London, April 30, 2026, 15:02 BST
Imperial Brands PLC bought back 186,163 ordinary shares for cancellation on Wednesday, pressing ahead with a £1.45 billion repurchase programme as the cigarette maker tries to keep investor attention on cash returns. A regulatory filing showed the London-listed group paid an average 2,776.7822 pence a share through Barclays; after settlement and cancellation, it said ordinary shares in issue would fall to 777.84 million, excluding treasury shares.
The move lands less than three weeks after Imperial told investors to expect a modest aggregate market-share reduction across its five biggest markets in the first half. The company also said profit growth would be weighted to the second half, making the May results a cleaner test of whether price increases and buybacks can do enough while cigarette volumes keep sliding.
Imperial shares were up 1.15% at 2,803p in London trading at 14:30 BST, with the market open, Bloomberg data showed. The gain offered some relief, but not much resolution, after a sharp mid-April fall triggered by worries over share loss and slower first-half momentum.
The Bristol-based group said this month it remained on track for low-single-digit tobacco and double-digit next generation products revenue growth in FY26, alongside 3% to 5% adjusted operating profit growth at constant currency, meaning excluding exchange-rate swings. It also said it had completed £0.7 billion of the FY26 buyback by March 31 and expected at least £2.2 billion of free cash flow, the cash left after operating and investment spending.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould wrote that analysts appeared disappointed by the first-half update because of market-share and currency concerns, even though Imperial kept its profit guidance. He said the company “still has pricing power,” a key point for a business whose shareholder returns depend on tobacco cash generation. AJ Bell
Interactive Investor’s Richard Hunter took a similar line, saying shareholder returns were “in sharp focus” and that the buyback was half-complete. But he also noted that Imperial’s next generation products unit remains loss-making, despite progress in areas such as vaping, heated tobacco and oral nicotine. Ii
That is where the competitive pressure sits. Imperial, maker of Winston, Davidoff and Gauloises, has been trying to build alternatives while defending its core cigarette business; Reuters reported that larger rivals such as British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International have leaned more heavily on premium branding and innovation spending.
But the downside case is still clear. Sharecast cited Imperial as saying the Middle East conflict had created a more uncertain geopolitical and macro backdrop, while NGP losses were set to rise slightly as the company keeps investing. If freight, energy or currency moves worsen, or if second-half pricing does not flow through as planned, the guidance cushion could narrow.
The next scheduled company update is the half-year results announcement on May 12. Investors will be looking for detail on the size of the market-share hit, the pace of buybacks, and whether Imperial’s alternatives business is growing fast enough to carry more of the story.
