Operating profits at Imperial soar to £1.5bn
Operating profits at tobacco firm Imperial Brands soared by 27 per cent last year to £1.53bn.
The company, which has its headquarters in South Bristol, had revenues of £15.4bn.
The increase in operating profit reflected the fact that charges in relation to exiting Russia last year were not repeated.
Imperial said it is on track to make savings of £150m a year as it looks to centralises its operations.
The company, which is in the middle of a five year restructuring programme, said it is seeing a return to pre-Covid customer buying patterns in its half year report.
Chief executive Stefan Bomhard said: “We are now in the third year of our five-year strategy, and this means we are moving from the initial foundation-building phase to a period of improving financial delivery.
“We remain strongly committed to an ongoing programme of shareholder returns and will complete our initial £1bn buyback during the second half.”
He added: “Business performance for the first half of fiscal year 2023 was resilient, despite temporarily increased volume declines against a strong comparator. As expected, this reflects a return to pre-COVID buying patterns as well as our decision to exit Russia last year.
“In tobacco, we have delivered further share gains in aggregate across our portfolio of top five markets, while also achieving strong pricing to help mitigate the volume declines. We have now recorded stable or growing aggregate market share in these markets in each of the last four six-month periods after many years of sharp declines. In NGP, we have delivered a step-up in innovation with new product and market launches in all three categories: vapour, heated tobacco and modern oral.
“This performance is underpinned by targeted investments in capabilities and people. Earlier this month we opened a new innovation facility in Liverpool, which brings together consumers, product developers and third-party partners in a single collaborative space. We are making good progress in our programmes to modernise legacy systems, and we continue to invest in upskilling our leaders to drive forward our performance culture.”
The company said it remains on track to deliver the acceleration in adjusted operating profit growth in the second half in line with guidance and expectations.
Bomhard added: “I am confident the actions we have taken are creating a stronger, more resilient business capable of driving shareholder returns through a growing dividend and an ongoing share buyback.”
