Tag: United Kingdom

  • Tobacco firms a drain on UK

    Tobacco firms a drain on UK

    Big tobacco companies are paying a ‘pitiful’ amount of corporation tax on billions of pounds of profits, leaving UK taxpayers to pick up the tab for the enormous costs smoking adds to the National Health Service and the economy, according to a story in The Independent citing new research.

    Researchers at the University of Bath were said to have found that Imperial Brands, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco International had shifted their corporate structures to minimise their UK tax bills.

    The authors have demanded a tobacco-industry levy to ensure companies pay for the costs associated with their products.

    ‘Despite being headquartered in Britain, Imperial paid an effective rate of just 13 percent over the past seven years, during which corporation tax has varied between 20 percent and 28 percent,’ the story said.

    ‘BAT is also based in the UK but paid “virtually no” corporation tax over the same period, including four consecutive years (2011-14) where it paid nothing at all, the paper found.’

  • What’s tracking and tracing?

    What’s tracking and tracing?

    The supply of tobacco products to UK retailers could be put in jeopardy unless HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes details of the application process for track and trace (T&T) codes without delay, according to a story in the on-line version of Convenience Store magazine.

    With a little more than three months to go before the new T&T regulations are enforced, concerns of a possible backlog of applications from retailers are said to be growing.

    From May 20, retailers will need two unique codes in order to purchase tobacco legally, an economic operator identifier code for their business and a facility identifier code for each of their stores.

    HRMC was said to have told Convenience Store that an announcement on its chosen supplier to act as the UK’s ID issuer would be made by February 1, but by the time the magazine’s story had appeared on February 4 no details had been forthcoming.

  • Documents in plain view

    Documents in plain view

    The US-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) has won a legal battle in the UK where it received authorization from the High Court in London to make public the documents used in a recent case over standardized tobacco packaging, according to a story in the British Medical Journal relayed by the US-based TMA.

    The High Court ruled that the documents submitted to the court by tobacco companies challenging the proposed new law, and those from the health secretary defending it, should be released to the tobacco control organization.

    The story said that British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco, JT International and Gallaher had challenged planned UK regulations introducing standardized packaging for tobacco products.

    They had argued that the regulations were unlawful under international, EU, and domestic laws.

    The High Court ruled against them in 2015, and appeals were unsuccessful.

  • Smoking ‘amnesty’ in UK

    Smoking ‘amnesty’ in UK

    The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) yesterday issued what it described as the 10 top motivational facts to help new vapers stick to their New Year resolution to quit smoking.

    Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of ‘National Cigarette Amnesty Day’, which was designed to help UK smokers switch to vaping during January.

    In a press note, the UKVIA said that smoking was one of the main causes of preventable deaths in the UK, and that it was one of the most challenging addictions to beat. ‘According to Public Health England, at least half a million smokers are trying to quit this January and vaping is one of the most effective aids to help them do so,’ the Association said. ‘Evidence shows that people trying to quit cigarettes are 50 percent more successful when using vaping devices.’

    “Research has shown the first 28 days are the toughest, but if you can get past these without going back to a cigarette, then you are five times more likely to quit smoking for good,” said Doug Mutter, board member of the UKVIA.

    The top 10 motivational facts to help new vapers stick to their New Year resolution to quit smoking are:

    1. Vaping is at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking [Public Health England 2018];
    2. Second-hand vapor does not harm those around you [Cancer Research UK, 2016];
    3. Vaping doubles the chance of you successfully quitting smoking [Public Health England, 2018];
    4. More than three million smokers have already used vaping to quit or reduce their smoking [Action on Smoking and Health, 2018];
    5. Vaping helps 20,000 people quit smoking every year [Cancer Research UK, 2018];
    6. The average vaper spends £800 less a year on her habit than does a smoker [the UK Government’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, 2014];
    7. A smoker turned vaper saves the UK £74,000 [Action on Smoking and Health, 2018];
    8. Smoking costs the NHS £2.5 billion a year [Action on Smoking and Health, 2017];
    9. Vaping helps save our communities smoking costs of £760 million a year [Royal Society for Public Health, 2018];
    10. Vaping shops are saving our high streets across the UK [Action on Smoking and Health, 2017].
  • Shisha has weighty issues

    Shisha has weighty issues

    A new study has indicated that people who smoke shisha have a significantly increased risk of becoming obese and developing diabetes, according to a story in The Egyptian Streets.

    The study, which was carried out by the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), UK, found that smokers of shisha were more likely than were non-smokers to gain weight and develop type 2 diabetes.

    “It is possible that the toxins in the smoke stimulate an inflammatory response that causes tissues to become resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin, that regulates glucose in the blood,” the head of the Department of Medical Education at BSMS, Professor Gordon Ferns, was quoted as saying.

    “However, it is also possible that hookah smoking is associated with other social behaviors that lead to weight gain.”

    The study’s 9,840 participants included non-smokers, ex-smokers, cigarette smokers, hookah smokers and those who smoked both cigarettes and hookahs.

  • Industry wrong on pricing

    Industry wrong on pricing

    The introduction of standardized cigarette packaging in the UK led to an increase in the sale price of leading brands, according to a story in the Guardian citing new research.
    A study by Stirling University found that the price of top-selling cigarettes increased by almost five percent during the 18 months after the legislation was introduced. The price of hand-rolling tobacco rose also, by about eight percent.
    Stirling is one of 13 universities that forms the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a Centre for Public Health Excellence funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
    Researchers said their findings were at odds with tobacco companies’ predictions that standardized packaging, which became mandatory in May last year, would lead to lower prices and greater affordability.
    “Tobacco companies were strongly opposed to plain packaging,” Dr. Nathan Critchlow, of Stirling’s institute for social marketing, was quoted as saying. “They appeared adamant that, if the policy was implemented, brands would only be able to compete on price, which would result in lower prices, greater affordability and, consequently, increased consumption.
    “Our study, however, provides early evidence that these concerns of lower prices appear to be unfounded. We found that, as well as the sale prices, recommended retail prices also increased. This suggests that tobacco companies instigated the price rises – and that their predictions of falling prices and rising affordability were intended to deter the government from implementing the policy.”
    The Guardian reported that the team analysed electronic point of sale data from 500 small retailers in Scotland, England and Wales during the 12-month transition period and then for six months after the legislation became mandatory.
    The average price per cigarette and price per gram – both adjusted for inflation – were examined for 20 of the leading fully-branded tobacco products and their standardized equivalents.
    The study was funded by the Cancer Policy Research Centre at Cancer Research UK and was published in the international journal Addiction.

  • BAT Board changes

    BAT Board changes

    British American Tobacco is creating from January 1 two new Management Board roles: director, new categories, and director, digital information.
    At the same time, the roles of COO and group business development director will be eliminated, and all four regional operations (USA, Europe and North Africa, Asia-Pacific and Middle East and Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa) will report directly to the CEO.
    In a note posted on its website, BAT said the new roles were being established in order to accelerate ‘the implementation of our established and successful strategy’.
    It said the director, new categories, who would report directly to the chief marketing officer, would have ‘end-to-end accountability for driving growth, innovation, world-class brand building and consumer insights for our potentially reduced-risk products (PRRPs)’.
    The director, digital and information, who would report directly to the CEO, would be responsible for ‘driving digital transformation across the Group and further enhancing our digital consumer experience capabilities’.
    Paul Lageweg, currently regional marketing manager, Asia-Pacific and Middle East, will become director, new categories.
    Marina Bellini, currently chief information officer, will become director, digital and information.
    Tadeu Marroco, currently regional director, Europe and North Africa, will be appointed to the new Management Board role of director, group transformation.
    Johan Vandermeulen, currently regional director, Asia-Pacific and Middle East, will succeed Marroco.
    Guy Meldrum, currently area director, Australasia area, will be appointed to succeed Vandermeulen.
    Hae In Kim, currently group head of talent and organisational effectiveness, will be appointed as director, talent and culture designate on January 1 and will succeed Giovanni Giordano, currently group human resources director, on April 1.
    Naresh Sethi, currently group business development director, will leave the company at the end of Q2 2019.

  • E-cig rules could change

    E-cig rules could change

    In response to a UK parliamentary report on electronic cigarettes, the Government has agreed to review e-cigarette regulations once EU legislation ceases to apply, according to a story by Carolyn Wickware for the Pharmaceutical Journal.
    In its response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s report on e-cigarettes (see TR news report, Harm reduction within reach, August 17), the Government has agreed with recommendations for a review of e-cigarette regulation ‘to identify scope for change post-Brexit’.
    The committee had recommended in its e-cigarettes report, published in August, that the regulations, ‘which are currently applied under EU legislation,’ should be changed as ‘part of a wider shift to a more risk-proportionate regulatory environment,’ in which restrictions, advertising rules and taxes ‘reflect the evidence on the relative harms of the various e-cigarette and tobacco products available’.
    In its response, the Department of Health and Social Care said it was committed to a review ‘to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health’.
    The response added: ‘We will look to identify where we can sensibly deregulate without harming public health or where current EU regulations limit our ability to deal with tobacco’.
    The government also committed to ‘consider reviewing the position on snus,’ which is banned within the EU outside of Sweden. The response document said it would consider whether snus would promote ‘proportional harm reduction’.

  • Technology that satisfies

    Technology that satisfies

    British American Tobacco said yesterday it had launched two products in which new puretech blade technology had replaced the coil and wick heating mechanism traditionally found in e-cigarettes.
    In a note posted on its website, BAT said that it was launching two new electronic cigarettes, Vype iSwitch and Vype iSwitch Maxx, in five of its VIP branded stores in London.
    The company said the new products were powered by the world-first vaping technology, Vype puretech, as it sought to provide an even more satisfying option for adult smokers looking for a potentially reduced-risk alternative to traditional cigarettes. The new products were aimed at smokers who had yet to find a vaping alternative that satisfied them.
    Vype iSwitch and Vype iSwitch Maxx are driven by new-to-world puretech blade technology – replacing the coil and wick heating mechanism traditionally found in e-cigarettes,’ the note said. ‘This breakthrough heating technology is proprietary to BAT and protected by multiple patents.’
    BAT highlighted that:

    • ‘It is a fabric-free technology – an ultra-slim stainless-steel blade, which replaces the traditional coil and wick, heating the e-liquid to create the vapor which the consumer inhales.
    • ‘The blade, which is around the thickness of a human hair, has a surface area ten times larger than a traditional coil and wick heating system, providing a much more precise and measured way to heat the e-liquid.
    • ‘Results in increased consumer taste satisfaction by ensuring a smoother, richer and more consistent vape.
    • ‘The power and design of the technology delivers nicotine more effectively – even with lower strength nicotine e-liquids.
    • ‘Vype puretech, as tested on Vype iSwitch, also produces a vapor which contains around 99 percent less toxicants than the smoke from a conventional cigarette – the biggest reduction, to date, that BAT has seen in its portfolio of Vype vapor products.’

    BAT said the new range had been designed to have a premium look and feel.
    ‘Vype iSwitch and Vype iSwitch Maxx are closed-system vaping devices with consumer-centric design features, such as the “slide and lock” mechanism to easily change the specially designed cartridges – containing Vype puretech blades,’ the note said. ‘The cartridges are available in three flavours (Fresh Mint, Virginia Tobacco and Forest Berries) and three nicotine strengths (3mg/ml, 5mg/ml and 8mg/ml).’
    BAT said the limited launch was intended to facilitate consumer interaction with the new product so that the company could take ‘learnings and consumer feedback ahead of a wider roll-out’ further in the UK and online in 2019.

  • BAT in transition

    BAT in transition

    In its second-half pre-close trading update for 2018, British American Tobacco said that it was expecting a full-year industry volume decline of about 3.5 percent.
    But it said that its market share during the year to date was up by 0.4 of a percentage point on that of the 2017 financial year, driven by its Strategic Brands, whose share was up by 1.8 percentage points.
    Tobacco-heating and vapor products were said to be on track to record a full-year reported-revenue of £900 million.
    The tobacco-heating product glo was said to be available on 16 markets ‘globally’. It was continuing to grow on the Japanese market, where it had now captured a 4.6 percent share.
    The Epen3 was said to be performing well with new market launches including those in France and New Zealand.
    Oral tobacco products were expected to deliver ‘strong constant currency revenue growth on a representative basis’.
    Meanwhile, the US industry cigarette-volume decline was said to remain in line with historic ranges.
    It was down 4.4 percent during the year to date and BAT said it continued to expect an industry decline of about 4.0-4.5 percent for the full year 2018
    The company said it continued to enjoy value share growth, up 0.2 of a percentage point during the year to date, with NAS (Natural American Spirit), Camel and Newport all growing share.
    The electronic cigarette Vuse’s volume was up by more than 30 percent during the year to date, despite the Vuse Vibe recall. Vuse Alto’s national roll-out had reached about 55,000 stores after 13 weeks.