Author: Staff Writer

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has started a campaign of tobacco-retailer inspections aimed at catching out those using fake or superseded excise stamps, according to a story in The Star.

The KRA phased out the-now superseded excise stamps in November 2012 and introduced a new generation of less easily forged stamps last year so as to curb tax evasion.

“Some of the traders are affixing genuine stamps on … tobacco products supplied to major hotels and supermarkets while using fake excise stamps on the … tobacco products sold at drinking dens in the slums and low income areas,” said the KRA in a statement on Wednesday.

The tax collection agency said those found with fake or outdated stamps would be prosecuted.

Livero Establishments, a Lichtenstein-registered company, has expressed an interest in buying the 79.8 percent stake in Bulgartabak owned by the Russian bank, VTB, according to a Reuters report by Tsvetelia Tsolova and Oksana Kobzeva quoting Bulgaria’s competition watchdog.

VTB acquired Bulgartabac for €100.1 million, €100,000 above the minimum asking price, when BT Invest, a company owned by VTB, was left as the only bidder in the privatization process launched by the Bulgarian government.

“The commission has received a notification for the intention of Lichtenstein-registered Livero Establishments to acquire control over Austria’s BT Invest,” Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition was quoted as saying.

Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday that e-cigarettes constituted a banned drug, according to a story on Focus Taiwan News Channel.

There are no regulations under which individuals could be punished for owning or using electronic cigarettes, but importers, producers and sellers could face fines, though none of them have been fined so far.

The FDA deputy director-general Chiang Yu-mei was quoted as saying that using e-cigarettes in public places was not regulated under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act.

She suggested, however, that while smokers of e-cigarettes were not breaking the law, members of the public could report them via a hotline to assist the government in tracking down the source of these devices.

Under the current regulations, manufacturers or importers of e-cigarettes containing nicotine face a maximum fine of TWD$10 million and a prison sentence of up to 10 years, while vendors face a maximum fine of TWD$5 million and up to seven years in jail for providing drugs for which regulatory approval has not been obtained.

Even importing or selling nicotine-free electronic cigarettes renders a person liable to fines of TWD$10,000–TWD$50,000 under provisions of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act that bans objects shaped like cigarettes.

Imperial Tobacco is supporting a wildlife conservation project to help save endangered species in the Philippines.

The company, which has its headquarters in Bristol, U.K., is backing a scheme led by the Bristol Zoo to preserve the unique forest habitat of the island of Negros.

During their time in the Philippines, the zoo’s Neil Maddison and Nigel Simpson met with the factory management team at Imperial’s Philippine Bobbin Corp. subsidiary near Manila to explain how the project team was working with the local community to ensure that residents and wildlife could live alongside each other.

“We have employees here who come from Negros and are keen to help support these activities,” said factory manager Carlos Saez-Diez Reberdito.

“The work not only focuses on the conservation of endangered species but also the island’s environment and people.”

Lorillard’s domestic shipment volumes during the 12 months to the end of December, at 39,325,216,000, were down by 0.4 percent on those of 2012.

Including shipments to Puerto Rico and U.S. possessions, shipments were down by 0.5 percent to 39,947,512,000.

Shipments of Newport cigarettes increased by 0.7 percent to 33,352,162,000, and shipments of full-price brands taken together increased by 0.5 percent to 33,668,164,000; with shipments of Kent down by 13.5 percent to 151,524,000 and shipments of True down by 11.9 percent to 164,478,000.

Shipments of price/value brands decreased by 5.8 percent to 5,657,052,000, with shipments of Old Gold down by 11.6 percent to 436,992,000 and shipments of Maverick down by 5.3 percent to 5,220,060,000.

Lorillard’s market share during 2013, at 14.9 percent was up by 0.5 of a percentage point on that of 2012, with Newport’s share up by 0.6 of a percentage point to 12.6 percent.

Menthol cigarettes last year held a 31.4 percent share of the U.S. market, up by 0.3 of a percentage point from that of the previous year, and Lorillard held a 40.3 percent share of the total U.S. menthol segment, up by 1 percentage point. Newport’s share of the U.S. menthol segment was 37.1 percent, up by 1 percentage point.

Meanwhile, during the three months to the end of December, Lorillard’s domestic cigarette shipments, at 9,748,031,000, were down by 1 percent on those of the three months to the end of December 2012, 9,846,815,000. Including Puerto Rico and U.S. possessions, shipments were down by 1.6 percent to 9,850,979,000.

Newport’s shipments during the final quarter were up by 0.4 percent to 8,298,209,000, and total full-price brand shipments were up by 0.2 percent to 8,372,585,000. Total price/value brand shipments were down by 7.9 percent to 1,375,446,000.

Lorillard’s net sales during the 12 months to the end of December, at $6,950 million, were up by 4.9 percent on those of the previous 12 months period.

Reported operating income was up by 10.4 percent to $2,074 million, while adjusted operating income was up by 7.8 percent to $2.030 million.

Net income was up by 8.5 percent to $1,192 million, while adjusted net income was up by 5.9 percent to $1,168 million.

Reported diluted earnings per share were up by 13.2 percent to $3.18, while adjusted diluted earnings per share were up by 10.6 percent to $3.12.

Lorillard had delivered industry-leading, double-digit earnings-per-share growth and its 11th consecutive year of market share growth in 2013, while making investments in e-cigarettes and new cigarette products, and making process changes to smooth wholesale inventory fluctuations in the fourth quarter, said Murray S. Kessler, chairman, president and CEO.

“These investments, combined with the remarkable strength and loyalty of the core Newport brand, give us confidence in our ability to deliver on our stated goal of a double-digit total shareholder return as measured by EPS growth and the dividend yield once again in 2014 and for many years to come,” he said.

Imperial Tobacco’s tobacco-products volume during the three months to the end of December (Imperial’s Q1) was down by 11 percent on that of the three months to the end of December 2012, according to an interim management statement issued this morning.

Tobacco products here include cigarettes, fine-cut tobacco, cigars and snus.

Tobacco net revenue, meanwhile, was increased by 1 percent to £1,564 million.

“We continue to implement our strategy, strengthening the sustainability and quality of our sales growth,” said CEO Alison Cooper.

“We are focusing on driving our growth brands and targeting opportunities in our growth markets, complemented by resilience in our returns markets.

“The quality of our business continues to improve, with encouraging results from our growth brands which have outperformed the market.

“The quarter has also seen significant progress with our stock optimization program, reducing trade stocks and improving our flexibility and speed to market.

“These results are in line with our expectations.

“We will continue driving our strategy this year, stepping up our investments behind quality growth.

“There is further stock optimization work to be done, whilst our cost optimization program is on track and will contribute toward our investment plans.

“A reasonable working assumption for the full year continues to be for modest growth in EPS at constant exchange rates and for at least a 10 percent increase in dividends.”

Freedom Smokeless has unveiled its new, U.S.-built, high-speed e-cigarette automation machinery at the TPC [Tobacco Plus Convenience Expo] 2014 show in Las Vegas.

In a press note issued yesterday through PRNewswire, Freedom, which is an e-cigarette manufacturer based in southern California, said that it was the first U.S.-based company to offer automatic machinery that could provide for affordable cartridge filling, e-cigarette assembly and packaging.

The machinery was designed “to bridge the gap from China to America,” it said.

The first of six machines had been installed in Freedom’s FDA-registered, ISO- and GMP-compliant facilities, the press note said.

By May, all six automated lines would be up and running with the capacity of producing more than 4 million units a week.

“The response at the recent TPC show was overwhelming,” said Glenn Kassel, Freedom’s president and co-founder.

“When watching the video of our automated production, people were amazed that we had developed such sophisticated technology, especially our built-in quality assurance features.”

The smoking prevalence in England has fallen below 20 percent for the first time in about 80 years, according to a report posted on the BMJ website, quoting research carried out at University College, London.

The latest figures come from a large national surveillance study that has been tracking smoking prevalence in England since 2006.

Each month, a representative sample of about 1,800 people aged 16 years or older is randomly selected to complete a computer-assisted survey with a trained interviewer.

In 2013, 22,167 adults were surveyed, and the prevalence of cigarette smoking was found to be 19.3 percent.

More detailed data are available at www.smokinginengland.info.

An e-cigarette manufacturer is a step closer to seeing its product classified as a medicine—a move that could see the firm supplying the devices for National Health Service (NHS) prescriptions, according to a story in The Birmingham Post.

Nicolites said it was “well advanced” in talks with the medicines regulator over plans to have its products prescribed by medical professionals.

It is one of two known manufacturers—alongside Nicoventures, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco—to apply for a license from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, the NHS body responsible for setting down guidance on specific kinds of treatment and care for people using the NHS in England and Wales.

The news—which comes shortly after Nicolites received a major boost with Tesco Express, the second-largest retailer in the world measured by profits, signing up to sell its products—stands to give Nicolites a competitive advantage since it could market its product as a “medicine.”

Nikhil Nathwani, managing director of Nicolites, said the company hoped to achieve marketing authorization sometime this year.