Imperial Brands to offload Russian assets

Imperial Brands has started talks to offload its Russian operations, the tobacco giant said on Tuesday.

The blue chip is looking to exit the country, where it employs around 1,000 people, following the invasion of Ukraine. Its operations in both Ukraine and Russia, where it has a factory in Volgograd, have already been suspended.

Imperial said it had begun negotiations with an unnamed "local third party" about the transfer of all its Russian assets and operations.

"We believe that in current circumstances, an orderly transfer of our business as a going concern would be in the best interests of our Russian colleagues," it added. Staff will continue to be paid until any transfer is completed.

In the 2021 full year, Russia and Ukraine together represented around 2% of group net revenues and 0.5% of adjusted profits. Imperial said it now expected full-year constant currency net revenue growth in the current year to be between flat and 1%.

Imperial, formerly Imperial Tobacco, owns a number of tobacco and cigarette brands, including JPS, Winston and Davidoff.