It’s hard to imagine a market in a more obvious state of long-term structural decline. No matter how many young smokers light up in the world’s emerging economies, the use of traditional cigarettes is on the way out.
So imagine the excitement of the world’s Big Tobacco companies at the swelling ranks of vapers, or users of alternative nicotine-based smoking tools that are considered to be less harmful than cigarettes. Imperial Brands is one of two FTSE 100 companies at the centre of this transformation in the use of tobacco and tobacco-free products.
Though it can trace its roots to 1786, Imperial Brands effectively was created in 1901 through a merger of 13 family businesses. Listed in 1996, it produces more than 125 brands of