Imperial Brands reported higher half-year sales on Tuesday, as the tobacco company benefited from an uptake in e-cigarettes and tobacco-heating products in the US and Europe.
The company reported first-half organic adjusted revenue of £3.57 billion, up 3.5 per cent on-year, in constant currency for the six months ended March 31. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 107 pence for the first half.
The revenue growth was driven by tobacco growth of 3.2 per cent and Next Generation Products (NGP) – which spans vapour, heated tobacco and oral nicotine categories – net revenue up 16 per cent.
“Our NGP performance has improved, albeit against a weak comparator period. We have focused investment more tightly behind our NGP market strongholds and are on track to activate market trials in vapour and heated tobacco later this year,” Stefan Bomhard, chief executive, said.
Tobacco net revenue continued to benefit from strong pricing, as the company has put in place a clear market prioritisation for sustainable profit delivery.
“We have begun to stabilise the aggregate market share performance across our top five priority markets reflecting the changes we have made to tighten performance management and the good underlying momentum established over the past year. This is an encouraging start and one that I look forward to building on over time as we begin to step up investment in new strategic initiatives,” Bomhard added.
The company said it was on track to meet its annual outlook.
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