THE U.S. tobacco industry is looking more like the “old days,” with profits rising and smoker litigation on the decline, Reynolds American Inc. chief executive officer Susan Cameron said.

    The cigarette maker completed its more than US$25 billion purchase of Lorillard Inc. on Friday, making it a stronger No. 2 in the market to Altria Group Inc. That new heft is expected to help increase profit margins and possibly raise retail prices.

    Recent court decisions also have made it harder for smokers to sue, bringing a tailwind to the industry.

    The rosier outlook may make the U.S. more inviting to foreign companies, which have largely steered clear of the nation in recent decades, Cameron said. The United Kingdom’s Imperial Tobacco Group Plc. is already expanding its presence in the market by buying four of Reynolds’s old brands — part of a regulatory agreement to preserve competition.

    “The global tobacco players over time will be more interested in the United States, just like the old days before it all changed,” Cameron said.(SD-Agencies)