Imperial Brands Plc, the maker of John Player Special cigarettes in the UK, will buy back as much as £1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) worth of shares, buoying the stock after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak proposed curbs on cigarettes and vaping.
(Bloomberg) — Imperial Brands Plc, the maker of John Player Special cigarettes in the UK, will buy back as much as £1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) worth of shares, buoying the stock after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak proposed curbs on cigarettes and vaping.
The buyback represents about 8% of the company’s equity and is 10% bigger than last year’s repurchase plan. The shares rose as much as 1.9% Thursday.
Imperial Brands reached its lowest in a year and a half Wednesday after Sunak unveiled a plan to raise the smoking age year by year in hopes of stamping out youth smoking. That would impose a prohibition on buying cigarettes for anyone born after 2008.
The government also suggested restricting the availability of disposable vapes and will look at the packaging and flavors of those products. Imperial makes electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products in addition to combustible cigarettes.
Read More: Sunak to Lift UK Smoking Age in Push to Phase Out Cigarettes
The UK combustible tobacco market accounts for about 11% of Imperial’s pretax earnings, according to Jefferies analyst Owen Bennett.
Full-year results will be announced on Nov. 14.
(Updates with details on Sunak’s proposals)
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