2010


2 November 2010

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC Preliminary results for the twelve months ended 30 September 2010

Highlights

  2010 Change 2009
  1. White stick equivalents reflects our combined cigarette and fine cut tobacco volumes.
  2. Management believes that these non-GAAP measures provide a useful comparison of business performance and reflect the way in which the business is controlled.  Definitions are included in our accounting policies within the notes to the financial statements.  Reconciliations between adjusted and reported measures are also included in the relevant notes.
Volumes (1)      
White stick equivalents 348.5 bn - 2.9% 358.8 bn
Cigarettes 308.7 bn - 4.2% 322.2 bn
Fine cut tobacco 39.8 bn + 8.7% 36.6 bn
       
Financial Highlights – adjusted basis (2)      
Tobacco net revenue £7,055m + 3% £6,818m
Logistics distribution fees £936m - 3% £964m
Adjusted operating profit £3,067m + 5% £2,933m
Adjusted profit before tax £2,467m + 10% £2,233m
Adjusted earnings per share 178.8p + 11% 161.8p
       
Financial Highlights – reported basis      
Revenue £28,173m + 6% £26,517m
Operating profit £2,528m + 8% £2,337m
Profit before tax £2,118m + 124% £945m
Basic earnings per share 148.5p + 127% 65.5p
Diluted earnings per share 148.0p + 127% 65.3p
Dividend per share 84.3p + 15% 73.0p
  • +11% adjusted earnings per share growth
  • +15% dividend per share growth
  • +3 % tobacco net revenue growth
  • +5% adjusted operating profit growth
  • Global strategic cigarette brand gains
  • Strong fine cut tobacco volume growth
  • Adjusted net debt reduced by £1.5 billion to £9.3 billion

Alison Cooper Chief Executive said:

"This strong set of results demonstrates the success of our strategy and the versatility of our total tobacco portfolio.

"We delivered some excellent brand and product performances in both mature and emerging markets, including further gains from our global strategic cigarette brands Davidoff, Gauloises Blondes and West.

"This was complemented by growth from a number of regional and local brands, particularly JPS which continues to go from strength to strength.

“We also delivered another very strong fine cut tobacco performance, growing our volumes by almost 9 per cent.

“Whilst driving sales across our balanced market footprint we have maintained our focus on cash generation, reducing our level of adjusted net debt by £1.5 billion to £9.3 billion.

“Our priority is to build on this strong performance and I am confident that our enhanced sales agenda, combined with our focus on cost optimisation and cash utilisation, will create further sustainable returns for our shareholders."

Notes to editors

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC is a leading international tobacco company with a balanced market footprint and a unique portfolio that offers consumers high quality brands and products across all tobacco categories. The Group has 51 manufacturing sites and around 38,000 employees.

Investor Contacts

Gerry Gallagher, Director of Investor Communications
 +44 (0)7813 917 339
John Nelson-Smith, Investor Relations Manager
 +44 (0)7919 391 866
Grant Edmunds, Investor Relations Manager
 +44 (0)7854 521 732

 

Media Contacts

Alex Parsons, Head of Corporate Communications
 +44 (0)7967 467 241
Simon Evans, Group Press Officer
 +44 (0)7967 467 684

 

A live webcast of a presentation for analysts and investors will be available on www.imperial-tobacco.com from 10.30 am (GMT). An archive of the webcast and the presentation script and slides will also be made available during the afternoon.

Interviews with Alison Cooper, Chief Executive and Bob Dyrbus, Finance Director, are available in video, audio and text formats at: www.imperial-tobacco.com and www.cantos.com

High-resolution photographs are available to the media free of charge at:
www.newscast.co.uk +44 (0)20 3137 9137

Alison Cooper will host a media conference call at 7.30am (GMT), at which there will be the opportunity for questions.

Dial in number:   +44 (0)20 7806 1951   (UK)
    +34 91 788 9937   (Spain)
    +33 (0)1 7099 4301   (France)
    +49 (0)69 5007 1306   (Germany)
Confirmation Code:   2230341    

 

A replay of this call will be available for one week. To listen, please dial:

+44 (0)20 7111 1244
Access code: 2230341#

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