(Reuters) -Imperial Brands said on Thursday trading for the year was in line with its expectations and reaffirmed its forecast, on the back of sustained demand, higher prices and strong adoption of tobacco alternatives such as e-cigarettes.
The company also announced a share buyback of 1.1 billion pounds ($1.34 billion).
The maker of Winston cigarettes and Backwoods cigars said its net revenue growth for tobacco products improved in the second half of the year, as higher prices helped offset the relatively steeper decline in volume when compared with historic averages.
Britain’s government on Wednesday proposed banning younger generations from ever buying cigarettes, a move that would give the country some of the world’s toughest smoking rules and hurt the sales of major tobacco firms.
If passed into law, the smoking age would rise by one year every year, potentially phasing out smoking among young people almost completely by 2040, a briefing paper said.
In recent years, Imperial Brands has focused on its top five markets and expanding next-generation products deemed less harmful to health.
($1 = 0.8230 pounds)
(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
