Tobacco News

Imperial Tobacco has held firm as the number one business in Insider’s Top 500 – the annual ranking of South West companies based on turnover and profitability. With massive revenues of £28.2bn and a pre-tax profit of more than £2bn, the Bristol-headquartered tobacco giant was comfortably clear of second place: financial services company Nationwide.
Imperial Tobacco recently had its £112.3m fine for allegedly restricting competition quashed in December. It said it had reversed the Office of Fair Trading ruling adding that the company has “always rejected the Office of Fair Trading’s suggestion that (it) acted anti-competitively or in any way contrary to the interests of consumers”. Ream more »

The OFT is in hangover mode after a year blighted by the Competition ­Appeal Tribunal (CAT). Any hope it had of restoring its reputation faded in December after its price-­fixing case against tobacco manufacturers and retailers fell apart.
In March 2011 the Government ­unveiled plans to merge the Competition Commission and OFT to create the Competition and Markets ­Authority (CMA) (The Lawyer, 16 March 2011). The consultation closed in June and a working group is currently considering the way forward.
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International tobacco company Philip Morris has filed another legal challenge against the Federal Government’s plain packaging laws for tobacco products.

It already is challenging the laws under Australia’s bilateral trade treaty with Hong Kong and is seeking damages. Philip Morris is the third tobacco company to lodge a case in the High Court against the new laws.
British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco already have launched their own challenges to the legislation.
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Leading tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris International (PMI) has issued full legal proceedings against the Australian government, following its approval of legislation that will ban logos and other distinctive branding from tobacco products sold in the country.

As NewLegal Review reported in July, PMI had already signalled its intention to launch full proceedings if the long-planned legislation were passed. In the corporation’s view, any move by Australia towards statutory enforcement of plain tobacco packaging would violate its bilateral treaty with Hong Kong, Ream more »

But that’s not the only good news for Philip Morris ( PM ) and the tobacco industry.

Despite projections indicating cigarette smoking will kill approximately 5 million people per year, nicotine – the fiercely addictive stimulant in the tobacco plant – has been mounting a comeback for the past few years, The Washington Post reports .
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The tobacco growers have been asked not to cultivate the non-recommended variety (NRV) of tobacco to avoid the dilemma like the previous year, when the tobacco producing, manufacturing, and export companies refused to purchase their crops.

The tobacco companies on Thursday held a meeting with the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB), which was chaired by its acting chairman and secretary, Noman Bashir, at the PTC head office on Thursday. Ream more »

The provincial government is making a wise move by joining a legal consortium to recover its expenditures on smoking-related illnesses from big tobacco. It simply makes sense to take advantage of the expertise developed by those already pursuing those costs in other jurisdictions. And partnering with other provinces in legal representation should also be cheaper for Island taxpayers. Ream more »

Denys S. Creighton has listed for sale a two-bedroom, 2.5-bath condo at 94 Southfield Ave. in Stamford for $575,000.

The 1,632-square-foot Unit H2 is one of the 88 units in the Village at Stamford Landing development, which was built in 1987 in Waterside. Carissa Mcmahon of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the listing agent.
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The largest Russian owned cigarette manufacturer is up for sale, with foreign buyers eager to get their hands on the company. Donskoy Tabak is based in the south of the country and currently has about 4% of the domestic market.

The company produced about 26 million cigarettes last year, and bought local rival Nevo Tabak at the beginning of the year. It has two local brands, Donskoy Tabak , and Nasha Marka, and produces the Richmond and Senator brands under licence. Ream more »

Tobacco companies that reached a health-care settlement with Delaware in 1998 dropped a lawsuit over the state’s enforcement of the agreement, state Attorney General Beau Biden said.

The companies had claimed Delaware didn’t meet its obligation to regulate smaller tobacco firms that aren’t part of the settlement, according to Biden.
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