16th Nov 2021 09:01
(Alliance News) - Imperial Brands PLC on Tuesday lifted its dividend as the Bristol, England-based cigarette maker saw benefits from a new strategy during its recently ended financial year.
Revenue rose 0.7% to GBP32.79 billion in the financial year to September 30, lifted by increases in excise duty, and pretax profit improved by 49% to GBP3.24 billion from GBP2.17 billion.
Organic net revenue - which excludes the divestment of Premium Cigar division - grew 1.4%, driven by tobacco growth of 1.5% while next generation product sales fell 3.9%, reflecting market exits.
Imperial Brands raised its dividend by 1.0% to 139.08 pence from 137.7p paid a year prior.
"This has been a year of important progress and significant change, as we begin to deliver on the new, focused strategy we announced in January 2021," said Chief Executive Stefan Bomhard.
"This approach is already delivering improved operational and financial outcomes. In tobacco, our sharper focus and increased investment in the top-five priority markets have begun to stabilise the aggregate market share performance. This is encouraging early progress in addressing the long-term historical declines. We will build on this foundation in the coming year, with further investment in brand building and sales execution."
Imperial said 2022 is the second year of its two-year strengthening phase, and it will step up investment and carry out further reorganisation. It expects to deliver net revenue growth in financial 2022 at a similar level to the recent financial year, at constant exchange rates, while adjusted operating profit is expected to grow slightly slower than net revenue, reflecting the step up in investment.
FTSE 100-listed Imperial Brands shares were trading 2.1% lower in London on Tuesday morning at 1,566.55 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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