Imperial Tobacco lights up for income-seekers

Questor says BUY

ALTHOUGH investing in tobacco companies is not to everybody’s taste, the
valuation of Imperial Tobacco at the moment looks pretty compelling -
especially for income-seekers.

Last week, the company tabled a third quarter update that disappointed the
market - although the shares had been falling ahead of the announcement.

Imperial’s cigarette volumes for the nine months to June were down 4.3pc as a
result of market declines in Spain, the US, Russia and Ukraine.

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HP’s profits exceed expectations

The world’s biggest PC maker, Hewlett-Packard (HP), has beaten forecasts by posting a better-than-expected net profit in the fourth quarter.

HP said it made a $1.03 (£0.68) net profit per share excluding charges, 3% higher than the Wall Street analysts expected. Read more