Imperial Brands PLC

Imperial Brands said it remains on track to deliver its full-year FY26 targets across all key metrics and announced a further £1.5 billion share buyback. The tobacco maker expects low-single-digit tobacco net revenue growth, double-digit next-generation product net revenue growth, and group adjusted operating profit growth within its 3%-5% guidance range, along with high-single-digit adjusted EPS growth and more than £2.2 billion of free cash flow for the year. Imperial said this would mark its sixth consecutive year of tobacco net revenue growth, with pricing and market-share gains in key markets including the U.S. and Germany offsetting low-single-digit volume declines at group level. The company said its heated-tobacco business, including Pulze 3.0 and new iD sticks, is performing well, while its modern oral portfolio has been strengthened by brands including Zone and Skruf as well as the acquisitions of Black Buffalo in the U.S. and Helwit in Sweden. The new £1.5 billion buyback is for FY27 and is expected to be completed no later than October 29, 2027; Imperial said it has returned almost £13 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks between FY21 and FY26, while reducing its issued share capital by more than 21% since the buyback programme began in October 2022, and remains confident of delivering at least £320 million in savings by 2030, including manufacturing initiatives that underpin a targeted £100 million reduction in overheads.

The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.59% on Tuesday, driven by a strong rally in Unilever shares after the consumer goods giant reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its full-year guidance. The benchmark was up 63.90 points at 10,845.65 nearly half an hour past noon. Unilever climbed nearly 8% as it upgraded its full-year underlying sales growth guidance to the 4% to 6% range from its previous expectation of growth at the bottom end of the range, supported by around 3% underlying volume growth, and reported its best quarter of sales volume growth in 16 years. Other notable gainers included Admiral Group up over 4%, Relx up 3.6%, and Compass Group, Diageo, Imperial Brands, Croda International, Babcock International, Reckitt Benckiser, The Sage Group, and Experian climbing between 2.5% and 3%. Barclays Group shed more than 5% after reporting increased second-quarter operating costs, while Natwest Group and Lloyds Banking Group both eased about 1.3%. In economic news, UK shop price inflation rose 0.9% year-on-year in July 2026, missing expectations of 1.2% and marking the slowest increase since December 2025.