Imperial Brands Full-Year Net Revenue Growth Misses Views Slightly

By Elena Vardon

Imperial Brands posted net revenue growth slightly below expectations for fiscal 2023 but a better adjusted operating profit growth for the year as it continues to offset volume declines with strong pricing.

The FTSE 100 tobacco group--which houses Davidoff, Gauloises and JPS among its brands--said net revenue from tobacco and its next-generation products--which include vape, heated tobacco and oral nicotine products--was 8.01 billion pounds ($9.84 billion), or 0.7% on-year growth at constant currency. The group had guided for low-single-digit organic growth while analysts polled in a company-compiled consensus had expected the figure to improve 1%, and to report GBP8.04 billion, from the previous year's GBP7.79 billion result.

The cigarette maker reported an adjusted operating profit--one of its preferred metrics--of GBP3.89 billion for the year ended Sept. 30, behind analyst expectations of GBP3.91 billion, which represents 3.8% on-year growth. It guided for growth at the lower end the of mid-single-digit range while consensus had seen 3.5% organic growth against the GBP3.69 billion reported for the year-prior period.

The board declared a dividend 146.82 pence per share, compared with the previous year's 141.17 pence payout while analysts had expected a 145.1 pence per share return.

Write to Elena Vardon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2023 02:43 ET (07:43 GMT)

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