Imperial Brands sees annual earnings in line with expectations

Tobacco company Imperial Brands said it was on track to deliver earnings in line with expectations and low single-digit constant currency net revenue growth.

The company on Thursday said strong combustible pricing was offset by temporarily increased volume declines against a prior period which benefited from Covid-related changes in buying patterns.

“We expect a stronger net revenue performance in the second half, supported by a normalisation of volume trends and price increases taken during the first half. As expected, our exit from Russia will result in first-half Group net revenue being slightly below last year on a constant currency basis,” Imperial said.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com