Smokers have cut down since end of the pandemic, says Imperial Brands

Lambert & Butler owner Imperial Brands said that smokers have cut down since the end of the pandemic.

The habit has been in decline across most of the world for a number of years amid health concerns.

When Covid hit, lockdowns left people with more time to smoke at home but Imperial said that those ‘Covid-related changes in buying patterns’ have now passed and demand for cigarettes is again falling.

Stubbing out: When Covid hit, lockdowns left people with more time to smoke at home but Imperial said that demand for cigarettes is again falling

The Bristol company, whose brands also include Winston, Davidoff and Gauloises, said higher prices have offset lower sales. Revenue and profit will grow this year, it said, despite remaining flat in the first half.

But ‘uncertainty’ in the US meant sales of its ‘next-generation’ products such as vapes fell in the first half. 

It came after the US Food and Drug Administration issued a clampdown on Imperial vaping products last year.

Much of the cigarette industry is pinning its hopes on new products such as heated tobacco and vaping to replace traditional tobacco, which causes cancer. 

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Imperial is flexing its pricing power further this year which it is confident will help it eke out modest revenue and profit growth.

‘But with profits flat in the first half, even modest full-year growth expectations mean there’s a lot to deliver in the second half.’