Has the prospect of a swift vaccine for Covid-19 and a return to something like normal life wiped the sheen off Reckitt Benckiser (Miles Costello asks)?
While much of the London market was rallying on Monday after breakthrough trials by Pfizer, the American drugs developer, and Biontech, its German partner, shares in the FTSE 100 consumer goods group were heading the other way. They had been at near-record highs, but at one point were down by nearly 9 per cent (though they recovered some of their poise later). It seemed that the investment case, so clear when the pandemic was unchecked and the rush to buy disinfectant and hand sanitiser was more like a stampede, was suddenly up for debate.
Reckitt Benckiser was established in
