A surge in winter cold and flu bugs helped Nurofen and Strepsils maker Reckitt Benckiser report better-than-expected profits today.
The company, whose brands also include Durex and Dettol, finished last year with quarterly like-for-like sales growth of 6%, with its Europe and North America region up 3% due to strong demand for seasonal brands.
Overall, net income for 2012 was up 5% at £1.83bn and Reckitt said it was confident of growing revenues by at least 5% in 2013.
A newer version of its Nurofen heat patch and Strepsils lozenges for children aged over six will be launched during the first half of the year.
Revenues in the health category jumped 11% to £606m in the final quarter of the year, helped by the higher incidences of cold and flu and strong growth of brands including Durex and Gaviscon.
Its biggest division of hygiene, which includes Dettol, Finish and Veet, saw a slight drop in quarterly sales to £897 million, although excluding currency fluctuations the figure was 4% higher than a year ago.
Its fast growing emerging markets division continued to be the star performer overall, with an 11% hike in like-for-like sales across Latin America and Asia during 2012.
The group recently restructured its business by merging the European and North American divisions due to slower consumer spending.