Imperial Tobacco sees sales boost as smokers switch to cheaper brands

Imperial Tobacco, the maker of Lambert & Butler cigarettes, expects sales to benefit in the second half as the recession forces smokers to switch to cheaper brands or roll their own."The strength of our value brands and products means we are well positioned" to take advantage of trading down, the company said. 

In the UK, sales will also get a boost as fewer people take holidays abroad and buy cigarettes in duty-free shops. Imperial expects to benefit from the April Budget, as smokers stocked up before the duty increase which usually falls in Imperial's first half, ending in March.

During the first half, Imperial's cigarette volumes fell from 10.8bn to 9.8bn in the UK, while loose tobacco volumes increased slightly. The British cigarette market as a whole shrank by 2pc. 

The number of cigarettes sold also declined in Germany and Spain, Imperial's other large European markets, but strong increases in Eastern Europe and the Middle East helped push up total volumes by 25pc to 151.5bn. Revenue jumped 54pc to £12.4bn because of the acquisition of Spanish tobacco company Altadis in January last year.

Imperial reported a first-half pretax loss of £184m, compared with a profit of £326m the previous year, after losses on currency and interest rate hedges, and an amortisation charge on the value of acquisitions.

Source: The Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/66EMm

Landlady transforms pub into 'smoking research centre' in legal loophole so customers can smoke indoors

With her pub struggling to survive, landlady Kerry Fenton needed a way to bring in business - fast. So when one of her regulars claimed he had found a 'legal loophole' to get round the smoking ban, she decided to act on his advice. Just five days later, customer numbers have quadrupled as word has spread about the 'smoking research centre' in the Cutting Edge pub in Barnsley.

James Martin, 40, studied the fine print of The Smoke-Free (Exemptions and Vehicles) Regulations 2007 to come up with a solution to his local pub's problems in the non-smoking era. He worked out that a 'smoking research centre' could be introduced if the building has a separate room and no through bar. Customers would be allowed to smoke in the room after filling in a research questionnaire about their smoking habits. Miss Fenton, 36, gave the smoking room the go ahead and is delighted with the results.

She said: 'Before our research centre opened we were lucky to get 10 people in at a weekend and we were struggling to survive. 'It's certainly given business a shot in the arm and it's all in the name of research, legal and above board. On Friday we had 29, on Saturday 31 and on Sunday 46 customers in the tap room.'

Now her secret is out, however, the authorities are likely to move to close the loophole and end the pub's evasion of the ban. Miss Fenton, a non-smoker herself, asks smokers to put 50p in a charity box for a donation to cancer research. The questionnaires ask customers if their smoking habits have changed since the introduction of the new law and details of their age and how many cigarettes they smoke.

She said: 'I am collecting all the questionnaires and keeping them safely. I hope they can be used by academics in universities and colleges who are interested in studying the effects of this law. 'I am a non-smoker but I believe in the freedom of the individual. There is no good reason why people should not be allowed to smoke.' 

Mr Martin, a printer, said: 'I wanted to have a pub to smoke in before they all closed down. I studied details of the act closely, we drew up the questionnaires and it's taken off in a big way. I have already had enquiries from other pubs about introducing research centres and I'm expecting many more to join in.'

Yesterday news of the 'loophole' caused confusion in Whitehall with the Home Office and Department of Health referring enquiries to each other.
But local authorities are likely to show more interest. Punch Taverns, which owns the pub, said it did 'not endorse this activity' and the licensee 'will be advised against' continuing with it. The local council, which is responsible for enforcing the ban on smoking in public places, is also looking into the matter.

Simon Frow, Barnsley Council's head of Regulatory Services, said: 'The Cutting Edge is quite clearly not a research or test facility and as such is not exempt under the legislation quoted as an attempted "get out" clause. Therefore, the law requiring it to be smokefree applies and we will be enforcing it.' The maximum penalty for permitting smoking on smokefree premises is a £2,500 fine.

Source: The Daily Mail, 13 May 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/x8XWE

US: New study confirms high levels of secondhand smoke found in casinos puts workers' health at serious risk

A new report released by the federal government supports what The American Lung Association has long suspected: casino workers are among an unprotected class of workers facing serious health risks caused by secondhand smoke exposure. 

The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, finds casino workers had measureable levels of chemicals in their blood stream caused by secondhand smoke exposure from their casino workplaces. Casino workers also reported respiratory symptoms caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. The report recommends that smoking be prohibited in casinos and that cessation services be provided to casino employees to help them quit smoking.

The American Lung Association believes no one should have to breathe secondhand smoke as a condition of their work. It urges states to join the Smokefree Air Challenge by passing comprehensive smokefree air laws that protect all workers. The consequences are too real to ignore. After working for more than two decades in a well known casino, Vinnie Rennich found that he had become stricken with lung cancer despite never having smoked tobacco products. Vinnie was fired from his job after becoming a vocal advocate for the health of other casino workers. The same rights most office workers take for granted must be extended to all workers, including bar, restaurant and casino workers. States should pass comprehensive laws protecting all workers so that they don't have to sacrifice their health to earn a paycheck.

Source: Medical News Today, 12 May 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/7qPG3

Netherlands: Appeals Court rules small bars cannot be held to smoking ban

A Dutch appeals court ruled Tuesday that small bars with no staff except their owners are exempt from a national smoking ban introduced for the hospitality industry last July. The appeals court of Den Bosch, in the southern Netherlands, found two owners of the Victoria cafe in Breda, near the Belgian border, not guilty of having contravened the ban.

"The court finds that the (ban) is partly non-binding, as it lacks legal grounding" regarding establishments with no staff, said a court statement. The ban on smoking in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry had sought to protect staff from the dangers of second-hand smoke inhalation. "This is a huge boost for (small establishments) to get back to business," said Joris Prinssen, a spokesman for industry association Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, in reaction to the judgement.

Court spokesman JJ van der Kaaden said that Tuesday's ruling would apply to all small cafes and bars that employed no staff. But its application was frozen by an announcement by prosecutors that they intended appealing the verdict in the Supreme Court. This could last 18 months. "Today's decision will not be formal until confirmed by the Supreme Court," said Kaaden. "But one can imagine that courts asked to consider similar cases in the interim, would be unwilling to make any findings until the outcome of that appeal is known."

The owners of the Victoria cafe were first acquitted by a lower court last month, escaping prosecution demands for a 1,200 euro (1,600-dollar) fine and closure for a month. The prosecution appealed the finding. The cafe is run by the owners with no other employees. Several thousand small bars and cafes in the Netherlands united late last year to flaunt the smoking ban and create a joint legal defence fund, arguing they lacked the floor space and money to erect separate smoking-only areas.

A recent Dutch health ministry study found that 62 percent of Dutch cafes saw a drop in business in October and November 2008, compared with a year earlier, on account of the smoking ban. Prinssen said there were some 9,500 bars in the Netherlands, of which 3,000 employed no personnel.

In February, the owners of a cafe with no employees in the northern Dutch town of Groningen was fined 1,200 euros in the first-ever trial involving a breach of the Dutch smoking ban. An appeal in that case is pending.

The House of Representatives in the Dutch parliament asked Tuesday for a new debate on the smoking ban.

Source: Yahoo News, 12 May 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/5KF1Z