Tobacco giant Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB) has increased its dividend pay-out by 10% for the eighth consecutive year despite posting a sharp fall in profits in the past 12 months.
Weaker trading and increased duty other costs meant profit before tax slipped more than 40% to £907mln for the year ended 30 September.
That didn’t stop the world’s fourth-largest tobacco firm from upping its dividend to 155.2p, even though earnings per share only came in at 66.1p.
The US market did provide some respite from the “difficult trading” conditions experienced elsewhere around the globe, with net revenue more than doubling to £1.47bn across the pond.
“We delivered another strong performance this year with great results from our expanded US business, and we further improved the quality of our growth,” said chief executive Alison Cooper.
“We grew the dividend by 10 per cent for the eighth consecutive year and remain committed to this level of increase over the medium term.”
Imperial – which owns brands such as Rizla and Lambert & Butler – also announced it would invest £300mln in “selected quality growth opportunities” over the coming twelve months to support revenue growth over the medium term.
This investment will be supported further cost savings which will target a further £300mln of annual savings by 2020, at a cost of £750mln.
Shares were down 3% to 3,691p.