Searing heat in the UK and across Europe last summer led to an increase in infestations of rats, wasps and flies, leading to a marked increased in call-outs for pest control business Rentokil Initial.

The company, which has been catching rats since 1924, said the number of call-outs to deal with wasps doubled in the UK and Europe as temperatures soared in the summer of 2018. It also said fly control was up by a third in the UK and it dealt with 14% more rat problems.

Andy Ransom, the chief executive, said the international surge in call-outs to deal with rodents and insects, particularly in the second half of the year as the heat reached its peak, had made for a very good year for Rentokil.

As temperatures reached record levels, experts warned that rats were enjoying perfect conditions, with rubbish left out in the street rotting faster and fruit ripening earlier.

According to the British Pest Control Association, the prolonged heatwave resulted in a plague of wasps, “the worst in recent years”. The BPCA’s technical officer, Natalie Bungay, said the organisation’s members had been destroying up to 12 wasp nests a day.

Flying ants wrought havoc at Wimbledon, prompting complaints from Caroline Wozniacki, then Australian open champion, who urged the umpire to take action against the swarm.

As pest plagues spread through Europe and beyond, the Russian city of Volgograd deployed helicopters to spray marshland with pesticides, after players were assaulted by mosquitoes and midges at the football World Cup.

The continent-wide increase in call-outs to battle wasps, flies and rats helped Rentokil’s pest control division to report an annual income of nearly £1.6bn, with underlying sales up 10% in Europe and 4% in the UK.

The southern hemisphere also experienced a sweltering summer, with New Zealand suffering a tenfold increase in rodent numbers, dealing a blow to its efforts to eradicate alien species of rat, mouse, stoat and possum by 2050.

Rentokil, founded in 1924 by Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, professor of entomology at Imperial College London, said its annual meeting would be held this year at Gatwick airport; which is close to Crawley.