Imperial Tobacco changes its name to Imperial Brands

(ShareCast News) - Imperial Tobacco has changed its name to Imperial Brands with immediate effect, following approval from shareholders at the annual general meeting earlier this week.The group's ticker on the London Stock Exchange will change to IMB with effect from Monday and its new web address, www.imperialbrandsplc.com, will also go live on that day.Imperial, which makes Davidoff and Lambert & Butler, announced back in December that it intended to drop the word 'tobacco' from its name.The company said at the time: "Imperial Brands better reflects the dynamic, brand-focused business that we are now."Our business is built around great consumer brands. Our growth and specialist brands are the key assets in our portfolio and we continue to focus on building the contribution they make to our volume and revenue development."At 1436 GMT, Imperial shares were down 0.8% to 3,571p.