Author: Staff Writer

Iain Napier is due to retire as non-executive chairman, and Berge Setrakian is due to retire as a non-executive director at the end of Imperial Tobacco’s annual general meeting, which is being held today.

Deputy chairman Mark Williamson will become chairman, and Michael Herlihy will succeed Williamson as senior independent director. Herlihy will step down as chairman of the remuneration committee and will be succeeded by David Haines.

From tomorrow, Karen Witts is due to become an independent non-executive director of the company and join the audit, remuneration and nominations committees of the board. Witts is group finance director and executive director of Kingfisher PLC.

British America Tobacco Zimbabwe has spent more than US$5 million over the past five years in capital investments, according to a story in The Herald quoting the company’s finance director, Peter Doona.

About 50 per cent of the expenditure was invested in manufacturing and Doona said that the company would increase its capital expenditure this year further to enhance its manufacturing capability.

BAT Zimbabwe, which is said to be operating at 65 per cent capacity, accounts for 79 per cent of the local market.

It has close to 100 workers on its payroll and is one of the companies that are complying with the country’s empowerment laws.

Its share Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) was established in compliance with indigenisation legislation aimed at giving employees an opportunity to participate directly in the development and growth of the company.

The Herald story said that, with the establishment of the ESOT, BAT Zimbabwe was effectively transferring more than two million shares to its employees. At the current share price of US$4.50, this equates to close to US$10 million.

Egypt’s Ministry of Finance has produced a cigarette price list and consumers are being asked to inform the country’s tax authority if they are asked by retailers to pay more than the list prices, according to a story in the Daily News Egypt.

There would seem to be a discrepancy between some of the prices of cigarettes declared to the authority for the calculation of taxes and the prices charged to consumers.

The head of the tax authority, Mamdouh Omar, said the authority had recently noticed increases in cigarette selling prices that ranged from E£0.5 and E£2 per pack.

About £3 billion in profits from the sale of cigarettes were going directly to retailers without the relevant taxes being paid, he added.

Omar said that there were to be no increases in the retail prices of cigarettes. And he added that manufacturing and import companies would be responsible for setting the selling price and informing the tax authority to determine the taxes due, which amounted to 50 per cent of the selling price plus E£1.25 per pack.

The Lagos State House of Assembly recently passed a bill seeking to make illegal tobacco smoking in enclosed public places within the state, according to a story in the Vanguard.

The bill is now before Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, who has to sign it before it becomes law.

If signed, the new law will make it illegal to smoke in public places, including libraries, museums, public toilets, schools, hospitals, day-care centres, public transportation and restaurants.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co has improved its tobacco prevention program aimed at young people.

In a note posted on its website, the company said that its free, evidence-based youth tobacco prevention program, Right Decisions Right Now: Be Tobacco Free (RDRN), now offered more website features, including Spanish-language posters and parent brochures, smart board activities, improved navigation and optimized videos for easier downloading.

‘RDRN educational materials – readily available via computers and smart boards – are used to teach middle-school students about the risks of using tobacco products,’ it said. ‘The program is designed to empower students to make good decisions, including the decision not to use tobacco, and to give them the knowledge to live a healthy lifestyle.

‘More than 20,000 middle schools across the country have used the RDRN program since it was independently developed more than 20 years ago. The program is also used by community groups such as Boy Scouts of America; Big Brothers, Big Sisters; and the Crosby Scholars Program.’

The note quoted Laura Leigh Oyler, a public-policy director involved in R.J. Reynolds’ youth tobacco prevention efforts, as saying that the improvements to RDRN made the program more user-friendly for the modern classroom and beyond. “RDRN is part of our company’s long-term initiative to transform the tobacco industry,” she said. “Over the past 20 years, youth tobacco prevention efforts and programs have had a big impact on reducing teen smoking, now at a historic low, and we are actively working on ways to accelerate the decline in youth tobacco use.”

A number of Chinese health organizations are asking people not to send cigarettes as gifts nor offer them to guests during the current Spring Festival, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

The festival, which takes in the Chinese New Year, started on Friday and is due to end on Thursday.

The organizations, including the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and the Chinese Medical Association, made the plea just prior to the arrival of the Year of the Horse.

They are trying to dissuade people from encouraging others to smoke, and to persuade smokers not to indulge their habit at public venues.

They want medical workers to disseminate the idea that smoking is harmful and might lead to cancer, heart disease, lung disease and death.

Zambia has been described by the managing director of Japan Tobacco International Leaf Zambia as the best investment destination in Africa, based on the stability of the country’s economy during the past 10 years.

According to a Times of Zambia story, Robert Royle told a Zambia-Japan Trade and Investment Promotion event in Lusaka last week, that his company was investing K12 million on inputs and out-grower schemes for tobacco production during the current growing season, up from K11 million during 2013.

Royle said JTI was working with more than 15 commercial farmers in Eastern, Central and Western provinces of Zambia. It was providing inputs and financial support to farmers to ease the challenges of limited access to finance.

He said access to finance for farmers was limited because most banks were not giving loans to farmers – a situation that was impacting negatively on the growth of the agriculture industry in general.

At the same time, he urged the government to consider putting up a policy framework to reduce the challenge of land acquisition in the country.

But despite the challenges, he said Zambia stood out as the best investment destination in Africa, looking at the stability of the country’s economy during the past 10 years.

Tobacco is one of the focuses of a public-health action-plan being put forward by the Danish government, according to an Esmerk Danish News story.

The plan includes seven national targets for reducing smoking and drinking among Danes, but looks also at reducing obesity among children and encouraging more people to take exercise.

The government will earmark DKK120 million to so-called strategic partnerships between private companies and society at large, in the guise of, for instance, sports associations, housing associations and trade unions.

The money will be used ‘to help citizens opt for a healthier life style’, though the action plan is said to put strong emphasis on personal responsibility.

Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry has dedicated this year to building a society free of tobacco and alcohol, and a presidential task force is being set up to tackle the issues of smoking and drinking.

Addressing a World Cancer Day 2014 seminar at the Health Education Bureau, the Minister of Health, Maithreepala Sirisensaid, said a cabinet paper, approved by the President, had been submitted to the government asking it to implement countrywide tobacco and alcohol control programs.

The minister said that cancer could be controlled by controlling the use of tobacco and alcohol, and he said the media had a major role to play in the eradication of the use of these products.

World Cancer Day falls on February 4 and the theme of the event this year is ‘Debunk the myths’.