Tobacco Industry News

Research

Philip Morris to 'Unleash the Beast'?
According to Citigroup tobacco analyst Bonnie Herzog, there will be several events in 2008 that will launch the tobacco industry into profits. Philip Morris International will most likely be spinning off from Altria Group, which will put Philip Morris in place to become more aggressive in the United States.  Such innovations might include creation of a menthol cigarette to compete with Lorillard Tobacco’s Newport cigarettes and a buyout of the Swedish Match smokeless tobacco company.  If FDA tobacco regulation takes effect, there could also be new risk-reducing cigarette technologies. Click here to read the entire story.
 
European Commission and JT International (Japan Tobacco) sign 15-year agreement to combat contraband and counterfeit cigarettes
The European Commission, along with 26 European Union nations, signed an agreement with Japan Tobacco International (JTI) to partner against contraband and counterfeit cigarettes.  JTI will pay a total of $400 million over 15 years to aid in the effort to reduce the loss of taxes and customs revenues from contraband.  Under the agreement, JTI products will be tracked to ensure that they do not diverge from their planned distribution routes.  To read more from the European Commission, click here.

Embarrassments Dog Iowa Front-Runner Huckabee
During his tenure as Arkansas governor, Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee accepted $40,000 in funding from tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds to fund a 1994 speaking tour against a proposed Arkansas state cigarette tax, according to two of his former consultants.  Huckabee claims not to remember accepting the money.  However, he ultimately enacted a workplace smoking ban and increased the Arkansas state cigarette tax in 2003.  Mr. Huckabee received sixteen ethics complaints during his gubernatorial career, some pertaining to distribution of his campaign funding.  To read more, click here.

Loews to Spin Off Lorillard Tobacco
Loews Corporation, a conglomerate that includes C.N.A. Financial, Bulova, HighMount Exploration and Production, and a hotel chain, has sold the remainder of its holdings in Lorillard Tobacco.  Lorillard makes the cigarette brands Kent, Newport, Maverick, and True. While an analyst for Omega Advisors, which owns a significant amount of Loews shares, speculates that the deal was made partly because the tobacco industry “is not a pleasant business to be in,” chief executive of Loews James S. Tisch maintains that the split from Lorillard was purely a financial decision.  For more information on the deal, click here. 

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