Imperial Brands reports £2.17 billion of pre-tax profit in fiscal 2020

Imperial Brands plc (LON: IMB) said on Tuesday that its pre-tax profit in fiscal 2020 came in higher than last year on the back of hawkish revenue – a trend that it forecasts will continue in fiscal 2021.

Imperial Brands slipped roughly 1.5% in premarket trading on Tuesday but jumped close to 5% on market open. The British multinational tobacco company is now trading at £14.46 per share that represents a more than 20% decline year to date in the stock market. An insight into the price action will come in handy if you are interested in buying Imperial Brands shares – that you can learn how to buy online in 2020 here.

Imperial Brands values COVID-19-related costs at £90 million

The owner of prominent tobacco brands like Gauloises, Davidoff, and JPS reported £2.17 billion of pre-tax profit in the year that concluded on 30^th September. In comparison, it had posted £1.69 billion of pre-tax profit last year.

The British multinational valued its COVID-19-related costs at £90 million in the recent year. Regulatory compliance costs, it added, stood at £50 million in fiscal 2020. In an announcement last month, Imperial Brands said that it selected ArisGlobal’s end-to-end LifeSphere regulatory platform.

In terms of revenue, Imperial Brands noted a jump from £31.59 billion last year to £32.56 billion in the recently concluded financial year. Other prominent figures included in the financial update on Tuesday include £7.99 billion of adjusted revenue and 254.4 pence of adjusted per-share earnings in fiscal 2020.

Imperial Brands declares 48.01 pence per share of dividend

The tobacco company declared 48.01 pence of final dividend per share on Tuesday that translates to 137.71 pence per share of full-year payout versus a significantly higher 206.57 pence per share last year. Earlier this year in May, Imperial Brands had slashed its payouts by roughly 33% in a bid to reduce its net debt.

The Bristol-based company expressed confidence for its financial performance in fiscal 2021. For organic operating profit, it forecasts an up to 5% growth on an adjusted basis.

Imperial Brands performed fairly downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of close to 20%. At the time of writing, the British multinational tobacco company has a market cap of £13.71 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 16.05.