For a company that tends to err on the side of caution at the start of the year, Reckitt Benckiser sounded unusually bullish at yesterday's annual results.

Bart Becht, chief executive, believes the Airwick to Vanish consumer goods group can grow sales at between 6 per cent and 7 per cent in 2008 after a year in which they broke through the £5 billion barrier for the first time, a percentage point higher than consensus forecasts.

Mr Becht's view is that, after exceptionally strong growth in 2007, the household cleaning and personal care market - a category that usefully captures the contents of bathroom cabinets and cupboards under kitchen sinks - will improve by between 3 per cent and 4 per cent this year. That outlook defies predictions elsewhere of a pronounced slowdown, and implies that sales merely revert to the long-term average of the past seven years. Reckitt's strong track record in innovation has enabled it to grow consistently at twice the rate of its sector - 40 per cent of sales come from products launched in the previous three years - so a minimum 6 per cent rise seems readily achievable. That confidence was on display elsewhere: notably in an above-forecast 20 per cent rise in the final dividend.

If Reckitt's knack of beating forecasts is not enough, Mr Becht has a couple of additional levers to pull this year. These include the newly completed £1.1 billion purchase of Adams, which takes the company into the US over-the-counter (OTC) medicines market. Here, Reckitt is confident that its new charge can be swiftly integrated and produce operating margins of at least 20 per cent. Mr Becht is also accelerating the push of the OTC medicines acquired from Boots Healthcare International into new markets. With its efforts focused on Gaviscon so far, Reckitt should now be able to repeat the trick with three big BHI brands: Nurofen, Strepsils and Clearasil.

However, competition from Procter & Gamble remains strong, as does pressure on commodity prices, while growth in Europe, which still accounts for half of sales, is pedestrian. Reckitt has always traded at a high multiple, and at £27.23, or 19 times current-year earnings, continues to do so. But given the danger that its rating follows the wider market lower, yesterday's near-3 per cent rise marks a good point to book profits.

Holiday break

The timing of Holidaybreak's trading update could not have been better, given the announcement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is easy to be sceptical about the funding practicalities of giving school children access to “at least five hours of high-quality culture per week”, but whatever its effectiveness it is a policy that plays straight into Holidaybreak's hands.

Last year the company bought two school travel businesses, so education now accounts for almost a quarter of revenues. The division is 78 per cent booked for this year and 19 per cent for next, with like-for-like sales up 10per cent on 2007. Those are strong numbers and indicate that education should prove resilient in a consumer slowdown.

Less immune are short breaks, although the hotel division has yet to suffer any material impact, with London exhibitions such as Tutankhamun and the China Warriors and a strong roster of West End shows helping sales up 8 per cent.

However, adventure travel rose a below-forecast 3 per cent, while the company expects a £2 million revenue shortfall from turmoil in Kenya and the sinking in November of the cruise ship Explorer, which has wiped out the entire season's programme to the Antarctic.

In camping, the weak point of recent years, a 1 per cent sales uptick on a 5 per cent capacity cut suggests trading has bottomed out. Although a sale remains a possibility, it continues to provide cash to redeploy in acquisitions.

Including the impact of changes to bonding requirements, the group has headroom of about £50 million, providing scope for more bolt-ons in education. On the view that growth in the latter should offset any weakness in hotels, the shares, at 570p, or less than ten times 2008 earnings, and yielding a secure 6.3 per cent, are worth holding.

Liberty international

The owner of the Lakeside and MetroCentre shopping malls has demonstrated why investors looking to shelter from last year's sell-off in retail property stocks were right to quit the high street and retail parks for big out-of-town shopping centre developers.

Liberty took a 4.4 per cent annual writedown on the valuation of its prime properties in Thurrock and Gateshead. That, however, meant they outperformed a 5 per cent annual drop in the wider prime shopping centre market, according to CB Richard Ellis. Prime shops suffered a 19 per cent fall last year while retail parks plunged 23 per cent in the UK, CBRE calculates.

Lakeside and the MetroCentre, together worth £2.25 billion, were among the worst performers in Liberty's £8.6 billion portfolio, which includes a large tract of Covent Garden and a shopping centre in San Francisco. Demand for space in Liberty's retail schemes remains high, with occupancy running at 98.7 per cent and like-for-like net rental income up 3.5 per cent last year.

With gearing of 40 per cent, Liberty can afford to use its £725million of cash and untapped borrowings for extensions on its malls in Cardiff and Newcastle. The company enjoys strong cashflows and its tenants are bound in by longer leases than its peers. But growth in rental income may slow, while occupancy rates have scope to fall.

Although at 983p, the shares, down 2 per cent , have fallen by a quarter over the past 12 months and trade at a 23 per cent discount to Liberty's most recent net asset value, it is not too late to sell.

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