Imperial Brands (IMB)

[nmdhqbc]

i'm not too familiar with the scale of the average buyback but it says £1bn and i think the market cap is about £17bn so that's about 5.8%. and over 7% dividend yield that's over 12% cash coming to shareholder in total. is that not a decent buyback or have i got the numbers wrong? when the buyback is that high the dividend rise being modest is just a choice since they clearly have the cash to return to shareholders in a different way.

[Dod101]

If it is indeed that much of a buyback it should help the dividend in future years because there are considerably fewer shares in issue.

Dod

[monabri]

The text of the announcement confirms

"At our current valuation, the £1 billion represents more than 5% of the issued share capital and is a demonstration of our commitment to an ongoing and sustainable buyback."

( search for 'buy' 9th occurrence)

"During the period a share buy back scheme was initiated and 24,374,098 10p shares were repurchased for a cost of £500 million. The fees charged for the share repurchase was £3 million."

[idpickering]

Investor Event – Start with the Consumer.

The following amendment has been made to the announcement released on 27 June 2023 at 1300 BST under RNS No 0656E.

Amendments are identified with an asterisk (*).

The full amended text is shown below.

IMPERIAL BRANDS PLC

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) No. 549300DFVPOB67JL3A42

27 June 2023

Imperial Brands Investor Event - Start with the Consumer

Imperial Brands plc will today host a capital markets event in New York to showcase how we have built our consumer-facing capabilities and how they are supporting our operational and strategic delivery.

There will be presentations by Chief Executive Stefan Bomhard and Chief Consumer Officer Andy Dasgupta as well as members of our Global Consumer Office, which was established under our five-year strategy. Kim Reed, President and CEO, Americas Region will show how we are applying these capabilities to build the consumer relevance of our US brand portfolio.

We will demonstrate how we are placing the consumer at the centre of our decision making by building our capabilities in consumer insights, portfolio and brand management, innovation, and through our portfolio of next generation products.

There will be no update to current trading beyond the half year results that were issued on 16 May 2023.

The presentation slides will be made available at 13:00 BST via our corporate website http://www.imperialbrandsplc.com *. The presentations will also be webcast live and a recording will also be available on our corporate website.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... er/7598237

Ian (I hold).

[idpickering]

Trading Statement.

Imperial Brands on track to deliver full-year guidance and announces further £1.1bn share buyback

· FY23 trading in line with guidance, with growth in aggregate market share of top-five priority markets

· Strong tobacco pricing driving constant currency net revenue and adjusted operating profit growth

· Momentum building behind next generation product (NGP) net revenue growth across all categories

· Further £1.1bn share buyback announced for FY24, a 10% increase on the £1.0bn buyback in FY23

· Total capital returns in FY24, including ordinary dividends and share buyback, expected to exceed £2.4bn

Pre-close trading update

The implementation of our five-year strategy is driving further improvements in operational and financial performance, and we are on track to deliver in line with our previous full-year guidance. On a constant currency basis and including Russia in the prior-year comparator, tobacco and NGP net revenue is expected to grow in the low single digits and Group adjusted operating profit growth to accelerate to the lower end of our mid-single digit range. At current rates, we expect foreign exchange to be a c. 2% tailwind to full-year net revenue and adjusted operating profit.

Focused investment in our priority combustible markets is expected to deliver a further modest gain in the aggregate share for our top-five markets at the full year. This will complete three consecutive years of improved market share performance following several years of decline. Like the first half, the US, Spain and Australia are expected to show market share growth, more than offsetting declines in Germany and the UK. This positive aggregate share performance has been achieved while delivering strong pricing across all five markets, and reflects the strengthened equity of our brands and our improved resilience as a result of our recent targeted investments.

As anticipated, at constant currency our tobacco net revenue growth improved in the second half of the year, as continued strong pricing helped to offset the relatively higher volume declines against historic averages. Tobacco net revenue growth has remained strong in Europe and the AAACE region, more than offsetting declines in the US. Our US cigarette business has outperformed with continued growth in cigarette net revenue although, as expected, this has been more than offset by a decline in mass market cigar net revenue against a strong comparator period. This headwind, which we reported at the half-year, has eased during the second half. Excluding Russia, our tobacco net revenue at full year is anticipated to be ahead of last year on a constant currency basis. Details of the contribution from Russia last year are provided at the end of this statement.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... nt/7797548

Ian (I hold).

[idpickering]

Share Buyback Tranche of up to £550 million.

On 6 October 2022 Imperial Brands plc (the "Company") announced the start of an ongoing share buyback programme. The first £1 billion buyback, which repurchased 5.5% of the share capital during FY23, was successfully completed on 11 September 2023.

On 5 October 2023, the Company announced it intends to repurchase up to £1.1 billion of shares in the period from 6 October 2023 to the end of September 2024.

The share buyback is in line with the Company's policy to distribute surplus capital to shareholders, having maintained leverage at the lower end of its 2.0-2.5 times net debt to EBITDA target range and with the intention to remain at this level going forwards.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... on/7800230

Ian.

[idpickering]

REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

• Delivered an acceleration in adjusted operating profit growth in line with five-year strategic plan

• Improved combustible tobacco performance with 10 basis points aggregate market share growth in top-five priority markets and strong, broad-based pricing gains

• Next generation product net revenue up 26% as momentum grows in all categories; Europe NGP up 40%

• Operational and financial delivery underpinned by new consumer capabilities, ways of working and cultural change, with employee engagement 100 basis points ahead of global benchmark at 74%

• Enhanced shareholder returns with 4.0% dividend increase as well as a 10% increase in share buybacks; total FY24 returns of £2.4 billion equivalent to c. 15% of total market value

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... ts/7878884

Ian (I hold).

[idpickering]

Further to the above;

The Board has approved a further interim dividend of 51.82 pence per share and will propose a final dividend of 51.82 pence per share bringing the total dividend for the year to 146.82 pence.

This represents a 4.0% increase to the amount of 141.17 pence per share paid in the prior year.

Dividend Ex-Dividend Dividend Paid
51.82p (Q3) 23rd November 2023 29th December 2023
51.82p (Final) 15th February 2024 28th March 2024

https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/conte ... dasset.pdf

With a nod to IAAG for providing the above link.

Ian.

[idpickering]

Result of AGM

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... gm/8015639

Ian (No holding).

[idpickering]

Imperial Brands PLC second share buyback tranche of up to £550 million.

Following the completion of its £1 billion share repurchase programme in FY23, Imperial Brands PLC (the "Company") announced on 5 October 2023, that it intends to repurchase up to £1.1 billion of shares in the period from 6 October 2023 to the end of September 2024. This is part of the Company's commitment to an ongoing, multi-year buyback programme that will deliver a material reduction in the capital base over time, which, together with our progressive dividend policy, will provide an ongoing source of shareholder returns.

The share repurchase programme is in line with the Company's policy to distribute surplus capital to shareholders, having maintained leverage at the lower end of its 2.0-2.5 times net debt to EBITDA target range and with the intention to remain at this level going forwards.

The first tranche of the current share repurchase programme has been executed. To execute the second tranche of this share repurchase programme, the Company has entered into an irrevocable and non-discretionary arrangement with Barclays Capital Securities Limited ("Barclays") to repurchase up to £550 million of its shares commencing from 11 March 2024 and expected to end no later than 29 October 2024 (the "Programme"), which is slightly longer than originally envisaged.

Under this arrangement, Barclays will act as riskless principal and will make decisions under the Programme independently from the Company. Purchases may continue during any closed period to which the Company is subject. The purpose of the share repurchase programme is to reduce the share capital of Imperial Brands. All shares repurchased as part of this arrangement will be cancelled.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... 4-/8079703

Ian (I hold).

[idpickering]

Pre-close trading update: Imperial Brands on track to meet half-year and full-year guidance

· Strong tobacco pricing supporting financial delivery while balancing share performance

· Maintaining stable aggregate share in our top-five combustible markets in line with our objective

· Next Generation Product (NGP) net revenue growth as we build scale and launch new products

· First-half adjusted Group operating profit ahead of H1 2023 on constant currency basis, reflecting higher tobacco and NGP adjusted operating profit and growth at Logista

· Confident of meeting full-year expectations and our guidance of growing net revenue and delivering a step-up in adjusted operating profit growth

· Cash conversion improved on last year and in line with guidance

· On track to deliver the £1.1bn buyback programme, as part of ongoing programme of capital returns

https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... te/8126927

Ian (I hold).