Tobacco Articles: org miller

Anheuser-Busch ceases alcoholic energy drink sales; Miller doesn't follow suit

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. said Thursday it agreed to stop selling its caffeinated alcoholic drinks after allegations that the products were being illegally marketed to underage people, but Miller Brewing Co. has yet to announce a similar move. Miller Brewing, which is included in the same investigation, issued a statement saying that it has and continues to cooperate with investigators. Miller sells the Sparks and SparksPlus alcoholic energy drinks.

How big UK groups paid no corporation tax in 2007

Tue, 20 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Some of Britain’s biggest listed companies, including several that have threatened to redomicile abroad, paid little or no corporation tax in Britain in 2007. Research by The Times shows that FTSE-100 companies – Cadbury, Standard Chartered and British American Tobacco, which have a combined market capitalisation of £75 billion, employed almost 11,000 UK staff and generated more than £6 billion in global profits, – paid zero corporation tax in Britain last year. Although there is no suggestion of impropriety, the research indicates that some of Britain’s biggest and best-known companies contribute startlingly little to the Exchequer in corporation tax. Most of the companies earn the bulk of their profits overseas, meaning that they also pay most or all of their taxes outside the UK, allowing them to offset these against domestic tax liabilities. In some cases, this allows them to pay no British corporation tax at all. . . . A spokeswoman for BAT, the twelfth-biggest company in the UK by market value and the owner of the cigarette brands Lucky Strike and Pall Mall, said that its head office operated at a loss and that 99 per cent of its profits were earned overseas. She said that the company welcomed the Treasury’s decision to examine the UK’s tax laws. A spokesman for SABMiller, the brewing group, which paid less than £100,000 in corporation tax in Britain last year, said: “We have a very small commercial operation in the UK that employs about 70 people and is only a developing business. All other profits are taxed at source.”

UPDATE 2-Altria units set post-spinoff long-term targets : (Adds other forecast details, company comment; updates stock activity)

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Philip Morris International expects earnings per share to rise 10 percent to 12 percent annually in the long-term after the cigarette company gets spun off from Altria Group Inc later this month, it said on Tuesday. At the same time, Altria said its remaining businesses -- Marlboro cigarette maker Philip Morris USA and a 28.6 percent stake in beer maker SABMiller PLC -- should post long-term annual earnings per share growth of 8 percent to 10 percent. The forecasts came in a news release ahead of an analysts' meeting to lay out plans for the companies after the March 28 spinoff of Philip Morris International. The remaining Altria business should provide annual shareholder returns of more than 12 percent, including its dividend, the company said.

SABMiller And Molson Coors to Combine U.S. Operations

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:00:00 GMT

Brewers SABMiller <SAB.L> and Molson Coors Brewing <TAP.N> have agreed to combine their U.S. operations to create a business that will have annual sales of $6.6 billion and be the second-biggest market player behind Anheuser-Busch <BUD.N>. The venture, MillerCoors, will generate around $500 million of annual cost savings by the third year after completion of the deal, which is subject to the approval of the U.S. competition authorities, the two groups said on Tuesday.

Britain's smoking ban sends brewers east as western markets go flat: Russia, China and India have developed a taste for beer as traditional sales fall

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:00:00 GMT

Smoking bans are likely to accelerate the shift already under way. S&N estimates that the ban in England that begins on Sunday will hit beer sales in pubs and bars by 5% and cut operating profits by Â£10m in the next six months. Smoking bans in Ireland and Scotland have knocked beer sales by up to 7%, and England will not fare any better, reckons Mark Hastings at the Beer and Pub Association. Market researchers predict that more than a third of the global beer consumption will move to Russia and China.

Wis. man says beer choice cost him job

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 05:00:00 GMT

A man may have found out firsthand just how nasty the competition is between the world's two biggest beermakers. Isac Aguero, 24, said he was fired from his job with a Miller Brewing distributor, the same day a picture appeared in The Journal Times of Racine of him drinking a Bud Light, which is brewed by Anheuser-Busch Co. The photo, taken Feb. 5, was part of the newspaper's weekly "On the Town" feature, which depicts the city's night life. . . . "It was a Saturday and I wasn't at work," he told The Journal Times. "They can't tell me what beverages I can drink. "Bud Light's my beer of choice, I always drink that. Just because I work there, do I have to change what I drink?"

A Breakup's Value: Over $70 a share, if Altria's plan proceeds

editors@barrons.com (ANDREW BARY) — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 05:00:00 GMT

INVESTORS IN ALTRIA GROUP GOT GOOD NEWS Thursday when the tobacco giant, parent of Philip Morris, said it likely will split itself into two or three parts once its legal problems recede. Wall Street cheered the unexpected announcement. Altria's shares rose 5 points to 54 last week, and in a breakup, its pieces could be worth over $70 a share. At a Morgan Stanley consumer conference in New York, Altria Chief Executive Louis Camilleri called the company's tobacco business "significantly undervalued"

SAB says knows of no change in Altria stake plans

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 05:00:00 GMT

British brewer SABMiller (SAB.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it was not aware of any change in Altria's (MO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plans for its 36 percent shareholding in SAB after the U.S. company said it was mulling a break-up. Dealers said Altria's comments increased the likelihood the U.S. firm would sell its SAB holding when it is allowed to do so from the end of June 2005. Altria owns 430 million SAB shares as a legacy of the latter's purchase of Miller.

UPDATE 1-Altria's $6 bln SAB stake sale seen likely: (Adds details, analyst comments throughout, updates shares)

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 05:00:00 GMT

U.S. tobacco-to-food giant Altria is more likely to sell its $6 billion stake in London-listed brewer SABMiller (SAB.L: Quote, Profile, Research) from next summer after the U.S. firm said it was mulling a break-up, dealers said on Friday. SAB, the world's third biggest brewer, said on Friday it was unaware of any change to Altria's (MO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plans for its 36 percent holding and it had not indicated what its long-term plans were. Altria was not immediately available to comment. "It (the stake) has been seen as non-core and something they will dispose of, and if Altria is broken up it's hard to see any home for that stake within the new demerged organisation," one analyst said. "It might accelerate that process."

Altria's Net Increases 6.3% ($$)

christina.cheddar@dowjones.com (CHRISTINA CHEDDAR BERK / DOW JONES NEWSWIRES) — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 04:00:00 GMT

Altria Group Inc. said third-quarter profit rose 6.3%, helped by a lower tax rate and higher income from its stake in brewer SABMiller PLC. The maker of Marlboro and Virginia Slims cigarettes and majority owner of Kraft Foods Inc. said it also benefited from increased sales of its cigarettes overseas. The results were offset by earnings declines at Kraft Foods, which suffered from higher commodity and marketing costs. If current foreign-exchange rates hold, the company should be able to reach the higher end of its prior earnings forecast for 2004 or $4.55 to $4.60 a share, said Chief Financial Officer Dinyar Devitre, during a conference call. Altria had given a prior forecast range of $4.50 to $4.60 share.

Alcohol/Smoking Policies

Fri, 13 Aug 2004 04:00:00 GMT

Smoking...is prohibited in the seating bowl and any enclosed areas, including inner concourses, restrooms, the Cadillac Club and Executive Suites. Locations where smoking is permitted: * Colonnade Concourse * Promenade Walkway (upper south rim of stadium) * Miller Lite Party Deck . . . First-time violators of the smoking policy will be asked to exchange their ticket stub for a "Smoking Card". Any patron refusing to exchange their ticket stub, will be ejected from the stadium. If a patron is then caught smoking in a non-smoking area for a second time, he or she will be ejected from the stadium.

LETTERS

editor@shepherd-express.com — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 04:00:00 GMT

What is true, according to the April 2002 release of the "Burden of Tobacco in Wisconsin," is that direct health care costs for tobacco-related illnesses in Milwaukee County alone were $277 million in 1998. This report also estimated that the health care costs of cigarette smoking came to approximately $300 for every man, woman, and child in Milwaukee County. With escalating health care costs there is no logical reason to not take a proactive approach to assure health for everyone whenever possible. I hope, that as a result of your June 3rd coverage, people will take a stand and join together to make our community a healthier and better place to live and work.

I applaud Jenn Danko's article for keeping the message of a smoke-free Milwaukee fair and accurate. Having recently moved to Milwaukee from California, which has one of the toughest anti-smoking statues in the country, I have already heard the arguments, lies and distortions from bars and restaurant owners and their lobbyists

Your article on the possibility of a smoking ban failed to ask and answer on critical question. If it's such a slam-dunk to go smoke-free and make more money, then why aren't tavern owners making the switch on their own?

I just don't understand this desire to ban smoking. From books to booze, banning things that need not be banned has always proved unwise over the course of history.

Those interested in supporting our efforts may contact Dalvery Blackwell, project coordinator, Black Health Coalition, at (414) 933-0064 or e-mail her at bhtobacco@aol.com.

So, there is still a connection there, because Altria owns Philip Morris, and Altria owns 36% of SAB Miller. However, it is misleading and at least partially incorrect to say that Miller Brewing is a subsidiary of Philip Morris.

Burnett to Tout PM's New Name

Tue, 17 Dec 2002 05:00:00 GMT

More than a year after saying it plans to rename itself Altria, Philip Morris will launch a campaign in late January to herald the new name. The tagline: "Where people and performance make a difference." . . Creative by Leo Burnett in Chicago is in development; it will focus on why PM is changing its name and what Altria stands for. While critics contend PM is trying to throw a cloak over its cigarette-manufacturing legacy, corporate executives say Altria is a better vehicle for building an identity as a diversified consumer-products company. The goal of Burnett's campaign is to let consumers know that Altria is the holding company for Kraft, PM USA and PM International, and that those entities will not change their names. The spots will be unlike PM's previous corporate-image effort, which showed PM employees bringing water to flood victims and aid to war refugees. That effort backfired when activists publicized that PM spent more money--$80 million during 2001, according to CMR--on promoting its good works than on actual assistance.

Beer actors: Tastes great, quite filling

jmaloney@herald.com (JENNIFER MALONEY) — Sat, 28 Sep 2002 04:00:00 GMT

There are three rules for starring in a Miller Lite ''reality'' TV ad: No swearing. No smoking. No getting drunk. ''It's like being in high school,'' ad co-director Nate Crooker said as a joke. The whole point is to get people to drink beer. Crooker and his partner, Brian Jackson, prepped ''spokesdrinker'' Joe Swisher Friday night for the reality ad that will air for two weeks in October. The ad makers will follow Swisher, 25, and friends Josh Kramer and Phil Crowhurst tonight as they hit the town and drink Miller Lite.

Kraft backs earlier Nabisco synergy targets

Wed, 17 Jul 2002 04:00:00 GMT

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT), the largest North American food company, on Wednesday backed its earlier projections for cost savings from its integration of cookie and cracker maker Nabisco. Kraft said its sees 2002 savings of roughly $300 million from the addition of Nabisco, which it purchased in late 2000. The company also backed prior annual savings forecasts of $600 million once the Nabisco integration has been completed.