Imperial Brands (LSE:IMB), the tobacco group, on Thursday announced that it remains on track to deliver full-year guidance for the year ending 30 September.
The owner of the Davidoff, Gauloises and JPS brands, in a pre-close trading update covering the 2026 financial year, said tobacco net revenue is expected to post low-single-digit growth, marking a sixth consecutive year of growth in that measure, driven by pricing and share gains in the US and Germany.
Next-generation products (NGP) are expected to deliver double-digit net revenue growth, with the company reporting share gains across heated tobacco, vape and modern oral categories.
Growth in modern oral brands Zone and Skruf has been supplemented by the recent acquisitions of Black Buffalo in the US and Helwit in Sweden, while the heated tobacco range benefits from Pulze 3.0 and new iD sticks, and the blu vape kit range continues to perform well.
Adjusted operating profit growth is expected to land within the company's 3% to 5% guidance range, with high-single-digit adjusted earnings per share growth and free cash flow of more than £2.2 billion anticipated for the full year.
Imperial Brands has completed its £1.45 billion share buyback announced in October 2025, and said it will launch a further £1.5 billion buyback for FY27, to be completed no later than 29 October 2027.
The company said cumulative capital returns to shareholders through dividends and buybacks combined have reached close to £13 billion over the six years from FY21 to FY26, with issued share capital reduced by more than 21% since the buyback programme began in October 2022.
It expects FY26 leverage to remain at the lower end of its target range of 2.0 to 2.5 times net debt to EBITDA, and reiterated confidence in achieving at least £320 million of transformation savings by 2030, including manufacturing programmes expected to underpin a future £100 million reduction in overheads.
The group will announce its annual results for the year ended 30 September on 17 November.