IMPERIAL TOBACCO, the maker of Lambert & Butler and Richmond cigarettes, yesterday all but ruled out an industry-wide challenge to any attempt by the Government to introduce a smoking ban in enclosed public places.
In a sign the UK tobacco industry is steeling itself for new laws restricting smoking in pubs and bars, Gareth Davis, chief executive, said: “We would make our opinion known, but I would draw short of saying we would challenge it in the courts.”
Mr Davis said the group’s UK business, which generates about 35 per cent of its profits, would weather a ban. But he gave warning that a ban could prove financially disastrous to the hospitality industry. “I think it’s the venues that suffer at the end of the day,” he said.
There is concern among the tobacco industry that a Department of Health White Paper, to be published next month, will recommend a ban in enclosed public places.
Mr Davis said a ban was unnecessary, pointing to non-smoking areas introduced by the hospitality industry, and current non-smoking policies in UK workplaces.
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“We won’t like to see them (tobacco companies) marginalised or villainised anymore than they have been,” he said.
There have also been concerns about Imperial’s exposure to successive tobacco tax increases in Germany, its second biggest market, which has seen a dramatic fall in cigarette consumption.
The shares fell 1p to £12.01.