Managers bearish on tobacco industry despite improving returns

'Road bumps in the sector'

Jayna Rana
clock • 4 min read

Fund managers remain nervous about the tobacco industry, which has been under regulatory, technological and social change over the past decade, despite a turnaround in performance over the past year.

As consumers became more health-conscious and aware of the risks associated with smoking and the tax on tobacco products climbed with almost every Budget in recent years, the industry began to see a fall in demand and an acceleration in volume decline. While this posed a threat to profitability, the popularity of e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn products signalled a positive transformation for both consumers and investors. Update: Robeco latest firm to exclude tobacco investments But this transformation proved to be slower than expected, leading some managers to begin reducing their ...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Investment

Stories of the week: The FCA, Bank of America and Neil Woodford

Stories of the week: The FCA, Bank of America and Neil Woodford

Recession expectations, AI chips and Hargreaves Lansdown: The biggest stories from the world of investment and asset management this week

clock 17 April 2025 • 1 min read
7IM's Ben Kumar: Geographic location almost irrelevant in investing

7IM's Ben Kumar: Geographic location almost irrelevant in investing

'Vocation, not location'

Ben Kumar
clock 17 April 2025 • 3 min read
Compliance questions loom over Woodford's portfolio platform plans

Compliance questions loom over Woodford's portfolio platform plans

FCA authorisation and/or promotion issues

Cristian Angeloni
clock 16 April 2025 • 5 min read
Trustpilot