Imperial Brands ups shareholder returns as FY results meet guidance

Imperial Brands has beefed up its shareholder returns programme by £400m after confirming it finished the fiscal year with in-line results, with growth in both tobacco and next generation products (NGP).

Group adjusted operating profit growth over the 12 months to 30 September was "close to the middle" of the mid-single digit range guidance, the company said.

The group said it was also on track to deliver results in line with full-year guidance with an acceleration in tobacco and NGP net revenue growth compared with last year.

This was helped by stable overall market shares in five priority market – with gains in the US, Spain and Australia, broadly offsetting declines in Germany and the UK – alongside strong pricing.

For the current fiscal year, Imperial is targeting £2.8bn of shareholder returns, up from a £2.4bn commitment in the year just gone, comprising a 13.6% enlarged share buyback plan of £1.25bn and £1.5bn in cash dividends.

The company is changing its dividend payment structure to four equal quarterly payments for FY26 onwards, with a "smoothing of the dividend payment profile [resulting] in more consistent cash returns to shareholders throughout the year, compared to the current 30:70 split".

"This is enabled by the strong visibility of cash flows from our portfolio following the successful execution of our strategy. The change will also help to reduce our leverage variance within the year, particularly around the half year, which is partly a result of the current dividend phasing."