Business highlights for Imperial Brands ($IMB (+1.37%) )

Market share gains:

In the five prioritized markets, an aggregated market share increase of 6 basis points was achieved, which is above the strategic target.

Price mix:

A price mix of 5.9% in the tobacco segment compensated for volume declines.

Growth in Next Generation Products (NGP):

Net sales increased by 15.4%, with growth in all three categories. Reported NGP sales increased by 14.7%.

Logista:

Strong results in the tobacco segment, but impacted by performance in the long-distance transportation segment.

Earnings per share (EPS):

Both adjusted and reported EPS increased by 6.0% and 0.7% respectively, supported by a further reduction in the number of shares.

Free cash flow:

A 12-month free cash flow of £2.4bn with a cash conversion of 99%.

Capital returns:

A £1.25bn share buyback program was launched and the interim dividend was increased.

Outlook:

The company is on track to achieve its full-year targets in line with guidance.

Financial overview (for the six months to March 31, 2025)

Key figure 2025 2024 Change

Net sales (£m) 14,604 15,064 -3.1 %

Tobacco & NGP Net sales (£m) 3,664 3,637 +0.7 %

Operating profit (£m) 1,456 1,494 -2.5 %

Adjusted operating profit (£m) 1,652 1,669 -1.0 %

Earnings per share (EPS) (p) 96.7 96.0 +0.7 %

Adjusted EPS (p) 123.9 120.2 +3.1 %

Net debt (£m) (10,471) (10,585) -

Dividend per share (p) 80.16 44.90 +78.5 %

Note: The 78.5% dividend increase includes a 4.5% underlying increase and an additional payment of 33.24 pence due to the change in dividend payments announced in October 2024.

Strategic progress

Market share development:

Growth in the USA (+10 basis points), Germany (+65 basis points) and Australia (+5 basis points) compensated for declines in the UK (-70 basis points) and Spain (-90 basis points).

NGP growth:

The company recorded increases in market share and net sales in all three NGP categories. Particularly noteworthy is the strong growth in Europe and the USA, which more than compensated for temporary challenges in the AAACE region.

Modern Oral products:

The "Zone" product line was successfully launched in the USA and contributed to further market share gains.

Financial stability:

Operating performance leads to consistent financial results and strong cash flows, enabling both investment in growth initiatives and increased capital returns to shareholders.

Future prospects:

Despite an uncertain global economic environment, the company remains on track to achieve its full-year targets, supported by tobacco price increases already implemented in the first half of the year and continued momentum in the NGP segment.

Note on today's share price performance:

CEO Stephan Bomhard, who took the helm in 2020, is retiring. The share price is therefore currently falling.

$IMB (+1.37%)

I stopped smoking almost two years ago - and shortly afterwards bought shares in Imperial Brands. For a few months now, I've also been running a savings plan $IMB (+1.37%)which I use to get my "smoky" money back: I invest one symbolic euro per day.

While others continue to smoke, I benefit threefold - on the one hand through the cost savings and on the other through the increase in value/dividends from Imperial Brands.

In addition, my health thanks me.

A Delaware judge on Monday ordered ITG Brands to pay rival cigarette maker Reynolds American $251.5 million in connection with a tobacco settlement in Florida after ITG acquired four cigarette brands from Reynolds a decade ago.

Vice Chancellor Lori Will of the Delaware Chancery Court rejected ITG's argument that the $251.5 million demanded by Reynolds should be reduced by the money Reynolds saved because ITG did not participate in the Florida settlement.

Reynolds is a unit of British American Tobacco $BATS (+0.08%) while ITG is a unit of the British company Imperial Brands $IMB (+1.37%) is. ITG has announced that it will appeal.

The case arose when Reynolds sold the Kool, Maverick, Salem and Winston brands to ITG in June 2015 so that Reynolds could get regulatory approval for its $25.8 billion purchase of smaller rival Lorillard.

Prior to the sale, Reynolds had made annual payments to Florida for many years as part of a settlement to cover tobacco-related health costs after the state accused cigarette makers of misrepresenting the addictive potential and health risks of smoking.

After the sale was finalized, however, Reynolds stopped making payments based on sales of the four brands it no longer owned.

Florida then sued Reynolds and ITG and obtained a judgment requiring Reynolds to make payments until ITG joined the settlement.

Reynolds paid Florida 251.5 million dollars for the four brands from 2015 to 2023.

Will determined in October 2022 that ITG is obligated to repay Reynolds, raising the question of the amount to be paid.

In his ruling Monday, Will said it would be "perverse" to reduce ITG's liability by the estimated $112.8 million in "profit adjustment" payments that Reynolds saved because ITG did not join the Florida settlement.

"Reducing Reynolds' damages as if ITG had joined the Florida settlement would prevent ITG from ever doing so," Will wrote.

ITG is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Reynolds is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In a statement, ITG said it disagreed with Will's findings on liability and damages and continues to stand by its arguments "as we seek reversal."

Reynolds and its attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company's trademarks include Camel, Newport and Pall Mall.

And another step forward in the monthly cash flow, that was except for $IMB (+1.37%) my last position, which was not yet fully completed in terms of purchase volume. So I'm done with the existing stocks for the time being. The average expected monthly gross dividend for the current portfolio without bonds and ETFs is now around €2,150. Now the second part of my investment plan begins: over the course of the year, I will initially invest a further 500k in cash in a wide range of investments from bonus certificates, corporate bonds, ETFs, commodities and a few selected shares from various sectors that are not yet weighted or only slightly weighted. The aim is to achieve moderate growth and the main focus is on an unexcited income strategy. Boring for many here, I weiß🤷‍♀️😉, but I've decided that I want to have sufficient monthly income when I turn 61 without having to go back to work. But I also need a bit of change to "gamble". I have treated myself to professional support for this major task within the framework of private banking and, in the course of expanding my portfolio, I take the liberty of presenting one or two securities with limited, but nevertheless attractive, returns for those here in the forum who are not quite so risk-averse.

In the current issue, "Der Aktionär" recommends these dividend stocks.

For a peaceful night's sleep (conservative):

• E.On $EOAN (-0.02%)
• Johnson & Johnson $JNJ (+1.86%)
• Munich Re $MUV2 (+1.13%)
• PepsiCo $PEP (+0.03%)
• Procter & Gamble $PG (+1.21%)

Top dividend with medium risk can be seen in:

• Andritz $ANDR (+0.24%)
• Freenet $FNTN (-0.21%)
• Imperial Brands $IMB (+1.37%)
• Traton $8TRA (+0.1%)

Dividends with a yield kick are located in these shares:

• Frontline $FRO (+4.8%)
• Petrobas $PETR3 (-0.58%)
• Repsol $REP (+1.08%)
• Stellantis $STLAM (-1.27%)

Source: Der Aktionär, Issue 08.2025

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is backing away from its previously proposed tobacco product standard to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes on public health grounds. The FDA argued that menthol increases the appeal of cigarettes, especially to younger audiences. The proposed ban was intended to reduce experimentation and use among youth while improving the health of current menthol cigarette smokers by encouraging smoking cessation.

The withdrawal of this proposal is seen as a positive for tobacco companies who would have faced the loss of a significant market share. In the United States, there are over 18.5 million smokers aged 12 and older who use menthol cigarettes.

The FDA action aimed to address the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the country and reduce tobacco-related deaths and illnesses associated with menthol cigarette use. The agency also hoped to improve health equity by reducing tobacco-related health disparities.

With the proposal now off the table, tobacco companies are likely to be able to continue selling menthol cigarettes without the threat of an imminent ban. This is reflected in the positive share price performance. The market reaction indicates investor relief as a significant regulatory risk for these companies has been removed.

The news is particularly relevant for British American Tobacco $BATS (+0.08%)which, along with its industry peers $MO (+1.95%)
$PM (+2.69%)
$IMB (+1.37%) may now be able to avoid the financial impact that a menthol ban would have had on sales and market share.

It was an honor for me (over 40% plus). Slowly but surely I am reducing tobacco from my portfolio as an individual position. I still have $MO (+1.95%)
$BATS (+0.08%) and $IMB (+1.37%)

Week in review 12.10.

All-time highs for S&P 500, Dow Jones, Air Products & Chemicals, American Express, Arista Networks, Bank of New York Mellon, BlackRock, Caterpillar, CAVA, Fiserv, GE Vernova, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Motorola Solutions, Piper Sandler, Royal Caribbean, Uber, Unum

52-week highs for Carnival, Commerzbank, GE Aerospace, Hilton Worldwide, MicroStrategy, Norwegian Cruise, Palantir, Ralph Lauren, Robinhood Markets, Sea Ltd. , Shake Shack, Tangier, Teledyne

Tesla Cybercab / Robotaxi planned from 2026 for under 30,000$. In addition, an autonomous bus with 20 seats was presented, share falls -8.1%, market is disappointed, -19% 1-year performance

Nvidia partner Hon Hai increases capacity to meet "crazy" AI demand, Nvidia shares +8.3% this week, +176% 1-year performance

AMD unveils MI325X AI accelerator to compete with Nvidia's H200, customers include Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Dell, Oracle, Meta, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Supermicro, Lenovo and Databricks, AMD launches EPYC 5th Gen Datacenter CPU to compete with Intel's Xeon, AMD currently has 34% market share in Datacenter CPUs, MI350 coming in 2025 to compete with Nvidia's Blackwell, AMD stock drops -4%, apparently sell the news event, +45% 1-year performance

92% of desktop processor sales at major German online retailer Mindfactory were from AMD last week, Intel only at 8% share and -36% 1-year performance

TSMC with good quarterly figures, share price rises slightly, +97% 1-year performance

JPMorgan with good quarterly figures, share +5.1%, +48% 1-year performance

Wells Fargo with good quarterly figures, share +6.5%, +49% 1-year performance

PepsiCo and Samsung with poor quarterly figures, shares fall slightly

Amazon Pharmacy announces same-day delivery of prescription drugs in 20 more US states and expands its service to almost half of the states in 2025, +43% % 1-year performance

Jefferies says Apple's hopes for an AI phone are overdone and high expectations are premature, Hold rating, +26% 1-year performance

The situation is similar at Microsoft after Oppenheimer downgraded its rating from "Outperform" to "Perform", it was the second such downgrade by analysts in recent weeks, AI sales are overestimated and shares have underperformed since July due to "AI fatigue", plus losses at OpenAI, +26% 1-year performance

Two Google scientists from the subsidiary DeepMind receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, they developed the AI model "AlphaFold2", which can be used to predict the structures of all 200 million known proteins, the AI is used in 190 countries, for example in the clarification of antibiotic resistance or the use of enzymes to break down plastics, Alphabet shareholders like this, +12% 1-year performance

Inperial Brands increases dividend, now pays out quarterly and buys back shares, share price rises 5%, +36% 1-year performance

FTX - customers will soon get their balances paid out after the crypto exchange went bankrupt in 2022 and the management was imprisoned

Shortseller Hindenburg Research with allegations of fraud and safety concerns for children at gaming service Roblox, share price falls -6%, even -70% since November 2021

After two very positive weeks, China stocks fall like a flash in the pan as the market expected more stimulus from the Chinese dictator. Dictator, Hang Seng with worst day since the 2008 financial crisis, this week

China strengthens real estate sector and signals more spending ahead, Finance Minister announces measures to support real estate sector today and government would now have more room to borrow and increase deficit, China also announces issuance of special government bonds today to bolster capitalization of its largest state-owned banks, Printer is coming

Fitch downgrades France's credit rating to negative due to higher deficits, government debt expected to rise to 118.5% of GDP by 2028

FTSE Russell: Greek equities on track for upgrade to developed markets, FTSE Russell to provide update as part of March 2025 review, Greek equity index up 53% since start of 2023

Porsche sells 7% fewer cars due to China slump by -29%, -5% North America but +7% Germany & Europe, -21% % 1-year performance

Deutsche Telekom increases dividend and launches share buyback program for € 2 bn, highest share price in 23 years, +33% 1-year performance

Commerzbank reaches highest share price since the euro crisis in 2011, +61% 1-year performance

Bayer with new lawsuit in the USA over PCBs, share price -7%, -41% 1-year performance

German industrial order intake fell unexpectedly sharply by 5.8% in August compared to the previous month

E.on CEO expects energy prices to rise in the long term thanks to higher taxes & levies and the world's stupidest energy policy

The Ampel expects the economy to shrink for the second year in a row, revising its GDP forecast for 2024 from +0.3% to -0.2%, only the second consecutive year of shrinking GDP since the fall of communism in 1990

After the pension insurance, the German long-term care insurance is also bankrupt, as recipients of citizens' benefits are not paying in and society is ageing, Lauterbach therefore wants to increase the monthly contribution for long-term care for all workers, so soon less net from gross again

" If you want to read a review like this every week, leave a like and subscribe.

$NVDA (-2.46%)
$AMD (-1.82%)
$TSLA (-2.92%)
$CBR
$INTC (-3.26%)
$2330
$JPM (+0.06%)
$WFC (+0.41%)
$PEP (+0.03%)
$AMZN (-0.1%)
$GOOGL (-0.13%)
$GOOGL (-0.13%)
$AAPL (+0.57%)
$MSFT (+0.62%)
$IMB (+1.37%)
$CNUA (-0.62%)
$941
$9988 (-3.29%)
$700 (-1.81%)
$1211 (-3.89%)
$P911 (-0.82%)
$PAH3 (-0.85%)
$DTE (+0.21%)
$BAYN (-0.12%)
$EOAN (-0.02%)
$PLTR (+7.32%)
$RBLX
$BLK