Doug Flynn, the chief executive of Rentokil Initial, must have thought he had at last turned the corner with the embattled services company this year as he was finally able to demonstrate signs of a return to profit growth.

Even better in November, there was a 140 per cent improvement in revenue to report at City Link, the parcels business. Things seemed finally to be looking up.

However, Mr Flynn, a one-time managing director of News International, owner of The Times, appears to have been bowled a googly by the economy and has been quick to blame the economic climate. That Rentokil’s shares should drop 22 per cent when it has indicated only a 4 per cent deterioration in profits underlines how sceptical the City is of this company.

That scepticism has at times also been extended to the man running Rentokil for the past two years.

The 58-year-old Australian arrived at Rentokil, with a £2.4 million golden handshake, from Aegis, the global marketing services company, after turning a job down with John Fairfax Holdings, publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Flynn took the job instead of returning to his homeland, but the sense that he was only in the UK for a few years more has lingered, especially since he described Rentokil as his “last big challenge”.

He wasted no time shaking things up at Rentokil, kicking off a far-reaching restructuring within weeks of starting by moving the company’s headquarters from its country mansion in Sussex to London.

Having graduated from Australia’s Newcastle University with a degree in chemical engineering in 1972, Mr Flynn joined ICI as an engineer in the firm’s Australian explosives division, moving up through the company to a managerial post in strategy planning.

He was in charge of corporate planning at ICI’s Australian division for a decade before joining News International, via a switch into consultancy. From News International he moved to Aegis in 1999, having held a nonexecutive directorship there.

Under his guidance the marketing firm doubled in size, transforming itself from a European media buying agency into a marketing services group with staff in more than 60 countries.

A father of two, Mr Flynn, is a keen sailor and a member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Mr Flynn will be confident that he can weather this particular squall.

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