E-cigarettes and heated tobacco sales in Europe boost shares in Imperial Brands 

Maker of Winston cigarettes has 'five-year strategy to shift to tobacco alternatives'

Cigarette makers are trying to tap new and potentially less harmful alternatives.

Imperial Brands is on track to meet its full-year goals helped by strong sales of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco sales in Europe, it said, boosting its shares to a more than two-year high.

Shares of the maker of Winston cigarettes and Backwoods cigars rose as much as 7%, the second-best performance on the Stoxx Europe 600 index. 

Investors seem "relieved that the firm is on track to hit its full year guidance figures, as it proceeds in its five-year strategy to shift to tobacco alternatives", Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

After years of slow growth and market share losses, Imperial CEO Stefan Bomhard laid out a turnaround plan in 2021 focused on its five top markets and expanding next-generation products deemed less harmful to health. 

Together, the US, Britain, Germany, Spain and Australia account for over 70% of Imperial's revenue.

Imperial rival Philip Morris International's $16bn (€15.2) bid last week for smaller rival Swedish Match highlighted the urgency with which cigarette makers are trying to tap new and potentially less harmful alternatives.

Sales of Imperial's next generation brands, which include Pulze heated tobacco and blu e-cigarettes, were up 8.7% to £101m (€119m). 

• Reuters