Operating profit (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2025


	2025		2024		2023
	$ million		$ million		$ million
Revenue	6,164		5,810		5,549
Cost of goods sold¹	(1,972)		(1,764)		(1,730)
Gross profit	4,192		4,046		3,819
Research and development expenses²	(296)		(289)		(339)
Selling, general and administrative expenses:^3,4,5,6
Marketing, selling and distribution expenses	(2,362)		(2,276)		(2,218)
Administrative expenses	(740)		(824)		(837)
	(3,102)		(3,100)		(3,055)
Operating profit	794		657		425

2025 includes $161m charge relating to legal and other items, $13m charge relating to restructuring and rationalisation expenses and $2m charge relating to acquisition and disposal-related items (2024 includes $6m charge relating to legal and other items, $20m charge relating to restructuring and rationalisation expenses and $13m charge relating to acquisition and disposal-related items, 2023 includes $27m charge relating to legal and other items, $73m charge relating to restructuring and rationalisation expenses and $3m charge relating to acquisition and disposal-related items).

2	2025 includes $2m charge relating to restructuring and rationalisation expenses (2024: nil, 2023: $18m), $nil relating to legal and other items (2024: $1m, 2023: $21m) and $nil charge relating to acquisition and disposal-related items (2024: $nil, 2023: $1m).

3	2025 includes $73m of amortisation and impairment of software and other intangible assets (2024: $58m, 2023: $51m).

2025 includes $176m of amortisation and impairment of acquisition intangibles and $32m of restructuring and rationalisation expenses (2024: $187m of amortisation and impairment of acquisition intangibles and $103m of restructuring and rationalisation expenses, 2023: $207m of amortisation and impairment of acquisition intangibles and $129m of restructuring and rationalisation expenses).

5	2025 includes $1m charge relating to legal and other items (2024: $19m credit, 2023: $10m charge).

6	2025 includes $30m charge relating to acquisition and disposal-related items (2024: $81m charge, 2023: $56m charge).

Note that items detailed in 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are excluded from the calculation of trading profit, the segments’ profit measure.

Operating profit is stated after charging the following items:


	2025		2024		2023
	$ million		$ million		$ million
Amortisation of intangible assets	239		230		221
Impairment of intangible assets	10		16		37
Impairment of goodwill¹	–		65		84
Impairment of property, plant and equipment (reversal)/ charge	(11)		9		31
Fair value remeasurement of trade investments	1		–		4
Restructuring and rationalisation costs	47		123		220
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment²	335		325		306
Loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets	23		22		18
Advertising costs	91		84		88

1	The 2024 impairment of goodwill includes BHR’s goodwill of $63m and 2023 includes impairment of Engage’s goodwill of $84m.

2	The 2025 depreciation charge includes $49m (2024: $54m, 2023: $54m) related to right-of-use assets.

3.1 Staff costs and employee numbers

Staff costs during the year amounted to:


			2025	2024	2023
	Notes		$ million	$ million	$ million
Wages and salaries			1,671	1,663	1,683
Social security costs			255	244	242
Pension costs (including retirement healthcare)	18		94	95	95
Share-based payments	22		43	40	39
			2,063	2,042	2,059

During the year ended 31 December 2025, the average number of employees was 17,530 (2024: 18,060, 2023: 19,081).

3.2 Audit Fees – information about the nature and cost of services provided by the auditors


	2025		2024		2023
	$ million		$ million		$ million
Audit services:
Group accounts	7.3		7.1		7.9
Local statutory audit pursuant to legislation	2.1		2.0		2.1
Other services:
Audit-related services	0.6		0.4		0.3
Total auditor’s remuneration	10.0		9.5		10.3
Arising:
In the UK	7.4		7.0		6.0
Outside the UK	2.6		2.5		4.3
	10.0		9.5		10.3