Category: News This Week

Imperial Tobacco’s operation in Poland has been handed a prestigious award by the nation’s leading business organisation.

The ‘Diamond to the Gold Statuette of the Business Leader’ was awarded in recognition of Imperial’s social and economic contribution to Polish society.

The award was made at the annual Grand Gala of Business Leaders held in Warsaw by the national Business Centre Club.

Imperial was chosen by a jury of leading business people who looked at how companies take care of their employees, contribute to local communities and engage with stakeholders.

The award, which builds on the gold statuette Imperial received last year, was accepted by Grażyna Sokołowska, corporate and legal affairs manager Poland.

“I’m delighted we’ve been recognised as a responsible business making a valuable contribution, which can only be achieved through the efforts of all our employees,” said Sokołowska.

R.J Reynolds Tobacco’s US domestic cigarette volume during the year to the end of December, at 68.9 billion, was down by 5.6 per cent on that of 2011.

Pall Mall volume fell by 0.6 per cent to 21.9 billion and Camel volume fell by 2.3 per cent to 21.2 billion; so the company’s total ‘growth brands’ volume was down by 1.4 per cent to 43.1 billion.

The volume of RJR’s other brands was down by 11.8 per cent to 25.8 billion.

Reynolds American Inc, whose business sectors take in RJR, Santa Fe and American Snuff, announced its full-year and fourth-quarter results yesterday.

RJR’s volume during the fourth quarter to the end of December, at 17.1 billion, was down by 2.7 per cent on that of the fourth quarter of 2011.

Pall Mall volume increased by 5.5 per cent to 5.7 billion while Camel volume fell by 0.2 per cent to 5.3 billion; so the company’s total growth brands volume was increased by 2.7 per cent to 11.0 billion.

The other-brands volume fell by 11.0 per cent to 6.1 billion.

RJR’s share of the domestic cigarette market during the year to the end of December, at 26.5 per cent, was down by 1.1 percentage points from that of its 2011 share.

Pall Mall’s share rose by 0.1 of a percentage point to 8.6 per cent, while Camel’s share was unchanged at 8.5 per cent.

The share held by the company’s other brands fell by 1.2 percentage points to 9.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe’s cigarette (Natural American Spirit) volume during the year to the end of December, at 3.1 billion, was increased by 11.3 per cent on that of 2011, while its volume during the three months to the end of December, at 0.8 billion, was 20.3 per cent up on that of the three months to the end of December 2011.

Santa Fe’s share of the retail market during 2012, at 1.2 per cent, was up by 0.2 of a percentage point on that of 2011.

American Snuff’s volume during the year to the end of December, at 437.1 million cans, was up by 8.0 per cent on that of 2011.

Grizzly volume increased by 9.4 per cent to 389.2 million cans, while sales of the company’s other moist snuff products fell by 1.9 per cent to 48.0 million cans.

American’s volume during the three months to the end of December, at 112.4 million cans, was up by 7.2 per cent on that of the three months to the end of 2011.

Grizzly volume was increased by 8.1 per cent to 100.2 million cans, while the volume of the company’s other brands was up by 0.1 per cent to 12.2 million cans.

American’s share of the moist snuff market during the year to the end of December, at 32.4 per cent, was increased by 1.4 percentage points on that of 2011.

Grizzly’s share was up by 1.6 percentage points to 29.0 per cent, while the share of other brands was down by 0.3 of a percentage point to 3.4 per cent.

RAI had net sales of $8,304 million during the 12 months to the end of December, 2.8 per cent down on those of 2011.

Reported operating income was down by 7.7 per cent to $2,214 million, while adjusted operating income was up by 1.6 per cent to $2,863 million.

Reported net income was down by 9.5 per cent to $1,272 million, while adjusted net income was up by 2.4 per cent to $1,686 million.

And reported net income per diluted share was down by 6.7 per cent to $2.24, while adjusted net income per diluted share was up by 5.7 per cent to $2.97.

“I’m very pleased to report that Reynolds American turned in a strong finish to a challenging year, delivering higher fourth-quarter and full-year adjusted earnings and margin on resilient performance at our operating companies,” said Daniel M. Delen, president and CEO in announcing the results.

“Our reportable business segments – RJR Tobacco, American Snuff and Santa Fe – made steady progress through 2012, building momentum on their powerful key brands.

“Our companies also marked new milestones in innovation, with the further development of exciting products that position RAI’s operating companies for continued growth in a changing marketplace.”

Delen pointed to innovations such as Niconovum USA’s Zonnic nicotine replacement therapy gum and R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company’s Vuse e-cigarette as examples of how RAI and its operating companies are focused on transforming the tobacco industry.

“Our companies continue to focus on strengthening their businesses and finding new opportunities for growth in today’s highly competitive environment, but they’re also driving change in our industry that is critical for commercial success over the long term,” Delen said.

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, yesterday approved in its third and final reading a bill banning tobacco smoking in public places, according to an RT TV/TV Novosti story.

The ban, which is due to take effect on June 1, was passed by a 441 votes to one.

The bill envisages a gradual ban on tobacco smoking in public, including in government buildings, healthcare and educational facilities, cultural sites and stadiums, and on public transport.

Additional restrictions proposed on January 11, in particular one that would have outlawed separate smoking areas at workplaces, were not included in the bill’s final version.

Tobacco companies will not be able to advertise their products and they will be barred from holding promotional prize draws and sponsoring public events and competitions.

The bill prohibits displaying tobacco products in shops.

Opponents of the standardized packaging of tobacco on Monday launched an online campaign urging people in the UK to lobby their members of parliament about the issue.

Hands Off Our Packs, the campaign set up and run by the smokers’ group Forest, has launched a new website that supporters hope will encourage thousands of people to inform their local MPs about their opposition to the measure currently under discussion.

Visitors to the website, Say No To Plain Packs, must enter their name, e-mail address and postal addresses complete with postcode. At a click of a button a template letter will be sent to their MP.

According to the letter, plain packaging ‘was not included in any election manifesto in 2010 and was rejected by the previous government in 2008 on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to support such a policy’.

“Nothing has happened since then,’ the letter says, ‘that could possibly justify a change of policy under the current government.’

The letter adds that ‘police officers, retired and serving, have expressed concern that plain packaging will encourage organised crime. Their views are shared by many small retailers, wholesalers, packaging companies and design agencies who may be forced to cut jobs if plain packaging is introduced.’

The letter concludes by saying, “There is no credible evidence that packaging encourages children to start smoking and to argue otherwise is to fly in the face of common sense’.

The Say No To Plain Packs online campaign will play to just under a million people over five days.

Hands Off Our Packs campaigner Angela Harbutt said that 700,000 members of the public had responded to the government consultation on plain packaging. “Half a million were against the proposal yet many MPs are still unaware of the level of opposition this policy faces,” she said.

“It is now six months since the consultation closed and we have still to hear anything from the Department of Health. It is time that we helped put MPs in the picture.”

The Philippines is putting further pressure on Thailand to comply fully and in a timely manner with a World Trade Organization ruling in respect of a cigarette excise tax dispute between the two countries, according to a story in the Manila Bulletin.

This follows the Philippines’ implementation of a new excise tax law on distilled spirits and tobacco products that has brought it into compliance with a separate WTO ruling.

The WTO had ruled in favor of the EU and the US that the Philippines should correct its ‘discriminatory’ tax structure on imported distilled spirits.

The Philippines’ Trade and Industry undersecretary, Adrian S. Cristobal Jr, said the passage of the new excise tax law had shown that the Philippines was a law abiding member of the WTO.

At the same time, he stressed that this structural reform had strengthened the country’s position whereby, as a WTO member, it could command the same compliance from other member states.

“It shows that we are abiding by international treaty, the WTO in particular, but that is a two-way street,” Cristobal said. “This also strengthens our position that as a member of WTO we also command compliance from other member states.”

UK-based Innovia Films has agreed to buy the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 50 per cent share in Securency International Pty Ltd, which, since 1998, has been owned by Innovia and the bank in a 50/50 joint venture.

The acquisition is being funded from Innovia’s existing cash reserves and is expected to be completed on February 28. The agreed price was not given.

Innovia had been directly involved for many years in the worldwide growth of Securency International’s product, polymer-based Guardian® banknote substrate, and had a high degree of confidence in the company and the product, Innovia said in a press note issued today.

“The RBA has been an outstanding and committed partner in this joint venture,” said Innovia Films CEO, David Beeby.  “It has always been their clearly stated policy to grow the business to the point where it would be divested once it held a strong position in the market, and that time has certainly arrived.  This exciting acquisition reflects our continued commitment and strategic investment pattern in our core markets of labels, tobacco, packaging and security.”

The press note said the RBA has confirmed that Australia’s next generation of banknotes would incorporate Guardian®, ‘a clear demonstration of its confidence in the company moving forward’.

In a re-play of the tobacco industry’s former close connection with sport, Totally Wicked, a supplier of electronic cigarettes, on the weekend announced a sponsorship deal with St Helens’ RFC, one of England’s top rugby league clubs.

According to a PRNewswire story, under the deal, the club’s Langtree Park North Stand is to be renamed the Totally Wicked Stand.

Totally Wicked products will be available to buy throughout the stadium on match days.

And the club will hold a ‘cigarette amnesty’ where fans will be able to swap their tobacco cigarettes for a St Helens branded electronic cigarette.

Tourists heading for Cuba with the idea of taking pictures of locals happily puffing away at quality cigars are likely to be disappointed.

At least that is the picture painted by Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez, writing in the Huffington Post.

In a piece relayed by the TMA, Sanchez said that it was becoming increasingly difficult for locals to enjoy Cuban cigars because the product now sold at ‘stratospheric prices’ in specialized luxury stores.

With monthly earnings barely surpassing US$25, locals had almost no chance of enjoying Cuban cigars.

The government, Sanchez said, had lost interest in selling to their own citizens a product they preferred to export.

US vapers are submitting a petition to urge the White House to take action to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from enacting unnecessary, burdensome regulations that could effectively ban the sale of many electronic cigarettes, according to a press note issued through USNewswire.

The White House required 25,000 signatures to be collected in one month to receive an answer. The petition was filed on January 14 and hit the 25,000 mark on February 6. Signatures will continue to be collected through February 13.

“The FDA first tried to remove all e-cigarettes from the market by calling them ‘drug delivery devices,’” said Elaine Keller, president of the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA), a non-profit, volunteer organization formed in 2009 by electronic cigarette consumers to promote tobacco harm reduction policies.

“Having failed in their attempt to ban e-cigarettes, the FDA has announced its intent to propose a ‘deeming’ regulation to apply Chapter IX of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to e-cigarettes.

“However, portions of Chapter IX would essentially ban all e-cigarettes from being sold and other provisions would decimate the e-cigarette industry, protect cigarette markets and otherwise threaten public health.”

‘In 2011, consumers submitted a petition that called on the Obama administration to “Recognize electronic cigarettes as an effective alternative to smoking and support job creation in this new industry”,’ the press note said.

‘The petition garnered 6,000 signatures – well over the 5,000 required at that time. ‘Unfortunately, the administration punted to the FDA, and the agency’s response was largely non-responsive. In the time since, the White House increased the number of required signatures and has just announced another increase to 100,000 signatures.’

“The current petition has already collected nearly five times the signatures of just over a year ago,” said Keller.

“Clearly, the word is spreading that these products are successfully replacing tobacco cigarettes for hundreds of thousands of smokers, and all without any serious adverse health effects being reported to the FDA MedWatch system since the administration began to monitor their health effects in 2008.

“In spite of all of the rhetoric and scaremongering coming from the FDA and the tobacco control industry, e-cigarettes are not causing youth to start smoking, poisoning children, affecting the enforcement of smoking bans or causing any kind of public health hazard. They are being used as intended – by adult smokers looking for a far less hazardous long-term alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.”

Based on the previous White House response, Keller said that she and most tobacco harm reduction experts and advocates are not optimistic about receiving a markedly different response from the White House or FDA this time around. However, CASAA is still encouraging people to sign the petition.

“CASAA believes the petition will help heighten awareness about the upcoming FDA public comment period, which is expected to be opened after the FDA announces its intended regulations sometime around April,” Keller explained.

“It will be imperative that consumers submit comments at that time. We cannot allow the FDA to regulate a scientifically-proven safer alternative to smoking out of existence while leaving its far more hazardous cousin on the market. Anyone can see how ridiculous that would be.”

Keller said that CASAA would be issuing a ‘Call to Action’ once the FDA made its announcement, and she encouraged people who were interested to subscribe to the CASAA email list at http://casaa.org/Become_a_Member.html.

Keep America Beautiful (KAB) has reported an average 55 per cent reduction in cigarette litter within the communities that implemented its Cigarette Litter Prevention Program (CLPP) during 2012, according to a press note issued through USNewswire.

In 2012, the program’s 10^th year, there were 195 grant-supported implementations across the US in a variety of places including downtowns, roadways, beaches, parks, marinas, colleges/universities and tourist spots, and at special events.
‘Over the past seven years, the CLPP has consistently cut cigarette butt litter by half based on local measurements taken in the first four months to six months after a program implementation,’ the press note said.

‘Survey results also showed that as communities continue to monitor the program those reductions are sustained or even increased over time.

‘For example, more than 100 communities that started programs in 2011 achieved an average reduction of 48 per cent that year, and increased that reduction by an additional 17 per cent when measured again in 2012.’
“Cigarette litter may still be a significant issue throughout the country, but our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program is making a difference in communities where the program is being implemented,” said Matthew M. McKenna, president and CEO of KAB.

“Through consistent and persistent public education in combination with access to receptacles, we can lessen the environmental harm cigarette litter places on our landscapes and waterways.”