Announcements

RB Press release - 15/06/2000
Reckitt Benckiser acquires founder member stake in Consumer Goods Industry's first business-to-business marketplace

Reckitt Benckiser plc, the world's leading household cleaning company, today confirmed its position as a founder member and equity shareholder in Transora.com, the world's first business-to-business marketplace for the Consumer Goods Industry.

49 of the world's largest food, beverage and consumer product manufacturers have joined together to create an open, standards-based industry-led marketplace that will deliver breakthrough value to all participants in the consumer value chain. This marketplace will be managed by a newly established company, Transora.com, that will be collectively owned by the participating companies. Participants include the largest global consumer goods companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Gillette, H.J. Heinz, Nestle, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Unilever.

The number of companies involved, and the scale of them, is unrivalled in the B2B business arena. This will allow the members to shape their own destiny in a way that other B2B exchanges cannot. With this venture, old economy companies are becoming leaders in the new economy.

The marketplace will be the largest effort amongst consumer goods companies to create efficiencies on a global level through the Internet. The marketplace will initially focus on procurement but quickly provide additional services, covering three other key areas: customer and consumer marketing; collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR); and other value-added services.

In the area of procurement, the consumer goods marketplace will provide services such as: auction/reverse auction capabilities, vendor catalogs, strategic sourcing and of course e-procurement for both direct and indirect materials.

Reckitt Benckiser has been involved with this initiative from the start, playing a key role in the development of the exchange. The Company has provided a member of the strategy team through the development process.

With the formal launch of Transora.com, Reckitt Benckiser is now confirming its commitment to the exchange by acquiring an equity stake in the company equivalent to 2% of the issued share capital at a cost of less than $5m. In total 49 companies have subscribed nearly $250m in equity for Transora.com. Reckitt Benckiser is now focusing its energy in getting ready to use the tools and functionality that will be offered by Transora.com by the year end.

Commenting today, Bart Becht, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, said:

"Transora.com is clearly going to change the way in which the consumer goods industry manages its procurement and supply chain. It will result in greater efficiencies, which ultimately will benefit both the industry and the consumer. It will also speed up the whole supply chain. From the start, we wanted Reckitt Benckiser to play an active part in establishing the exchange, defining its mission and scope, and ensuring that it delivers benefits to all participants. We are pleased to be one of the few European companies amongst the founding participants. We are today investing a modest amount of shareholder capital to confirm our participation in this exchange, and to ensure that our shareholders participate in the value creation that will undoubtedly flow into Transora.com in the next few years."

"On-line exchanges have enormous potential to take cost out of the supply chain for the whole consumer goods industry. With an annual procurement budget of over $1.5bn, the potential for this process to add significant value to Reckitt Benckiser will be obvious. Over the next year, we will start to discover exactly how much of that potential will be realised, but we are optimistic that it will make a significant impact on our business."

The full Transora.com release is available www.transora.com.

For further information:

Tom Corran
SVP, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Reckitt Benckiser plc

Tel: +44 (0) 1753 746548
Fax: +44 (0) 1753 746415