Jump to full article: BBC Online, 2008-07-11
Intro: Six retailers and tobacco firms have agreed to pay a maximum of £173.3m in combined fines after admitting unlawful tobacco pricing practices.
The news comes after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in April accused a number of retailers and tobacco companies of anti-competitive retail pricing.
Asda, Somerfield, First Quench, TM Retail, One Stop Stores and tobacco firm Gallaher have agreed to the fines.
The OFT is continuing its investigation into a further six firms.
They are Imperial Tobacco, Tesco, Shell, the Co-operative Group, Morrisons and Somerfield. . . .
The OFT alleged that the retailers and tobacco groups arranged to swap information on future pricing.
A separate allegation is that there was an understanding that the price of some brands would be linked to rival brands.
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