Rentokil shares slump 18% on slower North America growth

July 30 (Reuters) - British pest control firm Rentokil on Thursday said second-quarter sales growth in North America slowed sequentially and it had more to do to address its underperformance, sending its shares tumbling almost 18% in early trading.

Here are some more details:

• "We are not delivering on our growth potential in many of the markets we operate in, nor adequately benefiting from our scale," Chief Executive Mike Duffy said.

• Inflationary pressures, high interest rates and weak consumer sentiment linked to the Iran war have led Rentokil's customers to scale back spending on routine services.

• Last year, Rentokil introduced smaller, strategically-placed service hubs, higher digital marketing and door-to-door services as part of its strategy to tackle weakness in North America.

• The company reported organic revenue growth of 3.6% in its largest market in the three months to June 30, down from 3.9% in the first quarter.

• "Looking forward, we have seen some weakness in North America Residential lead flow towards the end of the second quarter and into July," Duffy said.

• Still, Rentokil said full-year profit would meet market expectations.

• "Given the comments on lead flow exiting the quarter, we expect confidence in (full year) outlook to reduce," J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note.

• Rentokil's results echoed troubles at U.S. rival Rollins, which last week fell short of Wall Street estimates for its second quarter.

• Shares of the London-listed company were down 17.7% at £3.65 as of 0810 GMT, on track for their worst day since September 2024 if losses hold.

(Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)