Axa to ditch tobacco investments

The Paris-based group also promised to exit investments worth more than €1.7bn in the sector, with incoming chief executive Thomas Buberl saying the investments no longer made sense.

“It makes no sense for us to continue our investments within the tobacco industry,” he told the BBC.

“The human cost of tobacco is tragic. Its economic cost is huge.”

Buberl pointed out that Axa was a significant health insurer, with chronic diseases - such as those caused by smoking - costing the firm.

“We need to invest more into prevention in order to prevent chronic diseases, and we we want to really support that - not invest in tobacco which creates more chronic diseases,” he explained.

Plain cigarette packaging started appearing last Friday, after Big Tobacco lost its last-ditch bid to have the government’s de-branding plans ruled illegal.

Under the new rules, branded cigarette packages will be phased out and replaced by plain, olive-green packaging with the brand printed in a standardised sans-serif font.

Graphic health warnings will also take up most of the packaging.

Mentholated cigarettes, which are thought to be easier to smoke and encourage young non-smokers to the habit, will be phased out over a longer period under European rules.