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  • 22nd Century Signs Deal with Old Pal

    22nd Century Signs Deal with Old Pal

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century announced its second exclusive license, manufacturing and distribution agreement in the hemp/cannabis industry, signed with Old Pal, a consumer company started in California and now operating in eight U.S. states.

    “Old Pal is the second leading consumer hemp/cannabis brand to adopt 22nd Century’s innovative strategic license, manufacturing and distribution agreement. This model enables brands to focus on product development, customer engagement and marketing while we provide expansive access to mass market channels urgently seeking new, high-margin, high-velocity products to meet growing consumer demand,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century.

    Initially launched in California in 2018, Old Pal gained recognition for its nostalgic branding. In addition, Old Pal’s continuously growing line of apparel, accessories and home goods has firmly established it as a prominent cultural figure in the world of cannabis, according to 22nd Century.

    The exclusive license with 22nd Century covers Old Pal branded non-delta-9 THC, hemp-derived cannabinoid consumer products and accessories. Similar to 22nd Century’s first single-source integrated production, sales and distribution agreement in hemp/cannabis, signed with Cookies, the Old Pal agreement will leverage 22nd Century’s formulation, ingredient and manufacturing infrastructure plus the company’s turn-key sales and distribution platform for alternative consumer products in a complete go-to-market solution.

    Combined, the company estimates that its agreements with Cookies and Old Pal represent more than $140 million in revenue opportunity with attractive margins over the terms of the contracts. 22nd Century is now advancing its initial mass market retail efforts for these products across the United States, leveraging a network of more than 200 wholesale distributors. The company continues to pursue additional exclusive license opportunities with industry brands interested in its innovative integrated solution.

  • BAT Partners with Charlotte’s Web

    BAT Partners with Charlotte’s Web

    Image: Worawut | Adobe Stock

    BAT has partnered with CBD firm Charlotte’s Web to develop a drug for an undisclosed neurological condition, reports Bloomberg. The partnership is part of BAT’s plan to diversify away from cigarettes.  

    A joint venture between BAT’s subsidiary AJNA BioSciences PBC and Charlotte’s Web, which BAT invested in last year, plans to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a treatment made from hemp extract. AJNA invested $10 million in the deal. Charlotte’s Web and AJNA each own 40 percent of the entity while BAT controls the remaining stake, according to a statement.

  • 22nd Century Enters Agreement with Cookies

    22nd Century Enters Agreement with Cookies

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century Group announced a new three-year exclusive license and distribution agreement with Cookies, a global hemp/cannabis company. The brand was founded in 2010 by CEO, rapper and entrepreneur Berner and Bay Area breeder and cultivator Jai.

    “This transformational strategic license, manufacturing and distribution agreement with Cookies establishes the foundation of an innovative new CDMO plus distribution business model for 22nd Century at a time when mass market channels urgently need to find new, high-margin, high-velocity products to meet the rapidly growing consumer demand for CBD products,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century. “Our complete, vertically integrated capabilities represent the first and only industry option providing Cookies’ category-leading CBD brand with a single-source, national solution across its entire family of products.”

    “We are incredibly excited to expand our partnership beyond GVB with the 22nd Century Group. They have undoubtedly put together one of the most impressive teams in the space, and we look forward to expanding the national distribution of Cookies non-THC products together,” said Parker Berling, president of Cookies.

    The exclusive license with 22nd Century covers all Cookies branded non-Delta-9 THC, hemp-derived cannabinoid consumer packaged goods, including sourcing of all ingredients and APIs; white-label manufacturing of vapes and other CBD products; and category management through retail distribution.

    GVB Biopharma, a 22nd Century company, has manufactured various Cookies products for the past three years and under this new agreement will manufacture Cookies’ market-leading products, expected to account for more than half of Cookies’ non-Delta-9 cannabinoid sales.

    The integrated go-to-market sales and distribution components of the agreement will leverage 22nd Century’s veteran consumer packaged goods sales team, which plans to distribute Cookies products in up to 18 markets targeted for the rollout of the company’s innovative VLN products during 2023.

    The CPG sales team will target a market of approximately 60,000 retail stores consisting of independent retail, discount tobacco outlets and vape shops in nonrecreational states serviced by its network of top regional distributors and chain discount tobacco outlets. Products will also be available on the Cookies e-commerce website.

    “Cookies products are a natural fit to the same points of sale as our FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] MRTP [modified-risk tobacco product]-authorized VLN products. The combination of these two offerings will enhance our sales team’s product portfolio with a larger suite of small-footprint, high-velocity, high-margin CBD products, with Cookies’ internationally recognized products serving as a cornerstone brand as we build out this innovative hemp/cannabis CDMO+D platform,” said John Miller, president of tobacco products at 22nd Century.

  • PMI Releases Integrated Report

    PMI Releases Integrated Report

    Image: PMI

    Philip Morris International released its fourth annual Integrated Report. Informed by a formal sustainability materiality assessment, the report aims to provide an objective description of the company’s business model, governance and management, strategy and performance.

    “Despite its many tests, 2022 was a remarkable year that brought our employees closer and saw us make measurable strides toward achieving our purpose,” said Jacek Olczak, CEO of PMI. “We are progressing toward our 2025 aspiration of becoming a majority smoke-free company and ultimately phase out cigarettes. While a transformation of this magnitude and complexity cannot be achieved overnight, we are committed to making it happen as fast as possible. It is through constructive engagement that we will accelerate the pace of meaningful and impactful change and complete our transformation for good.”

    Building on its ESG framework, PMI developed eight strategies targeting the company’s most pressing areas of impact. To accompany these eight strategies, PMI established 11 goals, which form the basis of its 2025 Roadmap, and 19 key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress via its Sustainability Index. Each KPI is also aligned with one of two drivers: product sustainability (11 KPIs) or operational sustainability (8 KPIs).

    “Nonfinancial information is increasingly being used by external stakeholders to assess and compare a company’s performance to others, including the financial community in their analyses and investment decisions. It is key to the integrity of PMI’s reporting that the information and data that we publicly disclose accurately reflect our company’s progress, following clear calculation methods,” explained Emmanuel Babeau, chief financial officer of PMI.

  • STG Announces Annual Meeting

    STG Announces Annual Meeting

    Image: MarekPhotoDesign.com | Adobe Stock

    Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s annual general meeting will be held Thursday, April 13, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. (CEST) at the office of Kromann Reumert, Sundkrogsgade 5, 2100 Copenhagen.

    Instead of attending in person, shareholders have the opportunity to follow the general meeting via live webcast transmission on the Investor Portal (available at http://investor.st-group.com). The general meeting and the webcast will commence on April 13, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. (CEST).

  • Universal Recognized as Supplier Engagement Leader

    Universal Recognized as Supplier Engagement Leader

    Image: pauchi | Adobe Stock

    Universal Corp. has been recognized as a 2022 Supplier Engagement Leader by CDP, a nonprofit charity that runs a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. This is the second straight year Universal has earned this recognition. The CDP’s Supplier Engagement Rating system independently evaluates how effectively companies are engaging their suppliers on climate change, using the CDP’s annual climate change questionnaire that covers governance, targets, scope 3 emissions and value chain engagement. The top 8 percent of assessed companies were selected as 2022 Supplier Engagement Leaders.

    “We are honored to once again be recognized by CDP as a Supplier Engagement Leader,” said George C. Freeman III, Universal’s chairman, president and CEO. “At Universal, we work in partnership with our suppliers to reinforce the sustainability of our supply chains and meet our climate change goals. Universal is committed to setting high standards of social and environmental performance.”

  • Kaival Brands Signs Sales Broker Agreement

    Kaival Brands Signs Sales Broker Agreement

    Photo: Bidi Vapor

    Kaival Brands Innovations Group, the U.S. distributor of all Bidi Vapor products, has entered into a sales broker agreement with a prominent U.S. broker to expand access to Bidi Vapor products from its current foundation of convenience store distribution into new retail channels, including discount, grocery and mass merchandisers.

    Eric Mosser

    “As we look to push distribution into more channels beyond the convenience stores, we are excited to announce a new agreement that gives us potential access to over 40,000 new locations,” said Eric Mosser, president and chief operating officer of Kaival Brands, in a statement. “We believe this agreement, along with our recent announcement of other new distribution agreements, further validates our reputation as a good actor providing adult consumers with the highest quality vape experience possible, and we look forward to working with all of our commercial channel partners to expand our revenue opportunities.”

    “We are excited to further increase the reach of Bidi Vapor and its premium vaping device, the Bidi Stick, into potentially more distribution opportunities throughout multiple retail channels,” stated Russell Quick, president of QuikfillRx, the company’s third-party sales and marketing vendor. “With our feet firmly in the convenience store space, it is time not only to grow our existing footprint but to extend into more channels, like dollar and grocery stores, that meet our robust identification verification and youth access prevention requirements.”

  • Altria to Acquire NJOY Holdings

    Altria to Acquire NJOY Holdings

    Photo: tatsianamaphoto

    Altria Group has entered into an agreement to acquire NJOY Holdings for approximately $2.75 billion in cash. The transaction terms include additional $500 million in cash payments that are contingent upon regulatory outcomes with respect to certain NJOY products.

    “We believe we can responsibly accelerate U.S. adult smoker and competitive adult vaper adoption of NJOY Ace in ways that NJOY could not as a standalone company,” said Altria CEO Billy Gifford in a statement. “We believe the strengths of our commercial resources can benefit adult tobacco consumers and expand competition. We are also excited to welcome NJOY’s talented employees to Altria at closing.”

    “As a result of this transaction, Altria’s enhanced smoke-free portfolio will include full global ownership of products and technologies across the three largest smoke-free categories and a joint venture with JT Group for the U.S. commercialization of heated tobacco stick products.”

    “We are excited to add NJOY’s e-vapor intellectual property as a new platform that we believe we can build on to help more adult smokers transition to smoke-free alternatives,” said Olivier Houpert, Altria’s new chief innovation and product officer.

    Altria will hold a conference call at 9 a.m. Eastern Time on March 6, 2023. Access to the live webcast is available at. A replay of the webcast and a transcript will be available on the same website following the event.

    In 2022, the U.S. vapor category comprised nearly 14 million U.S. adult tobacco consumers, including 9.5 million exclusive adult vapers, according to Altria. The segment  generated approximately $7 billion in U.S. retail sales and represented approximately 15 percent of total estimated equivalized U.S. tobacco volumes and more than 50 percent of total estimated equivalized smoke-free tobacco volumes.

    To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of 23 vapor products and devices. In 2022, NJOY received marketing granted orders for the NJOY Ace device, along with several tobacco-flavored pods. The regulatory agency is still reviewing NJOY’s premarket tobacco product applications for several NJOY menthol-flavored e-vapor products.

    Altria said it had multiple sources of funding for the deal, including cash from a $2.7 billion agreement with Philip Morris International last year for the IQOS Tobacco Heating System.

    The NJOY deal follows an announcement by Altria that it would exchange its entire minority investment in embattled Juul Labs for a nonexclusive global license for certain of Juul’s heated tobacco intellectual property.

  • ITC shares Surge on Adani Worries

    ITC shares Surge on Adani Worries

    Image: Amazing Studio

    Shares in tobacco manufacturer ITC have increased more than 75 percent as investors seek stability in the Indian stock market, which has been churning with concerns about corporate governance following Hindenburg Research’s allegations against the Adani Group.

    “ITC’s stable cash flow and dividends have won hearts of investors in this volatile environment amid Adani’s troubles and inflation,” Sameer Kalra, founder of Target Investing in Mumbai, told Bloomberg. “The company is also expected to unlock value of its noncigarette businesses.”

    ITC not only offers attractive dividend yields and returns on equity, but it also ranks top in a Bloomberg Economics analysis of governance, liquidity and leverage at Indian conglomerates.

    ITC has gotten a further boost from stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings. In early February, ITC reported a profit of INR50.31 billion ($614.52 billion) in the October–December quarter, up from INR40.56 billion in the comparable 2021 period. The company attributed the increase to strong cigarette sales and steady demand for its packaged foods.

  • PMI, BAT Recognized for Gender Equality

    PMI, BAT Recognized for Gender Equality

    Image: melita | Adobe Stock

    Philip Morris International and BAT were included in the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI).

    PMI made the index for the third year running, achieving an overall score of 80.6 percent.

    “Achieving gender balance at all levels of the company is one of our top priorities, and I am delighted that our efforts are recognized again in this year’s index,” said Silke Muenster, chief diversity officer at PMI. “While we are making significant progress, we know we need to keep our foot on the acceleration pedal. An inclusive workplace that leverages the full talents of both women and men is crucial to our smoke-free vision, making our organization more innovative, resourceful and engaged.”

    In 2022, PMI achieved its target of ensuring at least 40 percent female representation in managerial roles and announced a new target to achieve 35 percent of women in senior roles by the end of 2025, among other targets.

    BAT, which participated in the index for the first time, received a score of 75 percent. BAT was recognized for creating an inclusive culture for women via its recruiting initiatives, adoption of family-friendly policies, sponsoring programs dedicated to educating women, and support of community programs. Inclusion in the index follows BAT being named as a Global Top Employer for a sixth successive year.

    “Recognition in this year’s Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index demonstrates our commitment to addressing gender diversity and highlights our concerted global efforts to provide transparent reporting,” said Hae In Kim, BAT’s director of talent, culture and inclusion. “With more than 50,000 employees worldwide, our diversity and inclusion strategy is truly global, and I continue to be incredibly proud of the collective efforts made by all our employees.”

    The GEI measures gender equality performance globally across five pillars as set by Bloomberg: leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, anti-sexual harassment policies, and external brand. The 2023 Bloomberg GEI comprises 485 companies from 45 countries and regions.