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ASH Daily News

30 November 2004

HEADLINES

Belhaven reacts to smoking ban as share prices fall
The real cost of smoking, £25 for a pack of 20
Knowsley MDC first council to receive Clean Air Gold Award
Smoking ban ignites demand for nicotine replacements



FULL TEXT

Belhaven reacts to smoking ban as share prices fall

A third of all Scottish pubs could close when the ban comes into force according to Stuart Ross, chief executive of the Belhaven group. "It's a big cultural change because a lot of the people who go to pubs in Scotland are smokers," said Mr Ross. The Belhaven group plans to build 'smokers' retreats' - outdoor smoking areas with heaters and umbrellas in an effort to adapt to the ban: "During a big change like this businesses which can adapt will survive and businesses which cannot adapt will be sold," Mr Ross said. He predicted a thinning out of community pubs in deprived areas saying that these pubs were very vulnerable and he expected "one in three of them to go."

Belhaven reported a 27pc increase in pre-tax profits to £90.7m for the half year and said sales rose to £56.8m from £47.2m. Belhaven's share price fell yesterday from a high of 488p to 421, although analyst Alan Millar at Arbuthnot said that "with shares having been off about 15 percent from their peak this year, they were already discounting a smoking-related drop in sales".

Source: The Independent, The Times, Financial Times, The Scotsman, 30 November 2004
Article link: http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=663&id=1365522004


The real cost of smoking, £25 for a pack of 20

Health economists at Duke University in America have published a new book 'The Price of Smoking', in which they calculate the price of cigarettes relevant to their real social cost over a lifetime of smoking. They write that 'over 60 years the total cost for a 24 year old smoker, including medical expenses and lost earnings, is on average £138,000'.

The study differs from previous smoking studies in that it comprehensively analyzes a wider range of costs over a smoker's entire lifetime, drawing on such data as Social Security earnings histories dating back to 1951.

Given the high costs and adverse effects of smoking on individuals, it is "remarkable," the authors conclude, that funds from the 1998 settlement involving 46 state attorneys' general and major tobacco manufacturers largely are not being spent on smoking-cessation or related programs.

Source: The Times, November 30, 2004
Article link: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/costofsmoking_1104.html


Knowsley MDC first council to receive Clean Air Gold Award

Knowsley MDC has become the first council to be awarded a National Clean Air Gold Award by the Roy Castle Lung Foundation. The award is presented to businesses which operate a full 'non-smoking' policy to protect non-smokers and who provide help for smokers who want to quit.

The council became a smoke-free employer on 1 April 2004 and all its offices and public spaces are now "no-smoking" areas. The council also helps local employers to implement smoke-free policies and grants its own awards.

Source: Environmental Health News, 26 November 2004


Smoking ban ignites demand for nicotine replacements

The pharmaceutical companies that produce nicotine replacement therapy products can expect to see a booming market for their products, as nicotine addicts insist on smoking and governments insist on workplace bans. Executives from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) were in Dublin last Friday to discuss the company's global strategy for its nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products.

Although the meeting was held behind closed doors, the multinational
pharmaceutical giant is clearly excited about the performance of its NRT
products in Ireland.

Their visit coincides with news from Imperial Tobacco that cigarette sales in Ireland have fallen 10pc this year.

The company, which owns the John Player brand, has a 25pc share of the Irish
market and said that it has sold 200m fewer cigarettes because of the ban.

In September, the Gallagher Group said that its sales had fallen by 7.5pc and that it would sell 260m fewer cigarettes this year.

The overall decline in cigarette sales in Ireland could be as high as 700m this year.

In addition to the hard evidence of falling cigarette sales, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has reported a fall in the prevalence of smoking, noting that many of the people who haven't quit entirely since the introduction of the
workplace ban have reduced their consumption of cigarettes.

Valerie Coghlan of ASH says that many of the 40-per-day smokers have become
25-per-day smokers, due to the fact that they can't smoke in the office and
have to leave the pub to have a cigarette.

"The Irish experience in smoking control is a win-win situation, and we've met a lot of happy people over the past few days," said Katie Kemper, the US-based vice-president of smoking control at GlaxoSmithKline.

A 10pc fall in the prevalence of smoking is consistent with the experience of other areas that have introduced a smoking ban. Since New York banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 2002, the prevalence of smoking in New York has fallen by around 11pc.

All of this is good news for GSK, which manufactures the NiQuitinCQ patches and lozenges. It is also good news for companies like Pfizer, which manufactures Nicorette gum and patches.

Demand for NRT products in Ireland has increased by 13pc over the past year, while the demand for NiQuitinCQ has increased by almost 30pc. This is a huge
increase for an established product.

"Ireland has been one of our most successful countries, we're lucky if we get a 10pc growth in other markets," said Katie Kemper.

GSK can see no reason why the ban would not work as well in other jurisdictions as it worked here. "Overall we have found that smokers are more similar than different around the world; smokers in Ireland are similar to smokers in Italy," said Kate Kemper.

If an indoor culture like Ireland can successfully move smokers outside, then other countries where the pub cultures are not as prevalent should find it easier to enforce workplace bans.

Source: The Irish Indepent, 25 November 2004
Article link: http://www.prophet.net/quotes/stocknews.jsp?symbol=GSK&article=20041125670.4_9b1b000c435b282a

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