Dropping tobacco volumes trigger Imperial Brands sell off

Tobacco giant Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) has seen its share price drop by 5.20% to 2,206.50p (as of 13:50 BST) as tobacco volumes for the six months ended 31st March fell by 6.9%. Revenues were up by up 2.3%, but there was a 0.1% dip in adjusted operating profits.

Chief executive Alison Cooper commented: “This has been another half of pleasing underlying tobacco performance enhanced by the growing contribution of our NGP business, with overall revenues up 2.5 per cent; and Europe and the Americas both growing revenue by 4%. In tobacco, we continue to focus on our longstanding brand and market priorities, and are delivering high margin sales growth. Our Asset Brands continue to outperform and now represent two thirds of our revenue. We have made significant progress in building our NGP business with investment behind myblu generating awareness and consumer adoption, resulting in leading retail shares in most markets. We are building on this momentum in the second half focused on further omnichannel expansion and new product initiatives. We have set the foundations for accelerated revenue growth and we are on track to meet our full year expectations“.