Imperial Brands warns of lower annual profit due to U.S. FDA ban

Tobacco group Imperial Brands said on Wednesday it expects full-year adjusted earnings to be slightly lower than last year due to a U.S. regulatory ban on some flavors of cartridge-based vapor devices and weaker consumer demand.

The warning comes on the heels of Stefan Bomhard's appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of the FTSE 100-listed group.

Imperial Brands said the ban by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which comes into effect this week, has led to a write-down of flavored inventory, which would have a 45 million pounds ($58.55 million) impact on first-half adjusted operating profit. ($1 = 0.7685 pounds)