Imperial owns cigarette brand Davidoff as well as Lambert & Butler
(Picture: Getty Images)Imperial Brands, the maker of Lambert & Butler and Gauloise cigarettes, will return £1 billion to investors by buying back shares after confirming it is on track to meet annual profit forecasts.
City analysts expect the FTSE 100 tobacco giant to report profit of around £3.7 billion when it reports its next set of full-year results in mid-November.
Imperial said trading met its own forecasts and its overall market share had improved, with declines in sales volumes in northern Europe partly offset by rising sales in the south. The return of international travel after the end of Covid restrictions boosted duty free sales.
The Bristol-based multinational, which also owns the ‘blu’ vaping brand, benefits from a weaker pound. It said that currency “tailwinds” would lift net revenue by around 1% of net revenue. It reported £33 billion in sales for its financial year ending in September 2021.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “Ethical considerations aside – which prevent some institutions from being willing or able to invest in the sector – its cash generation remains huge.”
Its shares rose 85p to 1979p, a rise of over 4%. The buyback, which will run from October 7 until the end of September 2023 will take Imperial’s total capital for next year to £2.3 billion, including ordinary dividends.
