Leading European tobacco companies 2015, ranked by market value

This statistic shows the leading tobacco companies in Europe in 2015, based on market value. The values are based on the 2015 Financial Times Global 500 list. In this year, the British American Tobacco company ranked highest in Europe with a market value of 96.5 billion U.S. dollars. Imperial Tobacco ranked second with a market value of approximately 42.1 million U.S. dollars. The price of cigarettes is substantially different across Europe: as of 2017, the most expensive country in which to purchase cigarettes was the United Kingdom (UK). Cigarette prices are driven by the respective taxes imposed within each of the member states and consist of a specific duty per 1,000 cigarettes and an ad valorem rate onto the recommended retail price, in addition to value added tax (VAT). Thus the highest rates of taxation are reflected in the retail prices. Similar rates of taxation between countries are also found for hand rolling tobacco, where the highest levels of taxation are found in the United Kingdom once again. Governments that impose such strong barriers to the purchasing of tobacco are considered 'nanny states', with high levels of control on other factors, such as advertising, bans of tobacco products on retail displays and graphic warnings on cigarette packs.