Considering that demand for her company’s core product is suffering a gradual but unstoppable decline, Alison Cooper, chief executive of Imperial Brands, seems remarkably chirpy. She declares the decline of tobacco volumes (down another 4.1 per cent over the past year) to have been “de rigueur for a long time” and insists that, by investing in the right brands and adopting a consistent price strategy while keeping a vice-like grip on costs, tobacco can continue to produce “shedloads of cash”.
The cash is what attracts investors to Imperial, specifically its pledge to grow the dividend by at least 10 per cent per annum while reducing its debt pile — down from £13.9 billion at the half-year to £12.1 billion. Yesterday, it completed its ninth