic top-line growth. 
Mitigation progress in 2020
Continued investment in science to better scale, leverage and accelerate 
our innovation pipeline. Our Chief Research & Development (R&D) Officer  
is now in role and is leading the elevation of our science capability and 
platforms, and driving external partnerships to co-create innovations. 
The R&D organisation is structured with dedicated teams focused on 
delivering innovation for global brands and operational teams focused on 
local brands. Frontline resources have been deployed in-market to drive 
proximity to consumers. 
Our Centre for Scientific Excellence is now operating in Hull, as a 
world-leading R&D facility for the healthcare portfolio. 
Current control strategy
Base business innovation is driven through a three-year pipeline and 
resource allocation process. We continue to invest in building capability  
in core technical areas and establishing cross-functional teams that 
participate in and assess new growth platforms and white space. 
Dedicated resourcing has been deployed to deliver on e-commerce  
first focused innovations.
Our consumer data and insights capability has been strengthened with  
a dedicated team focused on insight generation and idea validation through 
new digital tools for faster and more accurate innovation modelling.
Activity impact for 2021
A Category Development Organisation (CDO) is being established within 
the Nutrition GBU and will be focused on delivering successful innovation  
to market. Historically this global CDO organisation was part of the wider 
Health CDO team.
Innovation models will continue to evolve during 2021 and will broaden 
as additional drivers of innovation growth are identified. It is expected that 
further enhancement of our innovation pipeline monitoring and reporting 
will focus on identifying root causes of execution slippage. Target rating to 
remain Amber at the end of 2021. This is a multi-year deliverable to build 
and embed the significant actions required.

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R IS K M A N AG EM ENT CO NTI N U ED
9.	 DISRUPTION
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides with the 
President of each Global Business Unit. Board 
oversight is provided by the main Board.
The risk: Inability to respond, adapt and evolve both our products and 
processes to disruptive market forces including e-commerce, digital 
and new formats, impacting our ability to effectively service our 
customers and consumers with the required agility. 
Potential impact
2020 has seen dramatic changes to the ecosystem and competitive 
landscape in which we operate, many of these changes arising from 
COVID-19 and its impact around the globe. 
Failure to respond to these disruptions may result in share loss to 
insurgent brands that are more consumer-centric and reduce our ability to 
identify and exploit rapidly growing channels, impacting top-line growth.
Mitigation progress in 2020
eRB has now been launched as a dedicated organisation to drive and 
support each Global Business Unit with digital business development, build 
capability through technology and infrastructure, and incubate new brands 
and partnerships. 
Four capability centres have been established to share excellence 
across Global Business Units in the areas of Marketing Excellence, Sales 
Outperformance, Medical and e-commerce. These centres will develop 
functional capabilities, drive economies of scale and scope, and provide 
tools and technology enabling best practice sharing. 
Chief Customer and Chief Information & Digitisation Officers have been 
appointed to strengthen customer relationships and drive new business 
models for our increasingly digital consumers. 
Global Business Solutions launched in 2020 to support businesses with 
the expertise, knowledge and products they need to make their workplaces 
and outlets hygienically safe for both consumers and employees. 
Current control strategy
Continued investment in capability and technology, enabling us to harness 
the power of all channels, all platforms, all brands, in all markets. Pursuit of 
external partnership opportunities to identify, incubate and launch new 
brands and ventures, driving future growth. Entering new growth spaces 
will also allow us to reach and acquire more consumers.  
Activity impact for 2021
The Digital Factory will be established in 2021, in collaboration with 
Marketing Excellence and consumer relations, focused on harnessing  
and building e-commerce expertise across GBUs and markets.
Internal and external initiatives will continue to increase capability and 
drive incremental growth across priority channels and segments. Target 
rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021. This is a multi-year deliverable 
to build and embed the significant actions required.
10.	CHINA
Risk movement:
New risk 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with  
the President Nutrition, eRB & Greater China 
business. Board oversight is provided by the 
main Board.
The risk: Risk of economic uncertainty in China, changing regulations 
and changes in current or new partners impacting growth and business 
performance.
Potential impact
China is a critical market increasingly characterised by economic and 
regulatory uncertainty. The behaviours of Chinese consumers are also 
changing which, alongside other economic factors, have the potential  
to impact our operations and performance in this market.
Mitigation progress in 2020
Reflecting China’s importance, we have launched an integrated  
cross-GBU organisation in China. eRB & Greater China is an innovative, agile 
and digital business that will deliver innovation, capability and growth to 
Reckitt globally. This new organisation will allow us to better leverage our 
scale across the Greater China area while maintaining agility, boosting 
partnerships to support our growth ambitions and driving China-centric 
innovation through bespoke design and innovation hubs.
Current control strategy
We maintain a strong network in China to understand both international 
and domestic economic developments that may impact our footprint.  
This includes active engagement with industry associations and regulators, 
external affairs capability and collaborative partnerships with  
government agencies.  
China-based regulatory intelligence teams provide insight on any 
changes in regulation that may impact us, and we partner closely with  
local industry to ensure we are working within government-set parameters. 
Activity impact for 2021
Execution of the Greater China operating model, strategic review of the 
infant formula business, alongside continued delivery of China-centric 
innovation, consumer centricity and close monitoring of global and regional 
economic developments will help to maintain operating focus in China. 
Target rating from current Red to realistically reduce to Amber by the end 
of 2021, though further disruptions can be anticipated which could extend 
this level of higher exposure.

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S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
11.	PEOPLE
Risk movement:
Decreasing 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with the 
Chief Human Resources Officer, who drives 
activity through each of the Global Business 
Unit executive leadership teams. Board 
oversight is provided by the main Board.
The risk: Failure to achieve strategic objectives as a result of significant 
management churn and inability to attract and retain top talent.
Potential impact
Disruption to business performance attributed to churn across senior 
management positions and the risk of fatigue arising from a period of 
sustained business change. 
Mitigation progress in 2020
Following the launch of the Rejuvenating Sustainable Growth strategy, a 
new leadership team is now in place and churn across senior management 
has stabilised. An SVP HR has been appointed to each Global Business Unit 
and the corporate centre.
We launched a Leadership Development and Talent Centre of 
Excellence to deliver greater value to the business by identifying, 
developing and scaling best practice HR processes that directly contribute 
to the attraction, retention and development of our talent. 
Current control strategy
Talent identification, mapping and calibration have been undertaken for 
critical senior management positions, helping to optimise both talent 
management and succession planning processes. Succession plans for  
key management positions are in place and retention risk analysis is 
undertaken regularly, including reviews of turnover rates. The Group’s  
total compensation programmes and Employee Value Proposition (EVP)  
are also subject to annual review.
A number of initiatives are under way to promote Reckitt as an 
employer of choice. These include social impact and diversity and inclusion 
(D&I) programmes, and employee wellbeing. We offer a suite of tools to 
help Reckitt employees get the most out of their careers at Reckitt, from 
learning and development, the annual performance review process and 
Leadership Development programmes that focus on how managers can 
inspire, empower and engage their teams. 
Strategic workforce planning is in progress to understand the shape of 
the workforce and how it will change over the next three years to facilitate 
proactive intervention.
Activity impact for 2021
We will continue to focus on unleashing the potential of our people, 
performance and purpose by attracting the best talent, developing  
our people and enabling culture change, to shape and drive the future 
workplace to deliver sustainable outperformance. Target rating to remain 
Amber by the end of 2021.
12.	TAX DISPUTES
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides at corporate 
directly with the Chief Financial Officer. Board 
oversight is provided by the Audit Committee. 
The risk: Significant unprovisioned cash outflows as a result of tax 
authority challenge to filed tax positions in territories.
Potential impact
If our filing positions around transfer pricing are not considered in  
any country to be compliant or our operating model is not sufficiently 
communicated, implemented and embedded, both internally and 
externally, tax authorities may successfully challenge our tax return  
filings with a potentially significant financial impact on the Group.
Mitigation progress in 2020
Ongoing timely and robust responses to progress outstanding disputes  
and continual monitoring of progression in relation to Advanced Pricing 
Agreements (APAs) and subsequent operating model tax audits. Detailed 
and thorough advice and technical support from advisors take place. 
Provisions made at CHQ for anticipated exposures. The business  
will continue to review the provisioning strategy over the next five years  
in light of any expected changes. 
Current control strategy
Ongoing review by Reckitt Tax, country FDs and external advisors with 
central provisioning for anticipated exposures. Continuous monitoring of 
information on EC State Aid investigations and possible application to 
Reckitt. We monitor the impact of the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing 
(BEPS) initiative and other law changes to identify possible adverse  
impacts and put in place remedial strategies.
Activity impact for 2021
Timely and robust responses to progress outstanding disputes, continual 
monitoring of progression in relation to APAs and subsequent operating 
model tax audits, and increased prioritisation of projects and senior 
management overview are expected to maintain this risk as Green for 2021. 
Target rating to remain Green at the end of 2021.

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R IS K M A N AG EM ENT CO NTI N U ED
13.	PRODUCT REGULATIONS
Risk movement:
Decreasing 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides directly with the 
Chief R&D Officer, who drives activity through 
the Global Business Unit executive leadership 
teams. Board oversight is provided by the 
CRSEC Committee.
The risk: Non-compliance with product classification regulations, 
guidelines, internal standards and/or registrations across the supply 
chain and throughout the product lifecycle.
Potential impact
Non-compliance with a product related regulation may result in supply 
disruption, increased regulatory scrutiny, financial impact (including product 
recall), damage to company reputation and potential civil/criminal liability. 
Regulations impacting our products across the portfolio are continually 
evolving. If we do not anticipate these changes and are not ready to use 
them to drive innovation and competitive advantage, we may see an 
increase in costs and a loss of market share to competitors. 
This risk is enhanced by the extensive range of product regulatory 
classifications across the portfolio, emerging regulations in key markets and 
fragmented IT systems lacking end-to-end integration. 
Mitigation progress in 2020
A detailed review of the portfolio is ongoing with expected completion  
in 2021. The programme reviews critical compliance elements of the 
portfolio and covers all Global Business Units. The schedule follows a 
risk-based approach.  
Current control strategy
Multiple control programmes are in place to manage regulatory compliance 
risks, including the Product Integrity Review (reviewing product compliance 
with registration and/or regulatory requirements), REACh compliance 
programme and updates to our company Core Datasheets. 
Regulatory Intelligence processes and systems have been strengthened 
and we have evolved how our regulatory KPIs are established, monitored 
and reported. 
The Risk, Sustainability & Compliance Committee (RSCC) structure 
ensures KPIs are reported from the top to all levels in the organisation. 
There is an appropriately resourced single system for consumer complaints 
in place and specialist audit teams providing independent assurance.
Activity impact for 2021
The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) programme will systematise our 
product safety and compliance processes, aligning with the standards set 
within the Product Integrity Review (PIR) and Product Safety Evaluation 
Report (PSER) projects. PLM is due for completion in 2022. Review of the 
end-to-end artwork and label approval process is also under way and is a 
focus area for 2021. 
Our Regulatory teams partner with external regulators to credibly 
engage in regulation development and to assess the impact and 
opportunities of future regulations to drive readiness, innovation and 
competitive advantage. Target rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021. 
This is a multi-year deliverable to replace current systems.
14.	LEGAL & COMPLIANCE
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership resides with the General 
Counsel & Company Secretary together with 
the Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, with 
each Global Business Unit responsible for  
their respective deliverables. Board oversight 
is provided by a combination of the CRSEC 
and Audit Committees to ensure full  
and appropriate coverage of the  
Compliance programme. 
The risk: We are not fully compliant with relevant laws and regulations, 
including anti-corruption laws, data privacy laws and global 
competition laws.
Potential impact
Non-compliance with relevant laws and regulations may damage Reckitt’s 
reputation, lead to significant potential fines and possible criminal liability 
for Reckitt companies and/or senior management.
Stricter data privacy regulations in key markets, together with adoption 
of new technology and our growing e-commerce business, have impacted 
data handling practices across the Group. The COVID-19 pandemic has 
seen an increase in competition law and anti-trust compliance risk as  
we respond to a significant increase in demand for COVID-19 essential 
products. The Nutrition business, combined with changes in the way we 
interact with healthcare entities (HCEs) and healthcare professionals (HCPs) 
due to COVID-19, has also increased exposure to anti-corruption laws.
Mitigation progress in 2020
The global Ethics & Compliance programme has been strengthened 
through the implementation of extensive controls across key compliance 
risk areas. For data privacy, this includes the establishment of a dedicated 
e-commerce privacy function, completion of Privacy Impact Assessments 
and adoption of stringent data protection safeguards across direct-to-
consumer channels.
Competition law risk and control assessments were completed in  
key markets, with supporting mitigation plans agreed and implemented. 
Our third-party bribery, Interaction with HCEs and HCPs, and Grants, 
Donations & Charitable Contributions processes have evolved through  
the introduction of an enhanced operating model supported by more 
robust systems and procedures. 
Current control strategy
SVP Legal now appointed into each Global Business Unit, with dedicated 
Ethics & Compliance resources working alongside the Global Business  
Units to roll out the Compliance programme across all key markets. The 
programme of global compliance risk assessments will continue in 2021, 
alongside implementation of new policies and procedures, allowing us  
to effectively respond to any changes in the risk profile.   
All employees are required to complete online Global Compliance 
training modules, with refresher training deployed each year. Core modules 
include Code of Conduct, anti-bribery, antitrust, data privacy and 
separately product safety. 
The Group-wide Speak Up hotline is operational, widely communicated 
and reinforced through a robust, independent investigation process and 
follow-up. 
Activity impact for 2021
Continued advancement of the Ethics & Compliance programme through 
targeted risk assessments, enhanced analytics and expansion of the 
training programme will help to drive greater awareness of relevant laws 
and regulations. Target rating to remain Amber at the end of 2021. This is  
an ongoing and dynamic programme.

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S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
15.	SOUTH KOREA HUMIDIFIER 
SANITISER (HS)
Risk movement:
No change 
Oversight accountability
Executive ownership of the risk at a Group 
level resides directly with the General Counsel 
& Company Secretary. Board oversight is 
provided by the main Board.
The South Korea Humidifier Sanitiser (HS) issue was a tragic event. The 
Group continues to make both public and personal apologies to victims.
The risk: Financial and reputational risk as a result of the health issues 
caused by consumers inhaling a humidifier sanitiser previously sold by 
Oxy, which Reckitt acquired in 2001.
Potential impact
While a provision was made in 2016 to cover the initial government 
classification rounds and certain other costs, the risk of additional exposure 
remains. An amendment made to the HS Special Law in 2020 may lead to 
an increased volume of civil claims against Reckitt Benckiser Korea (RBK). 
The South Korean Government has now recognised asthma, toxic hepatitis 
and children’s interstitial lung disease as HS injuries and there is potential 
further expansion of liability as the new amendment to the law reduces the 
burden of proof to establish that injury or illness is caused by HS exposure. 
Further, under the law amendment, RBK may be required to make additional 
contributions to the Industry Relief Fund (IRF). 
Mitigation progress in 2020
RBK has continued to work with the government, victims and other 
businesses to progress settlement with claimants via its Compensation 
Plan, and address legal claims, as well as to restore trust among consumers 
in South Korea. RBK also made comments on the issues with the HS law 
amendment during the legislative process and has made clear to the 
Korean Government that it is dependent on the Reckitt Group as its 
shareholder for all funding.
Current control strategy
Full public apology formally and repeatedly made by RBK to affected 
parties. Regular review meetings continue with the Group, to monitor 
issues as they arise. The Group provides liquidity to RBK on a tightly 
managed basis. It has encouraged RBK to seek a broader resolution 
involving all responsible parties on a basis that provides fair compensation 
to legitimate victims, with each responsible party contributing its fair share.  
The Group is considering a number of options for the future in light of the 
amended law.
Activity impact for 2021
The Group will continue to encourage RBK to seek a broader resolution  
and will continue to evaluate options to do the right thing while limiting 
liability to fund compensation payments which are not anchored in proper 
standards of legal and scientific proof. Target rating likely to remain Amber 
until the South Korea Government closes the matter.
Emerging risks
The implementation of an effective  
risk management framework within an 
organisation remains a cornerstone of  
the corporate governance expectations 
contained within the 2018 revisions to  
the UK Corporate Governance Code.
We have defined an emerging risk as an event that has the potential to 
significantly impact Reckitt’s financial position, competitiveness and 
reputation, specifically;
•	
When the nature and value of the impact is not yet fully known or 
understood, giving the emerging nature of the risk; and/or
•	
With an increasing impact and probability over a longer time horizon 
(i.e. five+ years)
Category
ID
Risk title
Risk statement
Strategic
1
Geopolitical
Increasing geopolitical volatility 
with the potential to destabilise 
key markets and in some cases 
disrupt our operations. This 
includes domestic political 
developments, regional tensions, 
the impact of Brexit, fluctuations 
in oil prices and changes to local 
regulations impacting imports and 
exports.  
2
Sustained/
deepening  
economic 
recession
Risk of sustained/deepening 
recession or financial crisis as a 
result of the slowdown in many 
global economies caused by the 
COVID-19 pandemic. 
Operational
3
Pandemic-
related litigation 
and regulation
As a result of the COVID-19 
pandemic, applicable laws and 
regulations will be enacted, or 
existing ones changed, in a way 
that may significantly impact 
Reckitt’s business and at a speed 
that makes it difficult to comply, 
thereby potentially exposing 
Reckitt to new litigation e.g. 
related to supply and product 
liability issues.

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Reckitt Annual Report and Accounts 2020
Geopolitical
Pandemic-related 
litigation 
and regulation
Sustained/deepening 
economic recession
Speed of impact
Probability
R IS K M A N AG EM ENT CO NTI N U ED
1. Geopolitical
The risk: Increasing geopolitical volatility with the potential to 
destabilise key markets and in some cases disrupt our operations.  
This includes domestic political developments, regional tensions,  
the impact of Brexit, fluctuations in oil prices and changes to local 
regulations impacting imports and exports.
Potential impact
The potential impacts of any geopolitical volatility are wide ranging and 
include decreasing sales and revenue, fluctuations in corporate finance  
and treasury, and fewer opportunities for strategic growth. As we operate 
across a large global network, geopolitical instability can also impact our 
supply chain operations, workforce management practices and the 
safeguarding of our data and intellectual property. 
Mitigation
We continue to closely monitor the global geopolitical climate to ensure we 
understand any developments and how they have the potential to impact 
our business. Key measures include monitoring and analysis of any political 
or regulatory uncertainty through our External Affairs network, engagement 
of advisors in critical markets and identification of security threats facing 
the business through the Corporate Security programme.
2. Sustained/deepening economic recession
The risk: Risk of sustained/deepening recession or financial crisis  
as a result of the slowdown in many global economies caused by  
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Potential impact
The commercial teams closely monitor the economic trends and plan 
commercial strategies to optimise our business appropriately. Whilst we 
cannot fully protect our business from recessionary pressures, we take 
appropriate measures to maximise and protect our business during 
economic downturns.
Mitigation
Key mitigations include portfolio rightsizing and review of pricing guidelines, 
adapting our channel strategy with disruptive value offerings and the 
acceleration of the e-commerce portfolio, ensuring we carefully balance 
price and volume-led growth through targeted costing programmes, 
maintaining prudent financial risk management through clear ROI metrics  
for large investments and accurate forecasting and cash flow management. 
3. Pandemic-related litigation and regulation
The risk: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, applicable laws and 
regulations will be enacted, or existing ones changed, in a way that may 
significantly impact Reckitt’s business and at a speed that makes it 
difficult to comply, thereby potentially exposing Reckitt to new 
litigation e.g. related to supply and product liability issues.
Potential impact
The materialisation of the risk could result in damage to Reckitt’s 
reputation, interference in Reckitt’s operations, fines and financial liability  
to third parties.
Mitigation
Our Legal function participates in GBU, regional and market level COVID-19 
related meetings. Processes have been implemented to review and manage 
ongoing major litigation, including input from regional legal teams into the 
Group litigation report. The implementation of our compliance programme  
is ongoing, and the Group’s COVID-19 risk assessment process provides 
visibility and reporting of COVID-19 related risks across the business.
Low financial  
impact
Moderate  
financial impact
Significant  
financial impact

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S T R AT E G I C  R E P O R T
G OV E R N A N C E
F I N A N C I A L  S TAT E M E N T S
V I A B I LIT Y STATEM ENT
The assessment process and key assumptions
The Board’s Viability Review is based on the Group’s strategy, its long  
term financial plan and its principal risks. A financial forecast covering a 
five-year period was prepared (the “base case”). This period was selected 
as it is the period covered in the Group’s long-term forecasting process, 
based on the 2021 budget and projections for the following years, and 
covers the introduction to market of the current new product pipeline.
The financial forecast is based on a number of key assumptions 
aligned to the Group’s growth strategy, planned capital spending and 
capital allocation policy. The assessment of viability takes into account 
the Group’s cash flow, its currently available banking facilities and 
interest cover ratios in relevant financial covenants, and does not assume 
the raising of additional new debt or equity finance. If Reckitt performs 
in line with the base case forecasts, it would have sufficient funds to 
trade, settle its liabilities as they fall due, and remain compliant with 
financial covenants.
Assessment of principal risks and viability
To further test the robustness of the base case forecast, further analyses 
were prepared to consider the viability of the business in the event of 
adverse unexpected circumstances. Such adverse circumstances were 
modelled primarily upon the crystallisation of the Group’s principal risks 
(see pages 84 to 91, including mitigation and control strategies). 
Principal risks have the potential to create adverse circumstances for 
the Group and can occur individually or in combination with each other. 
The assessment of viability considered the implications of crystallisation 
of each principal risk, assigning each an estimated annual monetary value 
and estimating the impact on interest cover ratios and headroom over 
available borrowing facilities. 
These principal risks were aggregated to create two scenarios which 
model plausible downside scenarios of increasing severity based on: (i) 
crystallisation of principal risks deemed to have the most relevant 
potential impact on viability (see risks marked ‘1’ on page 82); and (ii) 
crystallisation of all principal risks and the impact of adverse movements 
in foreign exchange and interest rates. The analysis indicated that even 
with unexpected events occurring immediately and in combination, 
Reckitt would still have sufficient funds to trade, settle its liabilities as 
they fall due, and remain compliant with financial covenants. 
The Board has further considered the occurrence of a Black Swan 
event: an event of greater adversity than those modelled above, with 
sufficient potential impact to risk the future of Reckitt as a strong and 
independent business operating in its chosen markets. The occurrence 
of a major issue could result in significant reputational impact, a 
substantial share price fall, significant loss of consumer confidence, and 
the inability to retain and recruit quality people. Such an event could 
have an impact on the viability of the business. On the basis of a 
comprehensive set of mitigating controls in place across the business, 
considering the unknown nature of a Black Swan event and that its 
occurrence is considered highly unlikely, it has not been included in the 
Viability Review.
Viability Statement
The Board believes that the Group is well-positioned to manage its 
principal risks successfully. The Board’s belief is based on consideration 
of the historic resilience of Reckitt and has taken account of its current 
position and prospects, the actions taken to manage the Group’s debt 
profile, risk appetite and the principal risks facing the business in 
unexpected and adverse circumstances.
As a result of the Viability Review, the Board has a reasonable 
expectation that the Group will be able to continue in operation and 
meet its liabilities as they fall due over the five-year period covered in 
the Viability Review.
The Strategic Report, as set out on pages 1 to 93, has been approved by 
the Board.
On behalf of the Board
Rupert Bondy
Company Secretary
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc
15 March 2021

Reckitt Benckiser Group plc
Registered office
103-105 Bath Road,
Slough, Berkshire, SL1 3UH
Registered in England and Wales
No 6270876
reckitt.com