Imperial Tobacco to develop e-cigs (now confirmed)

[Matt Gluggles]

In the same week that Altria, the owners of Marlboro in the USA, announced an e-cig launch - here in the UK, Imperial Tobacco plans to develop e-cigs as a result of a drop in profits in the west.

Imperial Tobacco provide brands such as Lambert & Butler, Richmond, Embassy and Regal - and also distribute Marlboro in the UK.

uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/30/uk-imperialtobacco-idUKBRE93T09J20130430

The news report, published by Reuters, confirms what many have suspected for some time now, that Imperial will be entering the electronic cigarette market, following behind BATs aquisition of Intellicig a few months ago.

Imperial say that they are "actively developing in that area at the moment" and that they will be "open-minded" to making aquisitions - in other words they are looking at buying out an existing electronic cigarette company.


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[Roscopecotrain]

Ok so correct me if i am wrong but this has got to be good for us. If a huge company like this is getting involved with e cigs and bat already involved then maybe they know something we dont about the ban? Would they have much of a sway with the eu etc over the ban if somehow we could get them involved?



Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[Pacer]

I personally think it will make the tax / v.a.t issues speed up. I don’t think this will help us at all.

[fred]

Apr 30, 2013 11:35:48 GMT Roscopecotrain said:

Ok so correct me if i am wrong but this has got to be good for us. If a huge company like this is getting involved with e cigs and bat already involved then maybe they know something we dont about the ban? Would they have much of a sway with the eu etc over the ban if somehow we could get them involved?



Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

Too right they will.
They'll fund the EU to ban everything except the sh1tty 10 puff 4mg cartos that they'll produce @ £5.99 each.

And what @pacer said about tax

[Roscopecotrain]

Good points guys. My little mind went positive first.



Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[mrclive]

Once the big boys hit the playground, you'd best get ready to empty your pockets. They'll rob is blind, all under the banner "Our product is better/safer than the rest because we've carried out proper clinical trials"!

Here's a clinical trial for you; release a product in 2002 and keep an eye on the A&E stats. The stats don't sky-rocket because of your product = a safe product. Job done.

Care to join me in a harmless vape?

[Matt Gluggles]

There are some valid concerns - but on balance this will probably turn out to be more good news than bad.

It will not affect vapers very much - they will not be competing with other e-cig companies - the product will be aimed at smokers.

They will definitely NOT want a 4mg rule - they will want to be putting 36 or 45mg juice in their product (24 minimum) - and on that level it will help us all because they will have their lawyers picking apart any proposed legislation in order to keep the market open.

In order for them to maintain their main business - it is very much in their interests that e-cigs remain classed as recreational products regulated as general products, the last thing they will want is for e-cigs to be classed as medicinal. But they will get an MA if they have to.

[mybad]

The main problem I foresee is that people like Imperial Tobacco will have exclusive rights to all liquid nicotine , making mixing your own redundant.

[deesigner]

I will breath a sigh of relief that I have 4 litres of nicotine safely stashed away, should keep me out of the market for a good few years.

Once the big boys get their hands in I think it will be very difficult for the small manufacturers to continue, there will be regulation and taxes. The regulation will be controlled by the tobacco fat cats!

On a more positive note it should take them a while to get organised, in which case it will give everyone the chance to get stocked up.

I don't hold out too much hope for the small vendors, at the very least I would imagine they would have to be licensed to continue to trade

[ckc]

Apr 30, 2013 10:58:21 GMT Matt Gluggles said:

Imperial say that they are "actively developing in that area at the moment" and that they will be "open-minded" to making aquisitions - in other words they are looking at buying out an existing electronic cigarette company.


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Looks like they already have their fingers in a pie.

www.marketingweek.co.uk/trends/e-cigarettes-will-tighter-ad-rules-send-sector-up-in-smoke/4005826.article

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Financial Times in September 2012, BAT chief executive Nicandro Durante claimed tobacco alternatives could account for as much as 40 per cent of BAT’s revenues (which were £15bn in 2011) in 20 years’ time.

Elsewhere, Imperial Tobacco’s group communications manager Iain Watkins confirms the company’s intentions in the category.

He says: “We have made a very small investment in a third party e-cigarette business; the details of which are commercially confidential. We’re building considerable knowledge and expertise in the field of e-cigarettes and are actively engaging with regulators to support the development of appropriate regulatory frameworks.”

[djs]

It's all a bit scary, but I think it has to be good (ish).

Everybody seems worried about the tobacco companies, and I think they themselves are worried - deeply. What do they sell; 10 million packs a day?
People blame them for the price, but the lions share is TAX and if a % of smokers switch to e-cigs, they WILL lose millions every year compared to where they are at the moment.

If they can recoup the lost revenue selling hardware/liquid/cartos, they will be keen to invest, I'm sure. Hard to say overall, but 4mg juice is good for almost nobody. My worry would be they stitch up the market to get ONLY their products out there. Then, market rules apply - it could mean £1.50 cartos or £5.00 cartos.

[deesigner]

It does make you wonder if this has something to do with TW's threat of putting in up to 5mill to fight against a certain MEP???

The downside is that not many people stay satisfied with the pre filled cartos. I can also see them sticking with tobacco flavours as this will be what they feel will keep kids off them. A great deal of us can't stand tobacco type flavours any more. If they tie up the nic market it will make it very difficult to be able to obtain nic to make your own so you'll be stuck with either tobac or tobac.

I can see the government wanting to take a huge slice to claw back what they've already lost on tobacco revenue. Let's face it if there are already nearly 1mill ecig users in the UK who were previously smokers, I don't know what the current tax rate on tobacco is, but I'm sure it's really high! It could mean the government are already losing anything between 4 - 6 million a year in taxes just on the few of us that have switched. I don't suppose that's a huge figure in the grand scheme of things, but if you think that the smoking ban bought about the closure of numerous pubs throughoout the country the losses of revenue from them must have made a big hole too. So they'll be rubbing their grubby hands together at the idea of being able to be seen to be doing something to make it look as though they're encouraging healthier lifestyle choices, but also line their coffers.

[collie2011]

It worries me, but then I am always wary of big business and their motivations. They have too much of a habit of trying to patent stuff and stop anyone else being able to make it etc, every big business has one wet dream, a monopoly market. I wouldn't be happy with only tobacco flavourings, I don't like them. When I switched from smoking I wanted to make a complete change away from cigarettes, I think the taste of tobacco would have been to much of a temptation to switch back.

[padiho]

[quote author=I don't know what the current tax rate on tobacco is, but I'm sure it's really high! It could mean the government are already losing anything between 4 - 6 million a year in taxes just on the few of us that have switched.





[/quote]

Traditional cigarettes are subject to extremely high levels of tax. Over the past two decades price increases were used as a mechanism to force people to stop smoking, or reduce the possibility of young people starting. A packet of cigarettes in the UK costs £7.50 ($11.50), of which over 75% is tax. It provided the UK Inland Revenue with a windfall of £12 ($18.5) billion 2012.

[Matt Gluggles]

More news about Imperial Tobacco and their move into the e-cig market :

www.express.co.uk/finance/city/396029/Imperial-Tobacco-s-light-idea-to-go-electronic