Imperial Brands Shares Fall After Cigarette Maker Warns of Market-Share Loss

By Anthony O. Goriainoff

Imperial Brands shares fell after the cigarette maker warned it lost some ground to rivals across its top five markets while targeting more profitable segments.

Shares in Imperial Brands were down 8.2% in European morning trading Tuesday. This would be the stock's biggest one-day percentage drop since September 2019, when a U.S. vaping crackdown prompted the company to issue a profit warning and sent its shares to their worst day ever on the stock market.

The company behind Davidoff and Gauloises cigarettes and Blu e-cigarettes said it anticipated a modest loss in the aggregate share across its top five markets in its fiscal first half, which ended March 31. Imperial Brands said it was adjusting its approach to reflect a focus on more profitable segments and changing market dynamics.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a research note that they were nervous about the disclosure, given that a stable market share in fiscal 2025 and some gains over the past five years had been fundamental to Imperial Brands' rehabilitation. The company gave no indication of the likely market-share trend in the second half, the analysts added.

Imperial Brands said it expected to report net revenue growth in the low single-digit percentage range in the tobacco and next-generation products segments when excluding currency changes for the first half. The company's next-generation products segment houses vape, heated tobacco and oral nicotine.

The company said robust tobacco pricing would offset volume declines. At its next-generation segment, the company expects net revenue growth in the mid-to-high single digits, and an acceleration in the second half.

Imperial Brands said it hadn't experienced any material business hit to date from the conflict in the Middle East, though the potential future effect on the second half remained uncertain.

The company reiterated its guidance for the year ending Sept. 30. It expects adjusted operating profit to grow in the 3% to 5% range from the 3.99 billion pounds ($5.39 billion) it reported the year before. Net revenue growth is expected to be in the low single digits in tobacco and in double digits in next-generation products.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com

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April 14, 2026 06:18 ET (10:18 GMT)