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Imperial Tobacco Group announced today that Gareth Davis, 59, chief executive officer (CEO), will be retiring on 12 May 2010.
The board also said that Alison Cooper, currently Imperial Tobacco Group chief operating officer, will succeed Davis as CEO with effect from 13 May 2010. Davis and Cooper will continue to work closely together to ensure an orderly handover during the next six months.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Shares in Imperial Tobacco dipped on Tuesday as the world's fourth-largest cigarette maker signalled dividend growth may moderate after it met forecasts with a 14 percent rise in half-year earnings.
The maker of Lambert & Butler, West and Gauloises cigarettes said it retains its policy to pay out 50 percent of earnings as dividend, but in the near-term this may moderate due to the cost of restructuring at its recent Altadis acquisition.
Imperial shares slipped as much as 6.5 percent before trading off 5.3 percent at 15.45 pounds by 10:22 a.m. to be the FTSE 100 Index's biggest faller as analysts moved to cut their forecasts for the group's full-year dividend.
ONE of the world's biggest cigarette companies, British American Tobacco, has foreshadowed a High Court challenge if the Rudd Government adopts ambitious anti-smoking measures proposed by its hand-picked health taskforce.
British American Tobacco Australia, alongside Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco and the US Chamber of Commerce, have launched a stinging attack on a National Preventative Health Taskforce proposal to make Australia the first country in the world to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes.
In submissions to the taskforce's technical papers, published on Wednesday, they warn the proposal to ban company branding on cigarette packs could breach Australian and international law.
BATA said such a prohibition could leave the Government exposed to a lawsuit in the High Court, arguing such an acquisition of property -- including brand logos and pack designs -- on unjust terms would breach the Australian Constitution.
"Attempts to introduce plain packaging into Australia would see BATA take every action necessary to protect its brands and its right to compete as a legitimate commercial business selling a legal product," its submission says. . . .
Stripping the branding, colours and imagery from cigarette packs would "cost the taxpayer nothing and offers the prospect of shattering the image of cigarettes as an ordinary consumer item", the taskforce argued in a technical paper last year. . . .
Brad Huther, the Washington-based senior director of the US Chamber of Commerce, challenged the proposal's "disregard" of established international norms of intellectual property.
Once the domain of older men, younger women are becoming increasingly partial to roll-ups as smokers of all ages flinch at paying full cost for cigarettes
Even before the credit crisis took hold, smokers flinched at paying £5.22 for a packet of 20 Lambert & Butler.
Now that recession is gripping the country, they are increasingly turning to cheaper hand-rolling tobacco to get their nicotine fix. According to Imperial Tobacco, Britain’s biggest cigarette company and the owner of Golden Virginia and Drum, the volume of hand-rolling tobacco sold by the group in the UK rose by 7 per cent to 3,750 tonnes last year and the company believes it is on course for another significant increase in 2009.
Imperial, which also owns Rizla cigarette papers, has attributed the continued surge in roll-your-own cigarettes to both the economic down-turn and the fact that more women and younger smokers are turning to the likes of Golden Virginia. Once the territory of Andy Capp-types, younger women are increasingly becoming partial to roll-ups. . . .
While Imperial says that the surge in sales of rolling tobacco has extended over the past four years, the increase in demand has been so strong that it has recently introduced discount roll-your-own brands. In November 2007, it launched Gold Leaf – a value brand – and Golden Virginia Yellow in March this year.
Imperial added that an increased number of smokers are “dualling” – smoking both roll-ups and regular cigarette brands.
A LAVISH VIP party to promote cigarettes will be held this week in a building owned by the State Government, which funds anti-smoking campaigns.
The top secret, invitation-only event staged by cigarette brand Peter Stuyvesant is being held on Tuesday night at the Queen's Theatre, a non-smoking venue belonging to the History Trust of SA.
The party comes just months after the Sunday Mail revealed the brand's company, Imperial Tobacco, had been courting trendy Adelaide shops with cash incentives and corporate entertainment in return for stocking Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes in specially designed dispensers. . . .
The invitations, which requested guests wear special wristbands to the event and provide photo ID for entry, were delivered in a stainless steel box with a free packet of Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes. Under the SA Tobacco Products Regulation Act, promotion of a tobacco product through free samples can earn a fine of up to $5000.
Senator Nick Xenophon described the cigarette industry as "parasitic" and urged the Government to cancel the event.
Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, Europe’s second-largest traded cigarette maker, said business so far this fiscal year is meeting company forecasts due to gains in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
The company is “on track” to deliver 180 million euros ($242.6 million) in cost cuts and efficiencies by the end of the fiscal year in September, Bristol, England-based Imperial Tobacco said today in a Regulatory News Service statement.
Better-than-expected sales in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa will be offset by weaknesses in some European Union countries, particularly Poland and the Netherlands, and in travel retail, the company said.
The UK's largest tobacco company has warned it will take legal action against the government if it introduces a law forcing the firm to package cigarettes in plain white cartons.
Branded packs are in effect the tobacco industry's only remaining form of advertising in the UK and the smoking lobby has vowed to fight moves to phase them out. Senior executives in the leading tobacco firms fear other nations will follow the UK's lead if it passes a law ensuring all cigarettes sold here are contained in plain white cartons.
The Observer has obtained a letter from Imperial Tobacco to the Department of Health and members of the Lords, in which the company says amendments tabled to the current health bill passing through parliament, outlawing branded packets, will do nothing to make smokers more aware of the health risks or reduce the appeal of smoking. Imperial, which makes Lambert & Butler, Embassy and Regal, says it believes that "plain packaging for tobacco products is unnecessary, unreasonable and unjustified". And it gives the government notice that it will seek a judicial review of any legislation barring branded packs. . . .
"The health community is only beginning to understand what tobacco manufacturers have known for decades: the package matters more than the product, especially when you are pitching to children," said Martin Dockrell of Action on Smoking and Health. "The industry learnt long ago that one cigarette tastes much like another, and it is only when you put the product in the packet that you position the brand as 'sophisticated' or 'cool'."
Smokers are sticking to their cigarettes as the global slowdown deepens, and even if they are tempted to switch to cheaper smokes, the big tobacco giants have a wide range of brands to protect their market.
British American Tobacco (BATS.L) and Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L) have both reported resilient trading. BAT said on Thursday that it has not seen any real sign of downtrading to cheaper brands, which could hurt its future profit margins.
If smokers feel the pain of recession enough to search out cut-priced brands, these two European cigarette giants have the value brands to attract the cash-strapped consumer. BAT says this move downmarket will only happen when job losses start to soar.
"Only when unemployment spikes up have we seen trading down, and we have not seen a significant spike yet in unemployment around the world," said Chief Executive Paul Adams at a news conference after delivering its 2008 results.
Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (IMT.LN) reassured the market over its fiscal first-quarter performance Monday and said the weakness of sterling could benefit the company during the rest of 2009.
The world's fourth-largest global tobacco group by sales said in a trading update that its underlying performance in the three months to Dec. 31 remained in line with its expectations.
"However, should current foreign exchange rates persist, they will have an overall positive impact on our 2009 results," it said.
The benefit to the company's underlying profit from sterling's weakness will be slightly offset by higher interest payments and a larger net debt as some of the group's debt is in euros and dollars.
"In the first quarter of 2009 we maintained our growth momentum with further cigarette share gains in a number of our mature European markets as well as in many of our emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East," said Chief Executive Gareth Davis in the statement.
The company benefits further from higher sales abroad when revenues are translated into sterling, which has weakened against major currencies in recent months.
"Overall, this has been a pleasing start to the year," Davis added. "While we will not be immune from the current economic situation, we will be resilient, irrespective of there being some impact on our cigar and non-tobacco logistics businesses."
CIGARETTES are being sold at high-end clothing stores and hair salons, in a "tricky and desperate" tactic to lure new young smokers.
A Sunday Mail investigation has discovered smoke company Imperial Tobacco is lavishing trendy Adelaide stores with cash incentives and corporate entertainment in return for stocking Peter Stuyvesant brand cigarettes in specially designed cigarette dispensers.
Marketing kits distributed by the tobacco giant to fashion retailers describe cigarettes as being safe and fashionable: "It used to be extremely dangerous. Now the only danger is you're not the coolest cat on the block."
The tobacco giant's targeting of fashion-savvy outlets to push the trendy brand has prompted calls for a State Government crackdown to ban the practice. . . .
".
In the wake of the Sunday Mail investigation, SA Substance Abuse Minister Jane Lomax-Smith ordered a report into the laws on the sale of cigarettes through these outlets.
The investigation discovered:
CASH incentives of up to $2000 a year are offered to stores agreeing to sell cigarettes.
SMOKING is promoted as safe and cool in literature given to targeted fashion outlets.
FREE cigarettes are handed out to stockists.
BOOZY lunches and even a swish cruise have been held for businesses which sell the brand.
The Sunday Mail has confirmed at least six hip outlets - including Glenelg clothing store Zero, city boutique Whistles and CBD hair salon Gang - have started stocking the cigarettes, nicknamed "Stuyvies".
It used to be extremely dangerous. Now the only danger is you're not the coolest cat on the block.Marketing kits distributed to fashion outlets in Australia by Imperial Tobacco.
Europe's second biggest tobacco manufacturer said pre-tax profits fell from £1.24bn to £621m in the year to the end of September as higher financing costs hit the bottom line.
Revenues rose to £20.5bn but financing costs nearly trebled to £536m.
Chief executive Gareth Davis said that while sales of premium cigarette brands such as Davidoff and Gauloises Blondes were growing strongly in emerging markets, consumers in the developed world had begun trading down to cheaper products as the credit crisis hits disposable income levels.
The cigar market had also suffered as restrictions on smoking in public places and "the general economic downturn" hit the market, Mr Davis said, but added that demand for premium cigars remained strong in developing regions such as the Middle East, Asia and Russia.
Total cigarette sales rose 46pc to 292bn sticks, with "excellent results in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East complemented by further [market] share gains in the European Union and rapid expansion in the USA."
Imperial's share fell 28p to £15.49, despite the solid results.
"The results have again highlighted the resilience of the tobacco sector in the turbulent consumer environment," said Elise Badoy, an analyst with Goldman Sachs.