Big tobacco companies lose High Court battle over plain packaging May 19, 2016 Big tobacco firms have lost a High Court challenge against new plain packaging rules that will be implemented tomorrow. Under the new rules, all cigarette packets will look similar, with the same green colour, font, size, case and alignment of text on boxes. Manufacturers will have to comply with the new packaging legislation from 20 [...]
Plain packaging: New UK cigarette rules are “plain crazy” after High Court ruling against big tobacco firms yesterday May 20, 2016 Uniform cigarette packaging slammed as "plain crazy" comes into effect today after the High Court ruled against a legal challenge from big tobacco firms. Opponents fear the "Soviet style" plain packaging will put tobacco brands at risk of being "eradicated" and lead to a rise in cigarette counterfeiting. All cigarette packets manufactured from today will [...]
Tobacco companies remain an addiction for stock market investors – and Brexit gave them a boost too June 29, 2016 Cigarette companies have been under the cosh for years as Western governments try to stamp out addiction to cancer sticks. But the anti-smoking lobby has failed on one count – to sufficiently dent the fortunes of tobacco companies on the stock market. Despite the battering the UK stock market has taken since Friday’s Brexit announcement, shares [...]
British American Tobacco in €550m Croatian deal to buy TDR from Adris Grupa June 1, 2015 British American Tobacco (BAT) is set to extend its reach into the Balkans after the cigarette giant agreed to purchase TDR from Croatia’s Adris Grupa yesterday for €550m (£394m). BAT, which last year had a global market share of 12 per cent in tobacco products, said it will benefit from TDR’s strong brand presence in [...]
FTSE 100 opens higher as Brent crude oil price rallies March 17, 2016 Markets opened cautiously higher this morning, as investors cheered a decision by the Federal Reserve's Open Markets Committee to hold interest rates – and oil rallied. The FTSE 100 crept up 0.62 per cent, to 6,212 points, pushed up by miners again. Anglo American jumped 9.8 per cent to 541.1p, while Glencore rose 7.6 per cent to 155.4p [...]
UK government faces legal action from British American Tobacco and Philip Morris over plain packaging law May 22, 2015 The UK government is facing legal action from two of the world's biggest tobacco companies over its new “plain packaging” law. British American Tobacco and Philip Morris have filed law suits with the High Court, claiming the regulation breaches EU and English property trademark laws. Marc Firestone, senior vice president of Philip Morris, [...]
Philip Morris’ share price rises as cigarette seller coughs up mixed results February 4, 2016 Cigarette seller Philip Morris has missed fourth-quarter revenue expectations and signalled a low profit outlook for 2016. Revenue for the quarter slipped 11 per cent to $6.39bn (£4.38bn), with revenue declining in every geographic region. Chief executive André Calantzopoulos said: “Against a backdrop of improving industry volume trends in many key geographies, our cigarette brand portfolio performed superbly, [...]
UK cigarette maker British American Tobacco mulls Souza Cruz bid February 23, 2015 British American Tobacco (BAT) is weighing up an offer for the remaining stake in Souza Cruz, Brazil’s largest cigarette company. London-based BAT – the maker of Pall Mall and Dunhill cigarettes – is the current majority shareholder but hopes to acquire the remaining 24.7 per cent of the company. Any offer would be made at [...]
Big tobacco to fight in court against plain packaging December 6, 2015 Some of the world's biggest tobacco firms are going to court with the UK this week in a row over the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes. British American Tobacco (BAT), Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International have teamed up in the High Court to argue the plan to ban branding on [...]
European Commission: Belgium’s €700m dollar tax breaks were illegal January 11, 2016 The European Commission today ruled that Belgium's tax scheme, which handed out tax breaks worth around €700m (£522m) to companies, was illegal. Belgium's tax scheme favoured multinational companies by exempting them from paying tax on so-called excess profits. The Belgian tax authorities could lower the tax base by deducting excess profit for certain companies, on the basis that a [...]