Home / Media Room / News / ASH Daily News / ASH Daily News for 07 December 2006

ASH Daily News for 07 December 2006

[View html version: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/adn]

ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.   
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
 
ASH Daily News
 
6 December 2006
 
 
HEADLINES
 
Japan Tobacco makes a bid for Gallaher
 
The Publican holds an inaugural roundtable on food, smoking and pubs
 
Publican plans to flout the English smoking ban
 
Council pension funds heavily invested in tobacco companies
 
Brulines posts profit and gathers intelligence on drinking habits
 
FULL TEXT
 
Japan Tobacco makes a bid for Gallaher
 
Japan Tobacco, the world's third-biggest tobacco company, has made a takeover approach for Gallaher, the UK tobacco group, which has a market value of £6.4bn.
 
Gallaher has been the subject of persistent takeover speculation in recent weeks. The company shares have risen strongly over the past two months, gaining 13% to close yesterday.
 
Japan Tobacco, which also owns food and pharmaceutical businesses, controls about 70% of the Japanese tobacco market. As former state-owned monopoly, Japan Tobacco's international tobacco business is stronger than its domestic operations. Its international sales rose 12.2% in the six months to the end of September.
 
Gallaher, by comparison, has been struggling with a long-term decline in Western Europe. Its four core markets of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Austria account for about 70% of group profits.
 
The company has also been suffering from price wars, especially in Spain, as well as from higher taxes and from smoking bans in several countries. 
 
Source: Financial Times 7 December 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/y3gsv9  (full text available to subscribers only).
Also reported: Telegraph  http://tinyurl.com/y2kn28
 
 
The Publican holds an inaugural roundtable on food, smoking and pubs
 
The Publican has held a round table on the issue of food and smoking in pubs.
 
The consensus of the round table was that wet-led (drinks only) local pubs that currently do not offer food would struggle post ban to gain food business, but that apocalyptic scaremongering is way off the mark.
 
Tim Bird, operations manager of EP pubs said: “I just can’t see local pubs in certain areas doing great business from more food.”
 
Jason Radbourn from Spirit Group said: “It’s about doing what you already do well. People will still want that.”
 
When does a pub stop being a pub and become a restaurant? This was a question grappled with at the roundtable. It was discussed whether the growth of food threatened the traditional pub model.
 
While there may be more eating going on, pubs will not be switching en masse to being gastro-style, food-led, the round-table decided. Tim Bird said licensees were more likely to invest in outdoor areas than advanced kitchens as a solution to the ban. Jason Radbourn summed up: “Food pubs will stay food pubs, drinking pubs will stay drinking pubs.”
 
“Perhaps we need to change our image a little, improve the look of the pub and the attitude of the staff if we are to attract new markets,” agreed Paul Robbins, from McMullen & Sons.
 
Source: The Publican 6 December 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/y39j7h
 
 
Publican plans to flout the English smoking ban
 
A publican in Bolton, England has vowed to flout smoking ban laws.  Nick Hogan, owner of The Swan in Churchgate, Bolton town centre, says he is prepared to face court in a bid to allow his regulars to continue smoking.
 
Mr Hogan said: “I will be breaking the law. This is about people's freedoms and their rights, which are being taken away by this ban.
 
“How can the Government ban a legal product when they can't even be bothered to get illegal drugs off the streets? This is my pub, I pay the bills, not Tony Blair or the Government, so I will be ignoring the ban and if they want to take me to court, they can.”
 
For failing to comply with the smoking ban, Mr Hogan could face a fine of up to £2,500 every time someone lights up in his pub.
 
Source: Leigh Journal 6 December
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/y2ddbg
 
 
Council pension funds heavily invested in tobacco companies
 
Derbyshire's pension fund for council workers has invested almost £23m in some of the world's best-known tobacco brands and holds almost £9m worth of shares in arms firms.
 
Both Derbyshire County and Derby City Council, whose employees subscribe to the scheme, have no-smoking policies on their premises.
 
Yet the £1.9bn fund that the two councils manage holds £10m worth of shares in British American Tobacco and £6.5m in Gallaher Group. It also holds £2.3m worth of shares in Altria , £2.7m in Reynolds American and £1.4m in Spanish tobacco firm Altadis.
 
Investments are controlled by finance experts, but the fund is overseen locally by an investment committee made up of six county councillors and two city councillors.
 
Councillor Chris Williamson, leader of the city council, admitted the investment in tobacco companies did contradict the smoking policy.
 
He said: “Clearly, there is an inconsistency, and I'm not going to deny that. The fact remains that smoking is a killer and that is why we have taken a lead in promoting smokefree premises.
 
But there remains the duty of the trustees of the pension fund to maximise the return for its members, and that's where the inconsistency arises.”
 
The investment committee has no ethical guide but it does have a statement of investment principles. The statement says: “The investment committee aims to manage the pension fund's assets in such a way as to benefit society as a whole, by supporting companies with a good record in social, environmental and ethical matters.”
 
But it adds: “All investment decisions are based primarily on financial considerations.”
 
County council employee Gary Ransford, 46, pays into the pension scheme and is the Unison union observer at investment committee meetings. He said: “The majority of people would have no idea where their money is going.
 
“I would like to see more ethical investment but I recognise that it's easier said than done because there are lots of factors to consider.”
 
Source: This is Derbyshire 6 December 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/y5scjn
 
 
Brulines posts profit and gathers intelligence on drinking habits
 
The hi-tech beer measurement business Brulines has posted a phenomenal 102% rise in sales.  The company announced yesterday it had generated sales of £9.24m in the six months to September 30.
 
Chairman James Dickson said Brulines was looking at working on measuring sales of wines and spirits, so every part of a pub's business can be measured and accounted for. Brulines operates on a quantity-based system for pubs to know what has been sold.  The company said it plans to take advantage of the upcoming smoking ban in England.
 
Mr Dickson and his team have already gathered intelligence on changes to drinking habits in Scotland and hope to apply that across their customer base.
 
He said: “I can't imagine someone going outside on a terrace with an ice cold lager - it will be more of a winter warmer bitter they will go for.”
 
Source: IC Newcastle 6 December 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/uhugr

----------------------------------
To unsubscribe from ASH Daily News, simple follow the link below:

Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/maillist/unsubscribe.php
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org/nbuk
----------------------------------