Imperial Brands (IMB) has announced results for its year ended 30th September 2022 and that it is “well placed to build on our track record of delivery over the next three years, improving returns and creating sustainable growth in shareholder value”.
Here we are with the year to the end of September full set of numbers from Imperial Brands (IMB). Last month I observed it was going to be a big moment for me as the company’s share price is kicking around my twenty quid target price. And all of this has been augmented by the company also paying an excellent dividend since I got super-excited about the stock about a couple of years ago. All kind of interesting for a lifelong non-smoker like me.
Imperial Brands (IMB) has announced year ended 30th September 2022 “trading in line with expectations with growth in aggregate market share for top-five priority markets” and that a strengthened balance sheet and achievement of target leverage are to enable the immediate start of an ongoing share buyback programme. The shares have responded positively, up to 1940p, so what’s the detail?
Regular readers will know that I never have smoked or vaped and never will in the future. It is not my bag but if people want to buy the range of products offered by Imperial Brands (IMB), British American Tobacco (BATS) and the few other global corporate peers that exist out there (all of which are highly taxed by governments around the world), that is absolutely fine by me based on my belief in a freedom of choice. As for health and safety and common-sense, if you want to ban tobacco and related stocks then I guess you should do the same for alcohol and gambling and a bunch of pharmaceuticals. Anyhow, my view has been that Imperial Brands has been a must-have for your pension fund for a couple of years now. And so it has been pleasing to see a 20% share price rise this year (despite all the overall global market angst) and a 4% share price rise today.
Another ‘interesting’ day in the financial markets but, fortunately, not all my pension fund holdings are down today. I see Burberry (BRBY) has announced another senior corporate change as “Daniel Lee has been appointed Chief Creative Officer” from Monday 3 October 2022, as “Riccardo Tisci will be stepping down as Chief Creative Officer and leaving the Company at the end of this month”. As you all know I am a big fashion expert (not!), so clearly the newbie’s Bradford background, profile as an “award-winning designer and one of the most exciting British creative talents of his generation”, combined with his recent three years as the Creative Director at Bottega Veneta “where he helped reinvigorate the Italian luxury brand”, is all very exciting stuff. I am completely unsurprised the stock is up 3% today given all of that then! And moving on from one area of excitement, to another: the world of ESG and Imperial Brands (IMB).
Imperial Brands (IMB) has announced results for its half year ended 31st March 2022 emphasising “stabilisation of our core combustible business” and “successful consumer trials validate our approach and strengthen our confidence in our Next Generation Product strategy”. This sounds encouraging.
As a lifelong non-smoker it is a bit ridiculous how much of an investment fan I am of Imperial Brands (IMB) shares, which are up over 8% today after the company’s first half numbers. But if everything that was potentially bad for you was not allowed and taxed then investors in a bunch of other consumer, defence, industrial, commodity and other areas would not be allowed. Given the world’s stock markets do tend to have to figure out over time if a sector and/or company is justifiable or not, my view is that all adults - and pension funds - can figure out whether they want to invest somewhere or not.
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