Category: News This Week

  • BAT volume increased

    BAT volume increased

    British American Tobacco’s cigarette and tobacco-heating product (THP) volume during the 12 months to the end of December, at 708 billion sticks, was increased by about 3.3 percent on that of the 12 months to the end of December 2017, 686 billion.

    On a representative basis – as if BAT had owned Reynolds American Inc and other acquisitions completed during 2017 from January 1, 2017 – volumes fell by about 3.5 percent. BAT said that in its key markets volume was down by 2.7 percent, outperforming industry volume, which was estimated to be down by about 3.4 percent, leading to an increase in market share of 0.4 of a percentage point.

    Meanwhile, other tobacco volumes included that of oral pouches, up 93 percent (representative 10.5 percent) to 3.9 billion; that of other oral products, up 119 percent (-4.0 percent representative) to 14.6 million kg; that of vapor products, up 100 percent (35.5 percent representative) to 189 million pods; and that of other tobacco products (including roll-your-own and make-your-own tobaccos), down 6.6 percent (-7.5 percent representative) to 22 billion stick-equivalents.

    BAT’s revenue during the year to the end of December, at £24,492 million, was said to have increased by 25.2 percent on that of 2017.

    Profit from operations, at £9,313, was increased by 45.2 percent.

    Earnings per share (EPS), at 264.0p, and diluted earnings per share, at 263.2p, were down each down by 85.6 percent.

    The dividend per share was up by 4.0 percent to 203.0p.

    “BAT performed well in 2018, exceeding our target of high single figure adjusted constant currency EPS growth, whilst continuing to invest in long-term sustainable returns,” chief executive Nicandro Durante (pictured) was quoted as saying as part of the company’s preliminary announcement. “The full year effect of the RAI acquisition and a translational foreign exchange headwind of approximately six percent (on revenue and profit from operations) and seven percent (on EPS) distorted the Group’s results…”

    Durante said he recognised that “proposed potential regulatory changes” in the US had created some investor uncertainty. “We have a long experience of managing regulatory developments, a track record of delivering strong growth while investing for the future and an established multi-category approach,” he said. “I am confident that my successor, Jack Bowles, will continue to deliver a similar level of sustainable long-term returns as we accelerate our Transforming Tobacco agenda.

    “Looking into 2019 we are confident of another year of high single figure adjusted constant currency earnings growth and this confidence is reflected in our Board’s proposal to increase the dividend by four percent.”

  • New finance director for BAT

    New finance director for BAT

    Tadeu Marroco, who is currently British American Tobacco’s director, group transformation, is to succeed Ben Stevens as finance director.

    After 30 years with the company, Stevens is due to step down as finance director and retire from the company’s board on August 5.

    Before his appointment on August 5, Tadeu will be appointed deputy finance director with effect from March 1, in addition to his current role.

    Tadeu joined BAT in Brazil 26 years ago.

  • Concerns over environment

    Concerns over environment

    From the moment its seeds go into the ground to the moment its dried and shredded leaves are set alight by the world’s 1.1 billion smokers, tobacco leaves a trail of untold destruction, according to a story at dw.com.

    Researchers from Imperial College London are said to have found that the industry’s annual carbon footprint is almost twice that of Wales.

    “If we continue to grow tobacco crops to meet the demand, we’ll have huge environmental degradation,” Vinayak Prasad, head of the World Health Organization’s tobacco control program in Geneva was said to have told DW.

    The story said that growing and curing tobacco accounted for more than 75 percent of tobacco’s carbon footprint.

    But it required plenty of land, water and energy; as well as pesticides and fertilizers that polluted nearby rivers and groundwater, and degraded the soil.

    The story conceded that the tobacco industry was a minor offender compared to the big names of global deforestation, such as the palm oil and soybean industries, but it went on to quote Sonja von Eichborn, director of the anti-tobacco non-governmental organization Unfairtobacco, as saying it “has a great impact at the local level, for instance in Tanzania”.

    There, she said, tobacco was responsible for up to six percent of annual deforestation, a figure that looked set to increase.

    In Pakistan, meanwhile, the WHO says plantations [presumably tobacco plantations] already account for almost 27 percent of yearly deforestation.

  • Slaying the ’50’ myth

    Slaying the ’50’ myth

    In introducing a news story concerning untruths that had been told about vaping, TR yesterday made a reference to the X-Files’ mantra: The truth is out there.

    It seems that that reference wasn’t as flippant as it might have appeared to have been. A recent account of misinformation about smokeless tobacco seems to travel deeper into X-Files territory.

    Writing on his tobacco truth blog on February 19, Brad Rodu (pictured), who is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville (UoL) warned that smokeless tobacco users were in for harassment ‘this week’: ‘the 30th iteration of the annual Through With Chew orgy of smokeless tobacco misinformation’. (Rodu’s fully-referenced account is here.)

    Rodu, who holds an endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research and is a member of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at UofL, gave as an example a tweet from the US Department of Defense @ucanquit2 account on February 11: “Smokeless tobacco users are 50x more likely to get cheek, gum & mouth cancer than nonusers”.

    Rodu responded to what he referred to as ‘this blatant fabrication’ with a Tweet of his own on February 15: “Your 50 claim is a complete fabrication by a staffer @theNCI…” His Tweet referenced the science behind his claims.

    After his Tweet was liked by 24 people and retweeted by 13, Rodu reported ‘a strange chain of events’. The Twitter accounts of many of the above were suspended.

    The affected individuals pleaded with @TwitterSupport to make amends and, on February 16, Rodu also asked for a correction: “To @TwitterSupport, Pls restore me/others. I am a scientist, 25 years published in this field. My tweet was professional and credible. In 2010 @CarlBialik at @WSJ investigated ‘50’ number and reported it was a fabrication used by @AmericanCancer, others http://tinyurl.com/y6a7ox8a”.

    Rodu said that the Twitter-account suspensions were likely to have resulted from a complaint by an authoritative anti-tobacco figure or agency.

    Finally, on February 22, Rodu said, Jacob Sullum authored an article on the Reason Hit and Run Blog, ‘Did Twitter Punish Criticism of Government Propaganda About Smokeless Tobacco’ and, a few hours later, affected users reported that their accounts were returned to normal functioning.

    The truth is out there. But so are lies.

  • JT reducing emissions

    JT reducing emissions

    Japan Tobacco Inc.’s long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target has been approved as a Science Based Target (SBT) by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), according to a note posted on the company’s website today.

    SBTi is an international partnership between CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that mobilizes companies to set SBTs in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

    ‘Our approved target, developed in line with the Paris agreement on climate change, is to reduce absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 32 percent and absolute Scope 3 Category 1 GHG emissions by 23 percent by 2030,’ the note said. ‘This journey towards a zero-carbon future will be achieved by reducing our energy usage, as well as increasing the proportion of electricity sourced from renewable sources, while constantly looking at innovative ways to achieve and exceed our target.’

    “We are proud that SBTi has approved our target.” Chigusa Ogawa, senior vice president, sustainability management, was quoted as saying. “As a group, we strive to foster a sustainable environment for our business and for future generations. Climate change remains a key environmental challenge for us, as it can have a direct impact on our value chain and the society at large. As a global business, we recognize the opportunity – and the importance – to be part of the solution,” Ogawa added.

    The JTI note said that the company had been strengthening its approach to reducing its environmental impact under the JT Group Long-Term Environment Plan 2020, which had been established in 2014.

    ‘In 2017, the initial target to reduce GHG emission by 20 percent was already achieved and exceeded – three years ahead of schedule,’ the note said. ‘Our new target approved as an SBT demonstrates our ongoing commitment to tackle climate-related issues.

    ‘We are now establishing the JT Group Environment Plan 2030, in which our SBT fits as one of the key targets.

    ‘Further details will be published in the JT Group Sustainability Report FY2018 which will be issued in May 2019.’

  • Covering all the bases

    Covering all the bases

    Philip Morris last night held a UK launch party for its latest range of IQOS heated tobacco and vaping products.

    The launch was held in the basement of the ME on the Strand, London, and the party at the hotel’s Radio Rooftop Bar.

    Participants were given the opportunity of listening to a presentation by Dr. Moira Gilchrist, PhD, vice president of scientific and public communications at Philip Morris International about harm reduction and the part that PMI was playing in it by developing products that were underpinned by robust science and research.

    IQOS products were displayed and there were static presentations explaining, for instance, the timeline of product development from Accord to IQOS, and why it was that health problems stemmed from the inhalation of the products of tobacco combustion. One such presentation was headed, The Smoking Problem.

    In a press note, PM Ltd (UK and Ireland) said that the three new smoke-free IQOS devices were the company’s most advanced to date and had been designed to make it easy for smokers to switch away from cigarettes completely. According to PM Ltd’s MD, Peter Nixon, the new products have been specifically designed to give every one of the UK’s 7.4 million smokers a way to stop “burning tobacco”. “We are confident that our new IQOS range provides the solutions needed to help all UK smokers move away from cigarettes,” he said.

    One of the devices presented at the launch was the IQOS3, which was described as the latest version of the heated tobacco device featuring a longer battery life, faster charging and a more ergonomic design.

    The IQOS MULTI was described as a new, more compact heated tobacco device that had been designed to provide a different experience to PM’s other devices. With IQOS MULTI, consumers could use 10 back-to-back tobacco sticks before needing to charge the device.

    IQOS MESH, for which the UK is its first market, was said to be a premium vaping product that used a replaceable pod containing nicotine liquid. ‘It uses a unique “mesh” rather than the traditional “coil and wick” to offer a more consistent vaping experience,’ PM said. ‘There are seven different flavored pods.’

  • Breathing difficulty

    Breathing difficulty

    Pregnant women should be breath-tested during antenatal visits to check whether they are smoking, according to a story by Paul Cullen for The Irish Times quoting the findings of a new study.

    The study, conducted among women attending the Coombe hospital in Dublin, Ireland, found that women who hid their smoking habit missed out on vital monitoring of their pregnancies and ended up having more problems as a result.

    It found a ‘substantial number’ of women with high carbon monoxide levels – an indicator of smoking – had not declared their tobacco use.

    An increased level of breath carbon monoxide (BCO) was said to have been associated with lower birth weight of babies and an increased risk of adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.

    The authors, with the Coombe and University College Dublin, said this finding strengthened the case for universal BCO screening at the first antenatal visit.

    A high reading should result in referral of the woman to smoking cessation services and close monitoring of the baby, they said.

  • Something to chew on

    Something to chew on

    About 5,000 transport-service workers in Mumbai, India, have quit using chewing tobacco by switching to another, tobacco-free chewing product, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

    The story said that more than 5,500 Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) employees had been found to be regular tobacco users, 90 percent of them chewing tobacco users.

    The employees were mostly drivers and conductors.

    BEST’s medical doctors reportedly switched the small boxes these drivers and conductors used to carry their mixtures of tobacco, areca nut and slaked lime for canisters containing a mixture of fennel seeds, cinnamon, carom seeds, clove and rice powder.

    The replacement mixture was said to be devoid of the health risks associated with tobacco.

    The result was that ‘nearly all’ of the drivers and conductors quit their chewing tobacco mixtures and, presumably, continued with the new mixture.

    Doctors associated with the project said the new mixture worked because it mimicked the typical chewing-tobacco experiences of rubbing the ingredients in the palm of the hand and holding them in the mouth for long periods.

    There was no mention of how, specifically, nicotine addiction was addressed; or, indeed, whether nicotine addiction was ever a factor.

    The Ministry of Health is said to be seeking to replicate the experience nation-wide.

  • Usual suspects support ban

    Usual suspects support ban

    Sixty-nine percent of Germans are in favor of a ban on tobacco advertising, according to a Xinhua News Agency story citing the results of a survey conducted by the German opinion research institute Forsa and published yesterday.

    Out of 1,003 respondents, 27 percent were opposed to a ban on tobacco advertisements.

    Banning alcohol advertising was supported by 58 percent of respondents and opposed by 36 percent.

    Tobacco advertising has been banned from radio, television, newspapers and magazines since 2016.

    But politicians from the governing conservative CDU/CSU alliance and those from its coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, are planning to extend the ban.

    Opposition to banning tobacco advertisements has come from some German politicians and the tobacco industry.

    Several politicians, such as former CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder wants to limit the scope of the ban.

    In November, the German Cigarette Association (DZV) argued that tobacco advertising would not ‘lead to more people starting smoking or fewer consumers give up smoking’.

    But it warned that a ban on tobacco advertising would have a ‘significant signal effect and would cause domino effects’ in other sectors, such as alcohol, spirits or food. ‘Commercial communication for a legally manufactured and distributed product would be switched off’ for the first time in Germany, it added.

    Official 2017 figures from the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that 22.4 percent of German citizens smoked regularly or occasionally, while 77.6 percent had never smoked or had quit.

  • Lying about vaping

    Lying about vaping

    If there is one thing of which the tobacco industry is painfully aware, it is that once public trust is lost, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to gain it back.

    And yet, even with the example of the tobacco industry being up there in lights, it’s not unusual to see other industries and businesses handling the truth of their activities carelessly.

    But one area of human endeavor must surely be immune to such shenanigans: public health.

    Or is it? Writing on his blog, a US public health expert yesterday said that he was pained to have to report that the Pennsylvania Department of Health was urging parents to lie to their children about electronic cigarettes in order to dissuade them from vaping. ‘In addition, the Pennsylvania Department of Health is lying to the public about the dangers of e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes as well,’ said Dr. Michael Siegel (pictured), who is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health.

    ‘The Pennsylvania Department of Health put out a tweet that read: “E-cigarettes, e-cigs, e-hookahs, mods, vape pens or vapes — whatever you call them, they are NOT safer than other tobacco products”.’

    Siegel points out that telling the truth is a critical component of the public health code of ethics. ‘It is important not only because it is unethical to lie, but also because we greatly risk losing credibility and the public’s trust if we are found to be lying,’ he said.

    He then goes on to say that it is not true that e-cigarettes are as dangerous as tobacco cigarettes, or that vaping is as dangerous as smoking.

    And he ends his piece with some simple truths: ‘The rest of the story is that lying to kids isn’t justified even if it did prevent them from vaping. But it is doing just the opposite, as kids see through the lies and in some ways, it makes vaping more attractive.’