Six retailers and tobacco firms have agreed to pay combined fines of £132.3m after admitting unlawful cigarette-pricing practices.

The Office of Fair Trading said the firms - Asda, Somerfield, First Quench, Gallaher, One Stop Stores (formerly T&S Stores) and TM Retail - had applied for leniency from the watchdog.

The cigarette price-fixing case goes back to April when the OFT accused the groups of anti-competitive pricing, alleging firms co-ordinated to link the price of some brands to rival products.

However, its investigation into a six firms also named by the watchdog in April - the Co-operative Group, Imperial Tobacco, Morrisons, Safeway, Shell and Tesco - is ongoing.

Sainsbury's, which first came forward for leniency from the OFT, will avoid any financial penalty if it continues to co-operate with the probe.

The OFT has also alleged that some of those named arranged to swap information on future pricing.

The six firms who have reached an early agreement with the OFT have received a discount from the potential maximum fine of £173.3m.

OFT chief executive John Fingleton said: "The OFT's objective is to make markets work well for consumers and the economy alike. A cornerstone of this is the principle that companies should set their prices independently."

The OFT said in April that the tobacco manufacturers and certain retailers struck deals that "restricted the ability of each of these retailers to determine its selling prices independently" in a period spanning 2000 to 2003.

It added that Gallaher, Imperial Tobacco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Shell, Somerfield and Tesco were allegedly involved in the "indirect exchange" of proposed future retail prices between competitors in the years 2001 to 2003.

Jill Johnstone, director of policy at the National Consumer Council, said: "We are pleased that the OFT is snuffing out cartels as price-fixing clearly cheats consumers.

"One of the biggest issues is that we have no way of knowing when price-fixing occurs. Often it takes a whistleblower to come forward."

Deborah Arnott, director of the health campaigning charity Ash, said cigarette manufacturer Gallaher had "shown complete contempt for its customers".

Imperial Tobacco, which has not admitted any infringement, said: "Imperial Tobacco takes compliance with competition law very seriously and rejects any suggestion it has acted in any way contrary to the interests of consumers."

The fine came as a separate case alleging price-fixing in the NHS brought by the Serious Fraud Office against a pharmaceutical company was left hanging in the balance after a judge refused the Crown permission to change the indictment.

Goldshield Group faced accusations of conspiracy to defraud the Department of Health over allegations of price-fixing of drugs between 1996 and 1999 in the case which ran for six years and cost the taxpayer around £40m.

Chairman Keith Hellawell said he was delighted about the development. However, the SFO said it was seeking leave to appeal.

In March, the House of Lords decided that price fixing, of itself, did not amount to a conspiracy to defraud and if the SFO wished to proceed with its prosecution it would have to review and amend its case. The SFO decided to pursue its case in April.

But yesterday Justice Pitchford, sitting at Southwark Crown Court in London, refused the application of the SFO to amend its indictment.

Goldshield has already settled civil actions bought by government health departments in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland without admission of liability in order to "clear the decks".

It was announced in March the group and two of its companies had agreed to pay £750,000, without admitting liability, to the Scottish health service.