TobaccoReporter logo

Category: News This Week

  • Imperial Targets FY26 Growth, Announces £1.5B Buyback

    Imperial Targets FY26 Growth, Announces £1.5B Buyback

    Imperial Brands expects to meet its FY26 guidance across all key metrics, with tobacco net revenue projected to grow by a low single-digit percentage and next-generation product (NGP) net revenue by double digits. The company said it expects adjusted operating profit growth within its 3% to 5% guidance range, high-single-digit adjusted earnings per share growth, and more than £2.2 billion in free cash flow. Tobacco revenue growth is expected to be driven by pricing and market share gains in the U.S. and Germany, partially offset by low-single-digit volume declines.

    Imperial said it expects share gains across heated tobacco, vaping, and modern oral products. The company also said it is on track to achieve at least £320 million in savings by 2030. Imperial completed its £1.45 billion FY26 share repurchase and announced a further £1.5 billion buyback for FY27, which it expects to complete by Oct. 29, 2027. The company will report full-year results for the year ended Sept. 30 on Nov. 17.

  • Ill. Rep Questions FDA Review of Vape Rules

    Ill. Rep Questions FDA Review of Vape Rules

    This week, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) asked FDA Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas for information about the agency’s Sept. 28 announcement that it is considering replacing the 2021 rules governing Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (PMTAs). Krishnamoorthi, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus to End Youth Vaping, questioned whether changes could reduce the scientific requirements for new tobacco products and asked whether FDA consulted tobacco manufacturers, industry associations, or parties challenging the current framework before announcing the review. He also requested communications between FDA officials and Altria, Reynolds American, their subsidiaries, and other parties involved in challenges to the rules.

    Krishnamoorthi also cited FDA’s recent authorizations of flavored e-cigarettes and Juul products in raising concerns about the agency’s approach to scientific review. He asked FDA to identify provisions of the 2021 PMTA rule it may change, explain the evidence supporting those changes, address the relationship between the illicit market and lawful product authorization requirements, and outline additional enforcement actions against unauthorized e-cigarettes. He requested written responses by Oct. 20.

  • Russia to Allow Regional Vape Sales Bans

    Russia to Allow Regional Vape Sales Bans

    Russia will allow regional governments to prohibit the retail sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems and e-liquids for five years beginning March 1, 2027, under a new experimental regime. The measure will run through March 1, 2032, with regions able to adopt their own laws imposing the bans, while existing federal rules will remain in effect in regions that do not introduce restrictions.

    The first regional proposals are already emerging. Authorities in Primorsky Krai have proposed banning retail sales of electronic cigarettes, vape and pod systems, and their liquids, including nicotine-free liquids, from March 1, 2027, through March 1, 2032. The proposal is currently undergoing public discussion.

  • GAO Finds FDA Holding 130K Tobacco Applications to End 2025

    GAO Finds FDA Holding 130K Tobacco Applications to End 2025

    Vaping 360 reports that nearly 132,000 tobacco product applications remained unresolved at the end of 2025, with the applications awaiting decisions for an average of 1,266 days, according to a new Government Accountability Office audit of the FDA’s tobacco product review program. The FDA received more than 26.6 million applications from 2018 through 2025 and completed reviews of about 26.5 million, with most applications submitted after the 2020 deadline for products covered by the agency’s Deeming Rule involving e-cigarettes.

    The GAO found that completed reviews across three premarket pathways averaged 507 days and that FDA systems do not consistently capture information needed to determine whether the agency meets the 180-day statutory target for the scientific-review phase of Premarket Tobacco Product Applications. The FDA has reduced screening times and introduced automated application checks, while also applying lessons from its nicotine pouch pilot to e-cigarette reviews. The GAO recommended that FDA improve data collection to monitor scientific-review timelines, and the Department of Health and Human Services agreed.

  • BAT Bangladesh Appoints Corporate Affairs Head

    BAT Bangladesh Appoints Corporate Affairs Head

    BAT Bangladesh PLC has appointed Momshad Ali Khan as head of corporate and regulatory affairs, effective Oct. 1, 2026. Khan has more than 20 years of experience in corporate affairs, government relations, regulatory strategy, stakeholder engagement, and strategic communications.

    Before joining BAT Bangladesh, Khan was director of public affairs, communications, and sustainability at Coca-Cola Bangladesh and previously served as head of corporate and fiscal affairs at JT International Bangladesh. He also spent more than a decade at Chevron Bangladesh.

  • Philippines Requires Safety Certification for Nicotine Pouches

    Philippines Requires Safety Certification for Nicotine Pouches

    The Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has imposed mandatory product certification requirements for nicotine pouches under Department Administrative Order (DAO) No. 26-07, signed Sept. 2. The order requires nicotine pouches to obtain certification under the Philippine Standard (PS) licensing scheme before they can be manufactured, imported, packaged, sold, or distributed. Products must meet World Health Organization reference procedures for nicotine content, pH level, and water activity.

    Manufacturers must conduct in-plant testing or use a DTI-recognized or accredited foreign laboratory. Packaging must declare nicotine content and allergens, provide use and disposal instructions, display the PS certification mark, and carry a full-color health warning covering contraindications, medication interactions, precautions, adverse reactions, and overdose treatment. The DTI established a 12-month transition period for companies to register existing products. Afterward, only nicotine pouches with a valid PS license may be manufactured, imported, distributed, or sold in the Philippines.

  • Republic Files Five Lawsuits Over Counterfeit Products

    Republic Files Five Lawsuits Over Counterfeit Products

    Republic Brands has filed five lawsuits in New York and New Jersey against businesses accused of selling counterfeit E-Z Wider rolling papers. The company also cooperated with New Jersey State Police in an investigation of distributor Sunrise Wholesalers that resulted in the seizure of thousands of counterfeit booklets and a criminal counterfeiting charge against one of the distributor’s operators. The lawsuits name convenience store operators Atlantis Management Group LLC and Atlantis Fresh Market LLC, along with wholesale suppliers Kings Cash and Carry Inc., Omega Wholesale Inc., Yemen City Plus Wholesale Cash and Carry, and United Candy and Tobacco Co. Inc. Republic CEO Don Levin said the company will continue pursuing civil and criminal action to protect its brands and combat counterfeit sales.

  • KT&G Opens Second Indonesian Plant

    KT&G Opens Second Indonesian Plant

    KT&G Corp. announced that it has begun operations at its second tobacco manufacturing plant in Indonesia as it expands its production and export capacity in Southeast Asia. The facility in Pasuruan, East Java, has an annual capacity of 21 billion cigarettes, joining the Surabaya plant to bring KT&G’s total Indonesian capacity to 35 billion cigarettes. The company said the new plant will serve as a manufacturing base for exports to neighboring countries and other markets.

    KT&G operates tobacco plants in South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan, with its four overseas plants expected to reach combined annual capacity of 65 billion cigarettes. The company aims to generate half of its sales overseas by 2027 and is targeting 10 trillion won ($6.8 billion) in sales next year, up from 6.58 trillion won in 2025. Conventional cigarettes account for about 90% of sales, with the remainder coming from heat-not-burn products.

  • UK Smoking Rate Falls as Vaping Remains More Common

    UK Smoking Rate Falls as Vaping Remains More Common

    The UK’s adult smoking rate fell to a record-low 9.8% in 2025 from 10.6% in 2024, with about 4.9 million people aged 18 and over reporting that they smoked, according to data released Oct. 6 by the Office for National Statistics. In Great Britain, 5.4 million adults, or 9.9% of those aged 16 and over, reported using e-cigarettes daily or occasionally, compared with 4.8 million current smokers, continuing a trend that began in 2024 when vaping overtook smoking. E-cigarette use was highest among 25- to 34-year-olds, at 16.4%.

    John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said the figures demonstrate the role vaping is playing in reducing smoking but criticized government policies, including the Vaping Products Duty that took effect Oct. 1. Dunne cited UKVIA research showing 50% of surveyed vapers feared the duty could push them back to smoking or the black market, while industry-backed analysis estimated 946,000 vapers and dual users could switch exclusively to smoking. He called for a “Fair Deal for Vaping” that protects young people while maintaining access to vaping products for adult smokers seeking to quit.

  • Eight EU Countries Seek Broad Nicotine Restrictions

    Eight EU Countries Seek Broad Nicotine Restrictions

    Eight EU member states — the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia, and Spain — are urging the European Commission to significantly expand the bloc’s tobacco and nicotine rules as part of the review of the Tobacco Products Directive and Tobacco Advertising Directive. In a letter to Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, the countries called for maximum nicotine limits, standardized products and devices, plain packaging, and broad flavor restrictions across authorized nicotine categories. They also want the regulatory framework to allow individual countries to ban nicotine pouches and disposable e-cigarettes.

    The governments are also seeking a ban on advertising for nicotine products, including influencer and creator content, along with restrictions on cross-border online sales. Their proposal would prohibit new nicotine and nicotine-like products, as well as nicotine-free products designed to resemble nicotine products, from entering the EU market. The countries said the revised framework should keep pace with product and marketing developments and support the EU’s goal of becoming smoke-free by 2040.