Tobacco.org

Slump slows fall in cigarette sales 

The fall in the amount of cigarettes being sold in the UK is slowing -- but it does not necessarily mean people are returning to the weed.

Imperial Tobacco, the maker of best-selling Lambert & Butler and other cheap brands like JPS, said today that during the last 12 months, the rate of decline in the amount of duty-paid cigarettes it sold in the UK came in at 1%. . . .

But Imperial, which has 45% of the UK market, says that the slowing rate of decline is a result of the recession because fewer cash-strapped smokers are going abroad and picking up their duty-free or cheaper cigarettes overseas.

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UPDATE 2-Imperial's trading and Altadis help lift shares  

Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT.L), the world's No.4 cigarette group, said trading remained in line with its expectations while the integration of Altadis was on track, helping to push its shares higher on Tuesday.

The British maker of Lambert & Butler and West cigarettes acquired Franco-Spanish group Altadis in January 2008 to add brands such as Gauloises and Fortuna. Imperial said the integration was on track to deliver expected cost savings.

Imperial shares edged 0.7 percent higher to 1,765 pence by 0715 GMT within a firmer London stock market .FTSE. Analyst Julian Hardwick at house broker RBS said that with earnings set to meet expectations, Altadis savings on track and strong cash generation, the shares look far too cheap compared to cigarette rival British American Tobacco Plc (BATS.L).

"We continue to see tobacco as the most attractive of the European consumer staples sectors

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The leading players in Vietnamese tobacco market include Vinataba, British American Tobacco Plc and Imperial Tobacco Group Plc 

This databook provides key data and information on the tobacco market in Vietnam. This report is a comprehensive resource for market, category and segment level data including value, volume, distribution share and company & brand share. This report also provides expenditure and consumption data for the historic and forecast periods.

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TI 08/09 - Key Markets of Imperial's Empire 

More than a year since its acquisition of Altadis, we take a look at how the deal has enhanced the company's presence in several key markets.

In January 2008, tobacco giant, Altadis, became part of even-larger tobacco giant Imperial. This was one of several big events for Imperial in their 2008 financial year. Overall cigarette volumes jumped up nearly 50% to 292 bn cigarettes (helped, not only by the Altadis acquisition, but by the Commonwealth Brands acquisition in 2007). Fine cut tobacco volumes went up 25,000 tons and cigar volumes increased dramatically, as well.

Integrating Altadis has been labeled a "key focus" by the company, and is a process that is continuing into 2009. The company has successfully completed all consultations, enabling the further implementation of the European integration projects it announced in June 2008. The company has completed the integration of its sales and marketing teams in Spain and France and remains on track to achieve its synergy targets.

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Imperial Tobacco sales down in EU as air travel declines 

Imperial Tobacco has attributed a fall in tobacco sales in the UK and the rest of the European Union (EU) for the year ending June 2009 to a reduction in foreign travel and lower duty-free sales. Despite the decline, the company said sales for the financial year ending September 2009 remain in line with expectations. . . .

Imperial Tobacco CEO Gareth Davies said: "We have delivered another good performance in our third quarter, driving sales throughout our enlarged geographic footprint and achieving further volume and share growth across our regions. The versatility of our balanced portfolio is enabling us to benefit from growth in value cigarette and fine cut tobacco brands in mature markets, while continuing to develop our mainstream and premium cigarette brands in emerging markets.

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Imperial Tobacco sales light up as smokers search for value  

If shares in Imperial Tobacco continue to trail those of BAT -- down 10 per cent this year against its larger rival -- there was little to explain that drag in yesterday's third-quarter update.

Trading remains very much on track, the integration of Altadis -- the maker of Gauloises bought for €12 billion two years ago -- is proceeding to plan and working capital savings mean that this year's cashflow should comfortably exceed operating profits.

Most encouragingly, sales volumes in Imperial's biggest Western European markets continue to improve. The UK remains the company's most important territory, and volumes of duty-paid cigarettes were down a modest 1 per cent, against the mid-single digit declines that were previously the norm.

True, the situation is beginning to improve after the introduction of the 2007 smoking ban in England and Wales. But tougher economic times also seem to suit it. Imperial has greater exposure to so-called "value" brands than most of its peers

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Imperial sales fall as duty-free declines  

Imperial Tobacco, the FTSE 100 company, said today that the reduced level of foreign travel has hurt its sales in Spain - although it has helped UK sales.

Sales of cigarettes in Spain were down by about 4 per cent in the year to the end of June, as travel sales - in airport duty-free shops and in popular resorts for British people - declined and the recession-hit Spanish traded down to roll-your-own cigarettes, according to the maker of Lambert & Butler and Gauloises cigarettes.

However, the rate of market decline in the UK slowed slightly to 1 per cent as there were fewer purchases of British brands abroad. The UK fine-cut tobacco market also grew as more smokers decided to roll their own cigarettes.

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UPDATE 2-Imperial Tobacco sees success in rolled cigarettes 

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc (IMT.L), the world's No.4 cigarette group, said it was benefiting from recession-hit smokers using its cheaper products to roll their own cigarettes and more growth in emerging Asian markets.

The British maker of Lambert & Butler, West and Gauloises cigarettes said on Thursday it had a good performance in the third quarter and was on track to meet its expectations for the full year to Sept. 30. . . .

* Company sees in-line full-year after good Q3

* UK mkt decline slows, people buy fewer cigarettes abroad

* Volume, market share grows in Asia

* Shares down 1.7 percent

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• Merton Council shares in cigarette company profits 

A council decision to invest millions in cigarette companies while running anti-smoking campaigns has been branded “hypocritical”.

Despite claims to be working to cut smoking in the borough, a leaked list of the council’s investments shows it holds more than £3.5m of shares in cigarette makers Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco.

The council has pledged to reduce smoking in the borough through the Healthier Communities Strategy, a partnership with Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust.

The partnership’s priorities include running campaigns and offering support to help smokers quit, as well as reducing the habit among young people.

But, on March 31 this year, the council had £2,407,311 invested in British American Tobacco, makers of Lucky Strike and Benson and Hedges cigarettes. And some £1,171,936 was invested in Imperial Tobacco, makers of Lambert and Butler.

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Cheaper tobacco sparks outrage 

Outraged anti-smoking organisations are worried cigarette price cuts by tobacco companies will make smoking more affordable and lure former smokers back to the habit.

A Central Otago retailer yesterday confirmed both British American Tobacco New Zealand and Imperial Tobacco have embarked on what appears to be a price war by dropping the cost of several brands.

The retailer said a British American Tobacco representative told him prices were being cut some brands by as much as $1.10 a packet to make smoking more affordable in the current economic situation.

Attempts to obtain comment from the two tobacco giants were unsuccessful yesterday.

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• Ukraine’s ‘Lost’ Cigarettes Flood Europe 

garettes -- at $1.05 per pack -- making the country a bonanza for smugglers, whether by glider or more mundane pathways on the ground. Cars and trucks filled with Ukrainian-made Marlboros and Viceroys get waved through border checkpoints by customs guards who seem more than eager to accommodate, for a price. Loads also move by bus and train, bound for other European countries where high taxes make packs cost as much as $5 (Germany) or $10 (United Kingdom).

The backbone of this underground commerce -- the acquisition of the cigarettes themselves -- is by far the easiest part of the entire operation. The world's four leading multinational tobacco companies, Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), Imperial Tobacco, and British American Tobacco (BAT), have produced billions of excess cigarettes in Ukraine, fueling a teeming black market that reaches across the European Union. Today, Ukraine is rivaled only by Russia as the top source of non-counterfeit brand cigarettes smuggled to Europe, EU officials say.

The booming trade in tobacco smuggling has major consequences, say industry experts. The growing traffic pushes huge supplies of cheap, untaxed, and unregulated cigarettes into the rest of Europe, undercutting otherwise successful attempts to curtail smoking. Worse, officials say, the trade is boosting organized crime gangs, who find the soft penalties and big profits hard to resist. . . .

Attracted by high smoking rates and the potential for rapid returns on investments, multinational tobacco companies rushed to acquire the state-run cigarette factories after the Soviet regime collapsed in 1991. Today, the big four tobacco companies -- Philip Morris, BAT, JTI, and Imperial -- control 99 percent of the Ukrainian cigarette market.

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• Big tobacco pays Dutch opposition to smoking ban 

Ton Wurtz, treasurer of the foundation 'Red de kleine horecaondernemer' (Save the small hospitality entrepreneur), has admitted to receiving "about 50,000 euros per year" from the tobacco companies. Wurtz also holds biweekly strategy talks with Willem Jan Roelofs, the chairman of the cigarette industry foundation SSI, he said.

Smoking was banned in cafes, bars, hotels and restaurants in The Netherlands a year ago. Just before the ban went into effect on July 1, 2008, Wurtz, who has been the spokesperson for a foundation that stands up for smokers since 1993, and other seasoned tobacco lobbyists established the foundation to represent the interests of small cafe owners.

The smoking ban was primarily adopted to guarantee the right of employees to work in a smoke-free environment. But critics say small bars, with no employees except the owners, should be exempt from the ban. Several court cases are underway against cafes that defied the ban.

The law firm representing the small cafe owners has been negotiating with the tobacco industry about the possibility of it bankrolling future lawsuits challenging the smoking ban. . . .

"We are talking to several parties about financing a procedure, SSI amongst them," Marco Gerritsen of the Van Diepen Van der Kroef law firm confirmed. "They haven't promised anything yet."

SSI's is a collaboration between British American Tobacco (Pall Mall), Imperial Tobacco (Gauloises) and Japan Tobacco International (Camel); Philip Morris (Marlboro) left the group in 2005. Tobacco companies fear a decline of 5 percent of sales because of the smoking ban in bars. Roelofs: "That is a substantial loss in an already contracting market." He denied the SSI has any intention to finance future court cases.

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• Cuban Cigars JFK Loved May End ‘Forbidden Fruit’ Status in U.S.  

As President Barack Obama moves to ease restrictions on trade with Cuba, cigar lovers are savoring the prospect of legally lighting up a smoke that has long required a black- market connection and a willingness to flout the law. . . .

The possible end to the 47-year-old embargo on Cuba trade has intensified a legal and lobbying fight between cigar makers Swedish Match AB of Stockholm and Imperial Tobacco Group Plc of Bristol, England. Each wants exclusive rights to sell Cuban-made brands in the U.S., the world’s largest market for premium cigars.

Swedish Match sells cigars in the U.S. made in Honduras and the Dominican Republic under Cuban brand names. It bought the brands from families that fled Cuba after Fidel Castro seized their cigar companies in the 1960s. Imperial distributes Cuban- made cigars under many of the same names to the rest of the world through an agreement with the Cuban government monopoly, Cubatabaco.

“Before serious commerce resumes, this is going to have to be resolved,” said Robert Muse, a Washington lawyer who advises clients on Cuba-related issues.

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Imperial, Philip Morris hike Spain tobacco prices  

Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L) and Philip Morris (PM.N) have both raised the price of their cigarettes in Spain by about 0.35 euro a pack, according to figures published in Spain's state bulletin. . . .

Last week, the government announced tax increases on tobacco

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DOH wants tobacco plant to butt out 

Amid a row over a British company's plans to build a tobacco plant in a Miaoli township, Taiwan's health chief Yeh Ching-chuan said his agency is opposed to the project.

Yeh, head of the Department of Health (DOH), made the remarks while fielding questions on the issue from lawmakers at a legislative committee meeting.

He said although the DOH is not the agency responsible for the matter, in principle it is opposed to plans to construct the tobacco plant because the plan runs counter to the global anti-smoking trend.

The negative implications, such as public health and pollution, could outweigh the plant's job creation benefits, Yeh said.

The anti-smoking group, the John Tung Foundation, a non-profit agency, voiced its objection to the plan a day earlier. British-based Imperial Tobacco Company Ltd wants to build a tobacco plant in northern Taiwan's Miaoli County Chunan township.

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