Tag: United Kingdom

Imperial’s volume down
Imperial Brand’s total tobacco volume during the six months to the end of March, at 126.3 billion stick-equivalents, was down by 5.7 percent on that of the six months to the end of March 2016. Stick-equivalent volume is said to include cigarette, fine-cut tobacco, cigar and snus volumes.
During the same period, the company’s Growth Brand volume was increased by 3.2 percent, from 70.7 billion to 73.0 billion.
Imperial’s tobacco net revenue during the six months to the end of March, at £3,716 million, was increased by 9.3 percent on that of the six months to the end of March 2016, £3,399 million.
Tobacco adjusted operating profit increased by 5.7 percent to £1,667 million, while logistics adjusted operating profit increased by 20.6 percent to £82 million, and total adjusted operating profit increased by 6.3 percent to £1,740 million.
Adjusted earnings per share increased by 7.9 percent to 1121.9p, while the dividend per share was up by 10.0 percent to 51.7p.
Commenting on the interim results, chief executive, Alison Cooper, said Imperial was delivering encouraging improvements in share trends in many of its priority markets after significantly stepping up investment behind its “strategy and quality growth”.
“The volume and share gains we achieved with our Growth Brands in the period were particularly pleasing,” she said.
“Our performance is underpinned by the rollout of our Market Repeatable Model, which provides an effective and consistent approach for delivering sustainable quality growth in markets.
“We are deploying this model in e-vapour and believe it can also be successfully applied to drive growth in other consumer adjacencies.
“As expected, first half revenue and profit were impacted by the considerable increase in investment. “In a challenging industry environment, we are delivering against our strategy and remain on track to meet full year earnings expectations at constant currency.
“Cash conversion remains strong and we are delivering another dividend increase of 10 percent.”
May 3, 2017
E-liquids allergy guide
British American Tobacco has published what it calls the first practical guide to the allergy-safe use of ingredients, such as flavourings, in e-liquids.
In a press note issued yesterday, the company said that, as with the use of many flavouring or fragrance-containing consumer products, ‘vaping’ e-liquid had the potential for causing an allergic reaction.
‘An allergic reaction is an overreaction by the body’s immune system to compounds that a person is ‘allergic’ to,’ the press note said. ‘Even if a compound has the potential to cause such a reaction (i.e. it is an allergen), that doesn’t mean it will. Whether an allergic reaction is likely, will depend on the person’s immune system and the amount of the compound used in a product.’
However, some substances were more likely than were others to cause allergic reactions, said BAT.
Flavourings were an important part of the vaping experience and some flavourings were known allergens. But currently, there were no specific allergy-related regulatory restrictions under either the Tobacco Products Directive in Europe or regulations administered by the Food and Drug Administration in the US.
Researchers at BAT had therefore devised a practical approach to assessing and managing the allergy risk associated with e-liquid flavourings and other ingredients (Regulatory Pharmacology and Toxicology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.04.003). The guide is said to be a follow-up to the company’s blueprint for the safe use of flavourings in e-cigs, which was published in Regulatory Pharmacology and Toxicology in 2015 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2015.05.018).
The most common allergy was contact sensitization arising when, for example, nickel jewellery touched the skin. Much less common was respiratory allergy, or ‘chemical asthma’.
“Although respiratory allergy is much less common than skin allergy, the potential adverse effects are much more severe,” said Dr. Sandra Costigan, principal toxicologist at BAT. “Chronic inhalation of respiratory allergens can lead to symptoms ranging from mild breathing difficulties to fatal anaphylaxis.”
‘For skin allergens, the researchers propose a method for estimating the exposures to e-liquid ingredients and quantitatively assessing the risk,’ the press note said. ‘This has then allowed them to work out a concentration of an allergen that is not expected to cause allergy in the person vaping the e-liquid.
‘For skin allergens, putting this into practice is relatively straightforward, as an approach to prevent contact sensitization is well established: The stronger the allergen, the lower the supportable concentration in e-liquid.
‘Additionally, the researchers say any known allergen should be labelled as an ingredient if it is present at 0.1 percent concentration or higher, even if it is established that it can be used safely at a higher concentration. This will help those consumers who already know themselves to be sensitive to certain ingredients to make product choices.’
For respiratory allergens, the authors used a cocoa extract as a case study, because cocoa is used quite commonly in e-liquids. The case study showed the tolerable levels identified for the cocoa extract were not sufficiently high to allow it to perform as an effective flavouring in e-liquid. In the guide, the researchers discuss why this is likely to be an issue for other respiratory allergens as well. And they recommend that respiratory allergens are not used at all.
Furthermore, quoting the low occupational exposure guidelines related to respiratory allergens (aimed at protecting workers against respiratory allergy from unintended exposure to allergens in the workplace), the researchers said it was prudent to exclude all known respiratory sensitizers from e-liquids. As an additional safeguard, if natural extracts were used as flavourings and there was no specific data on whether those extracts were respiratory sensitizers or not, only protein-free versions should be used. This was because most respiratory allergens from natural extracts came from the protein parts.
Food allergens were yet another type of allergen and the researchers recommended the presence of any potential food allergens (that are not already excluded for being respiratory allergens) should be labelled.
‘No two people have the same immune response, which is why it is important to tell people about allergens in a product even if all your data says most people shouldn’t experience a problem,’ said Costigan.
May 3, 2017
Plain packs persuasive
Standardized cigarette packaging could persuade 300,000 people in the UK to quit smoking, according to a story in The Guardian citing a review by scientists at the independent health research organization Cochrane.
The 300,000 estimate is based on the experience in Australia, the first country to introduce standardized packaging, being repeated in the UK.
Standardised cigarette packaging will be compulsory in the UK from May20.
The Guardian story said that the review of the impact of standardized packaging ‘around the world’ had found that it does affect the behaviour of smokers.
‘The Cochrane reviewers found 51 studies that looked at standardized packaging and its impact on smokers, but only one country had implemented the rule fully at the time,’ the Guardian story said. ‘Australia brought in plain packs in 2012.
‘Analysing the evidence from Australia, the team found a reduction in smoking of 0.5 percent up to one year after the policy was introduced. According to the Australian government, that translates to 100,000 people no longer smoking. The decline was attributable specifically to plain packaging, after taking into account the continuing drop in the numbers of smokers caused by other tobacco control measures.’
Dr Jamie Hartmann-Boyce of the Cochrane tobacco addiction group at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences said: “We are not able to say for sure what the impact would be in the UK, but if the same magnitude of decrease was seen in the UK as was observed in Australia, this would translate to roughly 300,000 fewer smokers following the implementation of standardized packaging.”
The full story is at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/27/plain-cigarette-packaging-could-drive-300000-britons-to-quit-smoking.
April 28, 2017
E-cig evidence mounts
A new study has found no evidence that vapor from a commercially-available electronic cigarette promotes the development of cancer in laboratory cells, whereas smoke from a reference tobacco cigarette was found to be positive for cancer-promoting activity, even at very low concentrations.
“These results add to growing weight of evidence that e-cigarettes are likely to be significantly safer than conventional cigarettes,” said Damian Breheny, lead author and adverse outcome pathway manager at British American Tobacco.
Scientists at BAT used a test called the Bhas 42 assay to compare tobacco and nicotine products. The Bhas 42 cell transformation assay assesses the carcinogenic potential of chemicals by looking for changes in a line of cells that are characteristic of tumor development.
Bhas 42 was used to compare the tumor promoter activity of vapor from a Vype ePen, one of BAT’s commercially available electronic cigarettes, and smoke from a reference cigarette (3R4F), by exposing cells to the total particulate matter collected from the vapor or smoke.
Results showed that cigarette smoke was positive for cancer-promoting activity at concentrations as low as 6μg/mL, whereas the test electronic cigarette vapor was not observed to have any in vitro cancer promoter activity at concentrations up to 120μg/mL.
The Bhas 42 assay is part of a suite of in vitro tests being developed by BAT to compare the relative biological effects of electronic cigarettes and tobacco-heating products with those of traditional cigarettes.
“This is the first study to use the Bhas assay to compare tobacco and nicotine products, and it demonstrates the potential for its future application as part of a product assessment framework,” said Breheny.
Assessment of tobacco and nicotine products has traditionally involved genotoxicity tests, which evaluate initial DNA damage that can lead to cancer. Such tests indicate that electronic cigarette vapor, in contrast to cigarette smoke, does not cause mutations and DNA damage. Using the Bhas 42 assay allows for increased understanding of potential carcinogenic risk.
Previous research conducted by BAT has shown that Vype ePen vapor contains about 95 percent less toxicants – in terms of the nine harmful components the World Health Organization recommends should be reduced in cigarette smoke (Chem. Res. Toxicol, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.6b00188) – than does cigarette smoke from a reference cigarette.
April 27, 2017
Vapor far less toxic
New research by British American Tobacco comparing the effects of cigarette smoke and electronic cigarette vapor has shown that, at equivalent or higher doses of nicotine, acute exposure to electronic cigarette vapor has very limited impact on gene expression when compared to the impact of cigarette smoke.
A BAT press note said that the human genome had tens of thousands of genes, and that the profile of genes that were switched on and off could be used to understand whether exposure to an aerosol had had a toxic effect.
‘Scientists at British American Tobacco used nicotine as a reference point and exposed MucilAir™, a realistic in vitro 3D model of a human airway, to e-cigarette vapor and cigarette smoke to assess their comparative effect on gene expression,’ the press note said.
‘The MucilAir™ human respiratory tissue was exposed to smoke from a reference cigarette (3R4F) or vapor from an e-cigarette (Vype ePen) continuously for an hour. Two doses of vapor were tested, matching or doubling the amount of nicotine reaching the cells compared to smoke. Then, to measure the cell response, the scientists mapped the genes that were switched on and off at 24 hours and 48 hours after the one-hour exposure.
‘In the tissue exposed to smoke, the scientists found 873 and 205 genes were affected after 24 and 48 hours of recovery, respectively. However, significantly fewer genes – only 3 and 1, respectively – were affected after exposure to e-cigarette vapour.’
Further analysis was said to have revealed that the exposure to cigarette smoke had caused changes in the expression of genes involved in the development of lung cancer, inflammation and fibrosis, while the test electronic cigarette vapor had caused only minor changes in genes known to be involved in cell metabolism and oxidative stress mechanisms.
“Our results clearly show that cigarette smoke has an adverse effect on cells, triggering a robust gene expression response,’ said Dr. James Murphy, head of reduced risk substantiation at BAT. “However,” he said, “even at equivalent or higher dose of nicotine, acute exposure to the test e-cigarette vapor has very limited impact on gene expression compared to cigarette smoke exposure – it’s a striking difference.”
These results, which were published in Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00852-y), were said to add to an increasing weight of evidence that electronic cigarette vapor caused less damage to cells than did cigarette smoke.
‘Previous research conducted by British American Tobacco has shown that Vype ePen vapor contains around 95 percent less toxicants (Chem. Res. Toxicol, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.6b00188) compared to cigarette smoke from a reference cigarette (in terms of the priority list of nine toxicants which the World Health Organization recommends to reduce),’ the press note said.
April 18, 2017
Plain packs appeal disallowed
All cigarettes in the UK will have to be sold in standardized packaging from next month after the country’s supreme court refused permission for the tobacco industry to appeal against laws requiring the use of such packaging, according to a story by Chris Johnston for The Guardian.
The Department of Health said that following the supreme court’s ruling the industry had no further recourse to domestic legal challenges, meaning that rules governing standardized packaging of cigarettes would come into force on May 20.
The rules requiring standardized tobacco packaging were introduced in May 2016.
Tobacco companies went to the supreme court after the court of appeal in November rejected their attempt to prevent the introduction of standardized tobacco packaging.
British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and Philip Morris International claimed that the packaging law would infringed their human and intellectual property rights.
The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, welcomed the supreme court’s decision, saying: “Standardised packaging will cut smoking rates and reduce suffering, disease and avoidable deaths”.
The Guardian story is at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/11/uk-supreme-court-denies-tobacco-firms-permission-for-plain-packaging-appeal.
April 13, 2017
Relative fire risks explained
Switching from smoking to vaping greatly reduces the risk of dying in a fire, according to a Fire Magazine story citing London Fire Brigade figures.
While traditional tobacco cigarettes were the biggest cause of fatal fires, there had been no recorded deaths or injuries because of fires caused by electronic cigarettes.
During the past three years in London, UK, the Brigade had recorded 14 fires caused by electronic cigarettes compared to just over 3,500 smoking-related fires.
London Fire Brigade’s Assistant Commissioner, Dan Daly, said the best course of action was to quit smoking, but that switching to vaping also greatly cut the risk of fires.
The fire risks presented by electronic cigarettes usually arise from people using the wrong power source to charge them; so the Brigade has issued the following advice to avoid fires:
- Only use the battery and charger that is provided with the electronic cigarette, and buy these items from a reputable vendor;
- Keep electronic cigarettes away from heat sources, and keep them uncovered while charging;
- Never use a damaged electronic cigarette, and never leave one on charge while unattended, including while asleep;
- Never use electronic cigarettes close to medical oxygen because of the danger of ignition;
- Damaged or old batteries should be replaced because they can lead to a fire caused by a short circuit, overheating or mechanical damage;
- Don’t leave batteries in a car, or in a pocket with loose change or keys; always use an approved case.
April 11, 2017
Japan okays acquisition
British American Tobacco said yesterday that it had obtained unconditional antitrust approval from the Japanese authorities in relation to its proposed acquisition of Reynolds American Inc.
‘Together with the previously announced expiry of the HSR Act [Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act ] waiting period, the conditions related to antitrust approvals required as part of the closing conditions to the proposed acquisition have now been satisfied, BAT said in a note posted on its website.
‘Both parties continue to expect the transaction to close during the third quarter of 2017, subject to satisfaction or waiver of the other closing conditions specified in the merger agreement.’
A similar statement was posted on RAI’s website.
April 6, 2017
E-cigs vital quit-factor
A new study predicts that, with electronic cigarettes available as alternatives to traditional tobacco cigarettes, by 2050, 32 percent of smokers in the UK who otherwise would have continued smoking would have completely switched to vaping, according to a British American Tobacco press note.
‘Our results show an overall beneficial effect of e-cigarettes on a population, reducing smoking prevalence and smoking-related deaths,’ said Dr. James Murphy, head of reduced risk substantiation at BAT.
The results, which are published today in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology (doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.03.012), support the results of a study in 2016 by the Cochrane Review, which concluded that electronic cigarettes can help people stop smoking.
Scientists at BAT have developed a predictive model looking at a number of possible scenarios over a 50-year period between 2000 and 2050: There is a baseline scenario in which electronic cigarettes are not on the market and a counterfactual scenario, a predicted situation, based on the current trends in which both traditional tobacco cigarettes and electronic cigarettes are available to consumers.
“This modelling approach is an informative way of assessing population health effects when epidemiological data are not available,” says Murphy.
‘This model takes account of the way consumers use products and utilises the past to predict what might happen in the future,’ the press note said. ‘In 2000, smoking prevalence was 27 percent, and by 2010 it was 20.3 percent. This model predicts that when e-cigarettes are not available, this would fall to 12.4 percent of the overall population [by 2050]. This number falls to 9.7 percent (including dual users) when e-cigarettes are available. And the proportion of all deaths due to smoking-related diseases falls from 8.4 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.’
The model is said to take into account all types of consumers, including current smokers, non-smokers, former smokers, electronic cigarette users, and dual users. ‘Behaviours, like starting, switching, becoming a dual user, and quitting are represented through a feedback system, as is the potential effect of smoking normalisation on starting and cessation rates,’ the note said. ‘Factors such as consumer age, gender, and aging are factored in, while time since quitting or relapsing is also considered.
‘Population benefits were seen even though the model is considered conservative: for instance, it ascribes no lowering of risk to consumers using both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, even though dual users are likely to smoke fewer tobacco cigarettes than they otherwise would; and it assumes that any potential health benefit from quitting cigarettes was lost on relapsing.
‘Future models may also study the use of additional products, such as tobacco-heating products and snus; characterise the UK population by ethnicity, social economic status, and education level; and factor in affordability, smoking bans, health campaigns/risk perception or packaging regulations, say the researchers.’
March 20, 2017
PMI to webcast presentation
Photo by Davide D’Amico
Philip Morris International is due to host a live audio webcast of a presentation and question-and-answer session by CFO Jacek Olczak at the Consumer Analyst Group of Europe (CAGE) conference in London, UK, starting about 14.15 local time on March 20.
The webcast, which will be available at www.pmi.com/cage in listen-only mode, will provide live audio of the entire PMI session.
The audio webcast may be accessed also on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI’s free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp.
An archived copy of the webcast will be available at www.pmi.com/cage until 17.00 Eastern Time on April 18.
Presentation slides will be available at www.pmi.com/cage.
March 14, 2017