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Imperial Brands

IMB.L
52
Tobacco · Consumer Defensive
Price
2,503.00 GBp
-12.00 (-0.48%)
Market Cap
£19.11B
Exchange
London Stock Exchange
Winston Score
52
Winston is curious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Mar 31, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Good
Growth
Mixed
Cash Flow
Exceptional
Stability
Mixed
Valuation
Strong
Dividends
Good

Share count falling — buybacks

12.3% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 947.5M (2021) → 830.6M (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Imperial Brands is a British company that makes and sells cigarettes, cigars, and tobacco products to adult smokers around the world. Its well-known brands include Davidoff, Winston, Gauloises, and West cigarettes, plus Rizla rolling papers. It is one of the four largest tobacco companies globally and also sells next-generation products like heated tobacco and vapes under the blu brand.

The company earns money by selling tobacco products through retailers, convenience stores, and distributors across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Imperial Brands generates strong, predictable cash flows because tobacco is a habit-forming product with loyal customers, giving it pricing power even as overall cigarette volumes slowly decline. The main challenge the business faces is that fewer people are smoking traditional cigarettes each year, so Imperial must successfully grow its next-generation product sales fast enough to offset that long-term decline in its core business.

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+4.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

+25.0% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

£0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (2%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

0.4%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Runway

~8 months

£1.2B cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Short runway — potential dilution ahead through share issuance

Cash watch

Imperial Brands has less than a year of cash at its current burn rate. Growth investors should watch for potential share dilution from future fundraising — that directly reduces your ownership.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
33.0%
Modest — 33.0% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
15.9%
Healthy — 15.9% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
23.7%
Exceptional — 23.7% return on capital

ROIC between 15% and 25%. Every dollar invested in the business earns 15 to 25 cents back per year.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
+4.7%
Slow sales growth (+4.7% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
-53.5%
Earnings shrinking (-53.5% YoY)

Earnings per share down more than 10%. Either a bad year, or a real decline.

How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
5/8 quarters
Mixed — about half the quarters showed growth

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
180%
Turns 180% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
14.5%
Converts sales into free cash efficiently (14.5%)

FCF margin between 10% and 20%. Every $100 in sales becomes $10 to $20 in real cash.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
2.68
Heavy debt load (2.68)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
7.82x
Adequate interest coverage (7.8x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
11.8x
Attractive valuation — P/E 11.8

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+5.4
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (11.8 → 6.4)

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Dividends

Dividend
Dividend Yield
6.53%
Healthy income — 6.53% yield

Yield above 6% — often a flag the market is pricing in a cut.

Dividend record
Dividend Growth
-13.3%
Dividend cut (-13.3% YoY) — warning sign

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