Dettol, Gaviscon and Harpic to go up in price as household goods giant hit by Iran war

A MAJOR household goods maker has announced it’s pushing up its price in response to the Iran war. Reckitt Benckiser, which owns huge brands like Dettol, Gaviscon and Durex, said shoppers in the UK and other countries will see “moderate” price increases. It’s not clear which brands exactly are being impacted and how much prices will rise by. However Reckitt owns a huge range of brands, which also include Finish, Nurofen, Vanish, Veet and Strepsils. Sign up for the Money newsletter Thank you! Chief executive Kris Licht said the increases were being done on a “brand by brand and product by product basis”. He said the price hikes are due to increasing costs caused by the conflict in the Middle East. The war has sent oil prices flying and as a result increased the costs of fuel and electricity – both of which hit manufacturers hard. Reckitt Benckiser warned in April that it could be hit with up to £150million in extra costs if oil prices stayed elevated for the rest of the year. Prices have eased in recent months and the manufacturer has now said it expects its costs to be slightly lower than it estimated before. However, Mr Licht said the price rises were still needed to “mitigate the impact”. Most read in Money The company reported a 4.2% rise in sales of its core brands in the second quarter of this year, which is better than forecast. But its total group underlying profits were down 14.3% in the six months to the end of June. Mr Licht said this was due to Reckitt selling off a 70% stake in its Cillit Bang and Calgon home cleaning products business. He said with this impact stripped out, first half earnings were broadly flat and better than expected. Comment now