Imperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products. It offers a range of cigarettes, fine cut and smokeless tobacco, papers, and cigars; and e-vapour products. The company sells its products under the growth brands, such as Davidoff, Gauloises Blondes, JPS, West, Lambert & Butler, Bastos, Fine, Winston, News, and Parker & Simpson; and specialist brands consisting of blu, Kool, Gitanes, Jade, Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo Y Julieta, Backwoods, Skruf, Golden Virginia, and Drum in approximately 160 countries worldwide. It also provides logistics services that include the distribution of tobacco products for tobacco product manufacturers; and various non-tobacco products and services. In addition, the company is involved in the management of a golf course; market of papers; restaurant business; distribution of pharmaceuticals, POS software, and published materials and other products; and printing and publishing activities, as well as offers long haul transportation, industrial parcel and express delivery, advertising, and support management services. Further, it owns the trademarks; and retails its products. The company was formerly known as Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and changed its name to Imperial Brands PLC in February 2016. Imperial Brands PLC was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Bristol, the United Kingdom.
LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - British tobacco company Imperial Brands posted slightly higher-than-expected full-year sales on Tuesday and appointed Thérèse Esperdy to succeed Mark Williamson as chairman. The maker of Winston and Gauloises cigarettes said revenue from tobacco and next-generation products rose 3.9% to 7.99 billion pounds ($10.29 billion) on a constant-currency basis. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of 7.93 billion pounds, a company-supplied consensus showed. The fourth-largest tobacco company, which announced last month that its long-time CEO Alison Cooper was stepping down, reported adjusted earnings per share of 273.3 pence. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imperial-brands-reports-3-9-071637584.html
Looks Like the Wrong Time to Quit Smoking In an environment where companies are ditching their profit guidance left, right and center, Imperial Brands Plc, which makes Kool and Gauloises cigarettes, said on Tuesday that so far the virus had had no material impact on performance and trading remained in line with expectations. That echoes comments two weeks ago from British American Tobacco Plc. Shares in Imperial rose as much as 15% In the coronavirus-induced consumer crisis, big tobacco is certainly living up to its defensive reputation. After all, if people are addicted to nicotine, they still need their fix. And the pandemic-stricken world we live in provides incentives to light up more often: Anxiety induced by ever-grimmer headlines; the fact that local stores selling cigarettes are still open; and the ease with which you can take a fag break when working from home as opposed to having to step outside the office. But it’s not unqualified good news for the industry. Imperial, which also makes Golden Virginia tobacco, said that its factories were building contingency stocks, and its Logista distribution business serving Italy, France and Spain was doing the same to ensure supplies could get through to retailers. It’s also possible that as with rice and pasta, consumers are stockpiling cigarettes in case of even more stringent isolation measures down the road. So some demand may have been pulled forward, meaning this uptick might not be sustained in the long term. What’s more concerning is a recent focus on the increased risk of Covid-19 to smokers, and whether that may encourage more people to quit once the crisis has passed. Reports that the state of New York was in discussions about potentially banning cigarettes made headlines, but Bloomberg News reported on Monday that consideration of a ban was “100% not true.” Still, a renewed focus on personal health, especially where everyone’s lungs are concerned, would likely hurt cigarette sales in the future. These are all challenges tobacco companies will have to grapple with as they race to find what alternative product will drive growth if or when the world does kick its cigarette habit. The industry was already working to get past questions about health risks around vaping, which was last year linked with a spate of cases of respiratory illness. Groups including BAT, Altria Group Inc. and Philip Morris International Inc. have invested billions of dollars in electronic cigarettes and devices that heat rather than burn tobacco. Altria took a 35% stake in vaping leader Juul Labs Inc., which it has now written down. Right now, though, with the prospect of economic conditions deteriorating, tobacco’s resilience in the face of recession should come to the fore, especially given that traditional cigarettes remain the industry’s most profitable product. Smokers may trade down if money becomes tight, or switch to rolling their own cigarettes. But Duncan Fox, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, says that even then pure tobacco has higher margins. So from a position a few months ago, where vaping sales were under pressure, but there were worries about an accelerated decline in smoking traditional cigarettes too, Big Tobacco’s core business now looks to be on a surer footing. That’s bad for public health, and for those funds that choose not to invest in cigarettes. But at least it can help preserve the industry’s profits and chunky dividend payouts for investors, when those at many other companies are suffering. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/looks-wrong-time-quit-smoking-120932264.html
Imperial's premium cigar era draws to $1.33 billion end after slow burn sale By Siddharth Cavale and Samantha Machado , Reuters•April 27, 2020 1 / 2 Imperial's premium cigar era draws to $1.33 billion end after slow burn sale Cohiba cigars are seen in this picture illustration By Siddharth Cavale and Samantha Machado (Reuters) - Imperial Brands is withdrawing from the premium cigar business to focus on vaping, with a 1.23 billion euro ($1.33 billion) sale of hand-rolled makes including Cohiba and Montecristo which will help it pay down debt. The sale to private buyers includes Imperial's 50% stake in Cuba's official exporter Habanos, a unit of state-owned tobacco company Cubatabaco, which gives it rights to sell prestige brands Cohiba, Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta in 150 countries. Imperial will retain its machine-made cigar business, whose most popular brand is Backwoods, which only constitutes a small proportion of its overall revenues. The firm entered the premium cigar business in 2008 with the acquisition of Spain's Altadis. The market for premium cigars has been driven by well-off Chinese consumers, who often splashed out during trips abroad, but a weaker yuan saw slower purchases in the second half of 2019 before any impact from the coronavirus crisis. Nielsen data shows total cigar sales in the United States fell 1.2% to $3.2 billion in the year to October 26, 2019. But 360 Research Reports said in February, before the coronavirus crisis fully hit, that it expected the worldwide market to grow at about 2.5% a year over the next five years, reaching $18.5 billion in 2024. Its study cited the increasing purchasing power of middle class consumers in emerging markets, especially in Asia. For Imperial, the sale is part of its plan to divest assets worth 2 billion pounds by May 2020 to pay back about 12 billion pounds in debt and invest in new vaping products, seen as the new growth frontier as rates of traditional smoking fall away. Even though the company has not witnessed any changes in consumption of tobacco during the coronavirus crisis, it forecast that its earnings per share would be lower than last year mainly due to a U.S. ban on the sale of certain flavoured e-cigarettes. SLOW-BURNER The maker of Winston and Gauloises Blondes cigarettes said the sale will be in two parts, with Gemstone Investment Holding buying its U.S. unit for 185 million euros and Allied Cigar Corp buying the rest for 1.04 billion euros. Imperial did not disclose further details about the buyers of the premium cigars business, which it has been trying to sell since late 2018. "There had been some scepticism that the deal would get done, given how long it has taken to complete," Alicia Forry, analyst with Investec said. "However, the fact that it was 2 buyer groups plus dealing with the Cuban government during the sale explains the delay," she said. The sale, expected to be completed in the third quarter, also removes a potentially major headache for new chief executive Stefan Bomhard, who will join Imperial in July. The business, which makes 340 million cigars a year, generated sales of over 300 million pounds and 80 million pounds in profit before tax in the year to September 2019. After accounting for tax and other costs, net cash proceeds from the sale will amount to about 1.09 billion euros, which will be used to reduce pro-forma net debt to EBITDA leverage by about 0.2 times, Imperial said. AZ Capital is advising Imperial Brands, whose stock was up 3.3% to 1,597.6 pence at 1115 GMT. The shares rose as much as 4.8% earlier in the session, its best day in nearly three weeks. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imperial-brands-sell-premium-cigar-093051051.html
A FTSE 100 stalwart Imperial Brands (LSE: IMP) has also kept its dividend. However, Imperial has rebased its policy, so payouts may vary depending on profitability. Usually, this means a dividend cut but in Imperial’s case, its earnings are reliable meaning its profits should be too." In any case, boasting a dividend yield of 13%, even after a hypothetical 50% cut, Imperial remains a top FTSE 100 dividend payer. And if that’s not enough, the tobacco firm maintains plans to return excess cash to shareholders via share buybacks. Moreover, Imperial is a cash-conversion machine. In 2019, it converted 95% of its operating profits into cash. Its business has stayed strong throughout the coronavirus pandemic which encourages high-profit expectations for the rest of the year. Both these FTSE 100 firms boast strong fundamentals and good dividend growth history, Imperial in particular. Financial markets appear bullish about the prospects of both. Indeed, Imperial currently trades on a P/E of 16.5, about average for the industry. Despite this, both companies offer good rates of return, especially when compared with the rest of the index. Reinvesting these dividends and compounding the return is definitely the best way to build a second income. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/building-second-income-2-ftse-142810026.html
Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) will increase its dividend on the 30th of September to UK£0.21, which is 1.0% higher than last year. This will take the annual payment from 9.0% to 9.0% of the stock price, which is above what most companies in the industry pay. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imperial-brands-lon-imb-pay-000714008.html
Investors who take an interest in Imperial Brands PLC should definitely note that the Non-Executive Director, Robert Kunze-Concewitz, recently paid UK£15.58 per share to buy UK£156k worth of the stock. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 25%. Imperial Brands Insider Transactions Over The Last Year Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by insider Oliver Tant for UK£159k worth of shares, at about UK£15.77 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of UK£15.69. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. ttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/non-executive-director-robert-kunze-023704113.html
Aug 27 (Reuters) Imperial Brands on Friday named its U.S. business head and a senior manager from Procter & Gamble to its executive leadership team as part of the tobacco company's efforts to boost sales in its top five cigarette markets. The company said Kim Reed, the head of its U.S. business ITG Brands, will join as president and chief executive for the United States. Paola Pocci, who was most recently senior vice president of Procter & Gamble's personal care beauty portfolio in China, will take over as president in Africa, Asia and Australasia markets, effective Sept. 1. The additions expand Imperial's executive leadership team to nine members, with a third of the committee now represented by women. Dominic Brisby, who served as a division director and interim joint chief executive officer for five months in 2020 before current CEO Stefan Bomhard was appointed, will be leaving the company. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imperial-brands-names-u-head-102313942.html
Oct 6 (Reuters) - Tobacco group Imperial Brands Plc said on Wednesday it was on track to meet its full-year organic profit growth forecast, encouraged by higher cigarette prices and lower losses in its next-generation products business. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-imperial-brands-says-track-062650420.html
Imperial Brands (IMB.L) hailed a strong full-year performance on Tuesday, posting better-than expected profits thanks to increased cigarette prices. The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) tobacco group, which makes Gauloises and West cigarettes, also saw losses narrow in its e-cigarettes business. It reported a turnover of £32.8bn ($44.2bn) for the 12 months to the end of September, compared to £32.6bn the year before, while pre-tax profit came in at £3.24bn. Profits rose from £2.17bn the year before mainly due to gains on the disposal of its Premium Cigar division. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 247.1p, above the 244.5p analysts had forecast. Imperial added that next year it would further reorganise the firm to strengthen “the foundations” of its current five-year plan. This includes further internal business reorganisation and significant investments in marketing and sales, mainly taking place in the second half of the year. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/impe...nd-eyes-2022-as-year-of-change-102304434.html
The board of Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 31st of December to UK£0.48. This takes the dividend yield to 8.8%, which shareholders will be pleased with. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imperial-brands-lon-imb-announced-094810998.html
