Imperial Brands’ buyback is moving the stock more than usual, with light trading leaving shares lagging the FTSE 100.
London, July 4, 2026, 22:03 BST
- Imperial Brands ended Friday down 1.13% at 2,792p. The FTSE 100 edged up 0.25%.
- The company picked up 133,510 shares at an average price of 2,800.5226p that day as part of its £1.45 billion buyback.
- The buyback made up roughly 19% to 24% of Friday’s reported volume, based on which market data feed was used.
- The London Stock Exchange is closed for the weekend and scheduled to open again on July 6.
Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) closed the week lower, even though its buyback was running and the market moved up. Income investors looking at IMB got an uncomfortable read.
Imperial Brands ended Friday at 2,792p, off 1.13% for the day, while the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) added 0.25% to close at 10,679.03. Shares in the Bristol-based tobacco firm traded 23.1% under the 52-week high of £36.32 hit on Dec. 19, according to MarketWatch data.
The company disclosed in a filing to the London Stock Exchange it purchased 133,510 shares for cancellation on July 3, paying an average 2,800.5226p and spending around £3.74 million. The average price paid was 8.5p above the close.
The key part is volume. Friday’s trading was light—MarketWatch counted 552,146 shares, Investing.com had 697,060. That means Imperial bought about a fifth to a quarter of reported volume. With the tape this quiet, Imperial is a big buyer, but that didn’t keep the stock from falling.
| July 3 close | Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) | British American Tobacco LON:BATS | FTSE 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price/index close | 2,792p | 4,621p | 10,679.03 |
| Day move | fell 1.13% | down 0.28% | up 0.25% |
| Week move, Friday to Friday | up 0.4% | lost 2.7% | gained 1.6% |
| Reported volume | 552k-697k | 1.04 mln | — |
British American Tobacco p.l.c. LON:BATS slipped on Friday, but the drop was smaller. BAT finished at 4,621p, off 0.28%. The stock had jumped 2.16% the day before. Over the last five sessions going back to June 26, shares lost 2.7%, according to Investing.com historical data.
| Imperial buyback maths | Figure |
|---|---|
| Shares picked up July 3 | 133,510 |
| Paid on average | 2,800.5226p |
| Cash out | £3.74 mln |
| % of Friday volume | 19%-24% |
| Shares after cancel | 769.2 mln |
| FY26 buyback size | £1.45 bln |
The £1.45 billion buyback is around 6.8% of Imperial’s market cap based on Friday’s close and the new share count after cancellation. The plan matters for per-share earnings—even if the main share price doesn’t move.
Imperial Brand Plc’s June 11 consensus numbers had analysts looking for adjusted EPS of 333.7p for FY26, rising to 362.7p in FY27 and 396.3p for FY28. On Friday’s closing price, the shares trade at around 8.4x FY26 EPS and 7x FY28 EPS on those forecasts.
Imperial reported a 5.3% rise in adjusted EPS at constant currency at its May half-year update. Free cash flow over 12 months was £2.6 billion and £809 million in buybacks went through in the same period. But reported operating profit dropped 36.5%, with the Delaware settlement and costs tied to the 2030 strategy weighing on results.
Chief Executive Lukas Paravicini said at the time Imperial was “on track with our £1.45bn share buy back” and was looking for adjusted operating profit growth to pick up in the second half. Imperial Brand Plc
Analysts are mixed. Derren Nathan, Hargreaves Lansdown’s head of equity research, said in April that Imperial’s start was “slow but steady”, but the company’s bigger losses in next-gen products and ongoing market-share squeeze had left investors “underwhelmed”. HL
Imperial’s upcoming dates are all tied to income events, not earnings this time. The company’s financial calendar puts the next ex-dividend on Aug. 20, the second interim payout on Sept. 30, and full-year results out on Nov. 17.
