Don’t scare away Big Oil and delay the path to a low-carbon future, says ALEX BRUMMER

Tobacco stocks are the pariahs of the FTSE 100.

However, for private investors and funds willing to ignore the health harms of traditional smoking products, they are stellar income investments.

An update from Imperial Brands is positive, with the £15bn company reporting strong revenues thanks to charging users more for its cigarettes, as well as expanding sales of disposable vapes.

Anyone willing to look at the medical consequences of smoking Winstons or rolling Golden Virginias will be rewarded with a dividend yield of 8.36 percent. With £52bn from Dunhill and Kent manufacturer BATS, the potential return is 9.86 per cent.

If ESG investors, Labour’s Ed Miliband and the Just Stop Oil protesters had their way, they would make European oil majors Shell, BP and Total less investable stocks.

Shell tycoons Wael Sawan and his predecessor Ben van Beurden warn that this could lead to it moving its share listings to New York. It would be a tragedy for UK investors, and possibly taxpayers, if the domicile moved at the same time.

Shell and BP have slowed their response to climate change, but remain the largest investors in green projects in the UK.

As pleasing as it is that Britain has dramatically reduced its dependence on fossil fuels, energy security remains paramount.

President Biden offers $1 trillion in subsidies for climate change investments.

That has not stopped Exxon, among others, from doubling down on fracking in the Permian Basin of Texas.

Extracting and burning natural gas is cleaner than oil, and big oil companies are making huge investments in hydrogen and carbon capture.

London has long been a major hub for natural resources companies, but its fundamentals are eroding. BNP escaped to Australia.

Glencore is under pressure from activist investor Tribeca Investment Partners to do the same. Shell and BP contribute to all our prosperity.

Driving them overseas, or turning them into corporate pariahs, would delay the path to a low-carbon future and make the London Stock Exchange irrelevant.

Goodbye Argentina

Emerging markets are a natural home for HSBC, with its long history in Asia. But Latin America is a bed of nails.

Using branches in Mexico to launder drug money cost the bank dearly: Congressional hearings, a £1.5bn fine from US authorities and probation for US operations.

The latest HSBC withdrawal is from Argentina. It is selling its operations there to local lender Grupo Financiero Galicia for $500m (£397m).

Banking in Argentina, in a context of serial defaults, rampant inflation and flight of foreign currency abroad, makes the reasons to stop doing it easy.

Cutting and starting will mean a hit of almost £800m on profits in the first quarter. HSBC will also have to write off £3.9 billion of historical losses that increased as the peso plummeted. Operations there are substantial with more than 100 outlets and 3,100 colleagues.

Argentine President Javier Milei can still achieve much-needed reforms. But chief executive Noel Quinn is committed to ending HSBC’s “local bank” history and has a mission following the exits of Canada, France, Greece and Russia.

The exit means even more resources to focus on the core markets of Hong Kong and China. Better to say it quietly in case Iain Duncan Smith is listening.

worthy cause

Here’s something we don’t read about very often. Florida-based investor GQG says Pascal Soriot, chief executive of leading British life sciences company AstraZeneca, whose pay package is set to rise to £18.7m this year, is “grossly underpaid”.

Although Soriot can raise more than £150m since taking the helm at Astra, it’s hard to argue with that. He is one of the few UK bosses who can dictate terms, having guided the company to the top of the FTSE 100.

Immunological drugs, developed under his direction, have helped cancer sufferers around the world.

Soriot is known to want new challenges and the board is keen to keep him enjoyable. He rightly pointed out that he would be even richer if Astra were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

That hasn’t stopped advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS from recommending a “no” vote. Wrong call.