Tobacco group Imperial Brands said that it expects full-year adjusted earnings to be slightly lower than last year due to a US regulatory ban on some flavours of cartridge-based vapour devices and weaker consumer demand.
The warning comes on the heels of Stefan Bomhard's appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of the FTSE 100-listed group.
Imperial Brands said the ban by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which comes into effect this week, has led to a write-down of flavoured inventory, which would have a £45 million (€53.2 million) impact on first-half adjusted operating profit.
Tobacco Trading
'Tobacco trading remains in line with expectations, with a weighting to the second half as previously guided,' the firm made in a statement to coincide with its AGM.
'However, following the US FDA’s ban on certain flavours of cartridge-based vapour devices and weaker than expected consumer demand for vapour, we now expect constant currency full year group net revenue to be at a similar level to last year and adjusted earnings per share to be slightly lower than last year.'
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
