Author: Staff Writer

Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that it had concluded an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of the U.K.-based e-cigarette supplier Zandera, known for its E-Lites brand.

Founded in 2009, Zandera sells what JT described as the most recognized range of high-quality rechargeable and ready-to-use e-cigarettes in the U.K.

“Our investment in Zandera provides the JT Group with an excellent entry-point into the fast-growing e-cigarette category,” commented Masamichi Terabatake, Japan Tobacco International’s executive vice president and deputy CEO.

“With E-Lites’ well-established brand and product portfolio, we are able to offer adult consumers another important extension to our growing range of emerging and innovative products, such as tobacco vapor pods (Ploom).”

JT said the executive management team of Zandera would remain with the JT Group post-acquisition to allow the group to leverage the team’s extensive knowledge and experience of the e-cigarette industry, their understanding of the product, technology and regulatory landscape.

“With access to the JT Group’s global distribution muscle as well as their research and development expertise, proven commitment to quality assurance and vision for emerging products, we look forward to growing the business and further enhancing E-Lites’ product offering,” said Adrian Everett, Zandera’s co-founder and CEO.

The transaction will be funded by the group’s existing cash and loan facilities and is expected to have a minor effect on its consolidated performance and cash flows for the fiscal year 2014.

JT expects to complete the acquisition during the second quarter of the fiscal year 2014, following regulatory clearance.

Swedish Match said today that it had submitted a modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for eight sub-brands of its General snus product line.

“The MRTP application seeks a risk-modification order permitting the use of warning label statements on the company’s snus tobacco products that differ from those carried by other commercially marketed smokeless tobacco products,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.

The company went on to say that it had cited “an abundance” of Swedish and international evidence on the health effects of snus—evidence that stretched over three decades and included governmental cohort studies and clinical trial results.

“Swedish snus is very well scientifically documented, and our application consists of more than 100,000 pages,” professor Lars-Erik Rutqvist, M.D., Ph.D., the company’s senior vice president scientific affairs, was quoted as saying. “As an industry leader, we must properly apply the evidence to demonstrate the potential public health benefit of our snus tobacco products.”

Swedish Match said it had engaged with the FDA on its submission, meeting with FDA representatives on several occasions regarding the format and data requirements for the MRTP application.

“In 2013, the company also established an MRTP Advisory Panel, which has and will continue to provide independent advice and guidance to Swedish Match as it moves forward with the MRTP application,” the statement said.

Swedish snus is said to be available in more than 20,000 stores in the U.S.

Ireland looks set to implement standardized packaging for tobacco products following approval by the Cabinet of the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2014, according to a story in the Irish Examiner.

If enacted, the new law will ban from packs logos and trademarks, along with brand colors, designs and graphics. Product names will be included but in a uniform typeface on a plain background, and packs will be dominated by graphic health warnings.

According to the Examiner story, the Department of Health said the objective was to make packs look less attractive, to make health warnings more prominent and to reduce the risk that people, especially children, would be misled about the harmful effects of smoking.

“The introduction of standardized packaging will remove the final way for tobacco companies to promote their deadly product in Ireland,” said Health Minister James Reilly. “Cigarette packets will no longer be a mobile advertisement for the tobacco industry.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected efforts by the tobacco industry to derail thousands of Florida smoker lawsuits and left intact 11 awards totaling more than $70 million, according to a story by Greg Stohr for Business Week/Bloomberg.

Units of Altria Group, Reynolds American and Lorillard had asked the Supreme Court to intervene, saying they weren’t being afforded an adequate chance to mount a defense.

The justices, without comment, turned away 10 appeals affecting 11 cases.

The tobacco companies had said in court papers that they faced the prospect of billions of dollars in damages in more than 4,000 pending lawsuits.

The cases had already produced more than $450 million in liability, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco told the high court.

Japan Tobacco Inc. is to relaunch two Winston products in Japan in the Winston XS format, which, it says, offers a smoother, finer flavor with a subtly sweet aftertaste, while maintaining the distinctive and balanced taste characteristic of the brand.

XS products are said to incorporate, too, LSS (less smoke smell) technologies, which are present in a number of products sold in Japan, where the technology has long been referred to as D-Spec.

Winston Lights 6 Box and Winston Ultra One 100s Box will be relaunched as Winston XS 6 Box and Winston XS One 100s Box respectively.

They will be made available across Japan from the middle of July.

JT said that Winston was the world’s second biggest cigarette brand (Euromonitor 2013 data) and was available in more than 100 countries.

Imperial Tobacco said yesterday that it intended to float its European logistics division, Logista, on the Spanish stock market, according to a story by Paul Sandle for Reuters.

Imperial said its indirectly wholly owned subsidiary Altadis would sell a portion of shares in Logista to institutional investors in an initial public offer.

The company said in February that it was reviewing Logista as part of a focus on its core cigarette business.

The board of directors of Philip Morris International today declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.94 per common share, payable on July 11 to shareholders of record as of June 26.

The ex-dividend date is June 24.

An Australian independent senator is pushing for the introduction of minimum pricing for cigarettes to counter British American Tobacco’s launch of what is said to be the lowest priced licit cigarette on the market at A$13 for a pack of 25, according to a News Interactive Network story.

‘Senator Nick Xenophon has accused the tobacco giant of circumventing laws to discourage people from smoking,’ the story said.

Xenophon’s concern seems to be that BAT is using pricing as a way of keeping people smoking even though they are faced with the graphic images of the standardized tobacco packs introduced in Australia in December 2012: that the fear invoked by the terrible images is assuaged by a lower price.

He plans to ‘consult with public health experts on the most effective disincentive price but wants to see a minimum of $20 for a 25-pack’.

This was the best option to combat a “deeply cynical” campaign aimed at boosting the ranks of younger smokers, he said.

BAT was quoted as saying that it was simply seeking to remain competitive as sales of cut-price cigarettes soared.

It was clear when the idea of standardized packs was mooted that the removal of one competitive weapon, pack design and appeal, would lead to the sharpening of another – price.

U.K. campaigners against the standardized packaging of tobacco today launched an online campaign against the policy.

The No, Prime Minister campaign was created by the smokers’ group Forest, which runs the Hands Off Our Packs program.

The campaign features a letter that opponents of standardized packaging can send to the prime minister, David Cameron.

According to the letter, there is no credible evidence that children start smoking because of packaging, or that standardized packaging would deter children from smoking.

It calls on Cameron to wait until the government has studied the impact of the tobacco display ban, which will not be fully implemented until 2015, and the introduction of larger health warnings, which are being introduced in 2016 as part of the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive.

“Plain packaging is yet another attack on retailers and adult consumers,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest. “People are sick of being nannied by government. Britain needs to be protected from excessive regulation, not controlled by more and more legislation.

“A four-month government consultation resulted in over 665,000 responses with a substantial majority, 427,888, opposed to the policy. We urge the prime minister to respect the outcome of that consultation which members of the public responded to in good faith.”

The online ad campaign will run for 72 hours and will have total exposure on websites and blogs including Guido Fawkes, Conservative Home, Labour List, Liberal Democrat Voice, Left Foot Forward, UK Polling Report, Political Betting and Newsbiscuit.

Meanwhile, campaigners have responded to an open letter published in the BMJ in which more than 600 doctors, nurses and other NHS [National Health Service] professionals urge Cameron and the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to publish draft regulations on standardized tobacco packaging.

The letter warns there is a “relatively short time left” for the regulations to be introduced if they are to be voted on before next year’s general election, and asks the government to confirm they will be published in the next few weeks.

But Clark said the government was right to take its time.

The impact of standardized packaging on retailers and consumers could be extremely damaging, he said.

Evidence suggested that plain packaging could fuel the trade in illicit products and lead to the U.K. being flooded with fake cigarettes.

Urging the government to “keep an open mind” on standardized packaging, Clark said that if the consultation on the regulations was to have any meaning, ministers had to keep an open mind.

“A decision to introduce standardized packaging must be based on hard evidence that it will stop the next generation of children smoking,” he said.

“Conjecture and subjective opinion, which is all we’ve seen so far, are not enough.”

Bhutan has amended for the second time the Tobacco Control Act it introduced in 2010, but the ban on the distribution and sale of tobacco products remains in force, according to a Kuensel Online story.

The National Assembly on Friday endorsed by 37 votes to five with two abstentions the Tobacco Control Act 2014, which has reduced the penalties applicable to those who breach provisions of the act.

Many observers will be pleased with the amendment because the original penalties were seen by them to have been unnecessarily harsh.

But even the new penalties amount to more than a rap on the knuckles.

According to the amended act, a person found cultivating, harvesting, manufacturing or trading tobacco or tobacco products is liable to pay a fine equivalent to a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 35 months of the national daily wage. And if the offence is repeated, the person is liable to be charged with a fourth-degree felony.

The authorities have taken, too, a more pragmatic approach to the import of tobacco products. Fearing the proliferation of black market activities, the amendment allows for a three-fold rise in the permissible import of tobacco products.

A person can now bring into the country ‘900 cigarettes, 1,200 bidis, 150 cigars, and 750 grams of other tobacco or tobacco products a month,’ according to the story.