Emma Rumney

Dutch brewer Heineken's third-quarter sales figures beat forecasts on Wednesday, buoyed by higher priced and non-alcoholic beers, but full-year guidance was left unchanged.

British American Tobacco (BAT) will launch a version of its Velo nicotine pouches using synthetic nicotine in the United States, David Waterfield, president of the company's U.S. subsidiary Reynolds American, said on Wednesday.

A Couche-Tard takeover of 7-Eleven owner Seven & i would position the combined convenience store chain to dominate U.S. cigarette sales and try to push tobacco companies for better prices and promotions - including on fast-growing nicotine pouches like ZYN.

Three large Chinese vape companies are researching nicotine-like chemicals they think could serve as a substitute for nicotine in products like vapes, company officials said, but the health implications may still need "years" of investigation.

France's Pernod Ricard on Thursday forecast its sales will grow again next year even as challenges in the U.S. and Chinese markets persist, after reporting an annual 1% drop largely in line with forecasts and its own guidance.

Their ambitions to sell devices resembling vapes in the medical sphere amid growing concerns about their health impacts will be hard to realize.

Anheuser-Busch InBev outshone rival alcohol producers who had struck a downbeat tone in their quarterly results, but even the world's biggest brewer was cautious on Thursday amid low consumer confidence and emerging market turmoil.

Diageo warned challenges could persist into next year after missing full-year profit expectations on Tuesday, sending shares in the world's top spirits maker down more than 9% to a four-year low.

Shares in Dutch brewer Heineken slid almost 8% on Monday after an expected sports-led boost for beer sales failed to materialise and it took an 874-million euro ($948 million) impairment charge on its Chinese investment.

Diageo set for first post-COVID annual sales decline