Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Imperial Brands first-half results landed as expected, with underlying revenue up 1.8 per cent to £3.7billion.
“Strong pricing in tobacco has offset continuing volume declines, and 7.5 per cent increase in next generation products (vapes, oral and heated tobacco) saw a strong performance in Europe and emerging markets, masked by weakness in the US, where heavy discounting saw sales fall.
“2026 guidance remains unchanged, but with first half underlying operating profit up just 0.6 per cent, there’s still work to do to hit the three-to-five per cent full-year target.
“With management holding back on buybacks for now, there’s not much for investors to latch onto today.”
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