Imperial chairman buys after results

Imperial Tobacco's chairman Iain Napier has lifted his stake in the firm following its first quarter results, spending more than £35,000 on shares.

He took 2,257 at about 1,560p a time and now has 12,538.

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The maker of Lambert & Butler cigarettes said that its dividend payout ratio was still at 50% but it will take into consideration costs associated with the restructuring of its recent acquisition Altadis.

"Our policy of progressive dividends based on underlying earnings growth is unchanged with a payout of around 50%, whilst recognising the cash impact of the Altadis restructuring," said the group.

The group announced an interim dividend of 21p, up 0.1p from last year, in line with its policy of paying out a third of previous year's full dividend.

Stripping out costs, underlying profits rose by 47% to £998m. But overall Imperial did fall into a loss of £184m, compared with a profit of £326m before, driven by fair value losses of £937m on derivatives and amortisation of intangibles of £224m.

Revenues for the half-year to March year rose from £8bn to £12.4bn, reflecting the inclusion of Altadis.

Napier, a former chairman of the brewer Bass, was appointed chairman of Imperial in 2007.

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