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The sale of the first four paintings in a major modern art collection owned by British American Tobacco is due to start on Saturday, reports the NRC on Friday.
The 1,500 works, including 150 internationally prized pieces, are believed to be worth between €15m and €25m. The art collection belongs British American Tobacco and was started in the late 1950s by Alexander Orlow who was director of the company’s Dutch cigarette factory.
Orlow started hanging paintings on the walls of the factory to prevent his workers from getting bored. But now the factory in Zevenaar is being closed and the art collection too must go.
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British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT Malaysia) (KLSE:4162) has commended the Royal Malaysian Customs (RMC) for its commitment to combat illicit trade and pledged its continued support to address the illegal cigarette trade in Malaysia.
"BAT Malaysia is very appreciative of the efforts undertaken by the RMC for continuously stepping up their enforcement efforts on smuggling activities over the past few years.
"This can be seen through the ever increasing successful raids across the country by the RMC to date," said its Managing Director Jack Bowles in a statement.
Cigarette smokers should not be misled into thinking that 'light' and 'mild' cigarettes are less harmful to their health, when compared to full strength tobacco products.
The Commerce Commission, acting on complaints, has been investigating whether the use of the descriptors 'light' and 'mild' on cigarettes could be potentially misleading under the Fair Trading Act.
As a result of the investigation the Commission has issued warnings to three major tobacco companies supplying the New Zealand market - British American Tobacco (New Zealand) Limited, Imperial Tobacco Co. of New Zealand Limited and Philip Morris (New Zealand) Limited.
"Our concern with descriptors such as 'light' and 'mild' is that consumers may believe they are exposing themselves to less harm if they smoke these cigarettes, as compared to regular strength cigarettes," says Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading Adrian Sparrow.
Area Director, BAT Nigeria, Mr. Simon Welford, has called on the newly appointed Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Haman Bello, to assist in making sure that all players in the industry comply fully with the new SON Cigarette Standards which came into force recently. Conducting the Customs boss round the company’s factory in Ibadan during a famililarisation visit, recently, Welford urged the Customs to help SON to enforce the new regulation on tobacco so as to maintain a level playing field in the industry.
Welford took the comptroller-general through a brief history of the operations of BAT Nigeria and its significant contribution to the Nigeria economy. He said, with the signing of memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2001, the state of the art factory was completed in a record time of 18 months with over $150 million in foreign direct investment (FDI). . . .
“With the coming of BAT into Nigeria, 70 per cent of the market share is now legal, a significant departure from the 80 per cent illicit trade as of 2001”
Some antismoking organisations maintain that research which the industry pays for is near to worthless, or at best suspect. Monika Kosińska, Secretary-General of the European Public Health Alliance, for instance, says, "Where there's a conflict of interest between the organisation producing the products and the health outcome, that research is always compromised".
By contrast the industry argues that the more money engaged in research, the better the health benefits: "Maximising the funding available for researchers can offer the greatest potential benefits in addressing the health risks associated with smoking," says Marija Sepic, manager of external communications at Philip Morris International.
It's not always clear-cut though. Dr Carl Phillips, an associate professor in the public health sciences department at Canada's University of Alberta and editor-in-chief of Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations, says, "It's difficult to do creative, honest research on tobacco use without industry funding."
Most of the research that non-industry funding sources were willing to support was simply "rehashes of tired, misleading conventional wisdom," he says. Anti-tobacco "fundamentalists" had effectively censored research on harm reduction, on why people liked to use tobacco, "and on other topics that might interfere with their prohibitionist political agenda". . . .
Producers of tobacco and other hazardous products frequently ridiculed any research that threatened their interests as "junk science", said CDC. The agency always had in mind the funding source and other potential biases when considering research.
One of America's best-known antismoking campaigners, Professor John F. Banzhaf III who is founder and executive director of the leading antismoking organisation ASH, says the industry has "used or misused research for well over 40 years for a variety of underhand purposes". . . .
The companies are nothing if not tenacious though. The British American Tobacco giant has just launched a website allowing non-affiliated scientists to read and evaluate the company's research findings. "We're spending huge amounts on science and there's really no reason at all we'd do this if it merely led to pre-ordained results," said a BAT spokeswoman.
Russia's consumer rights agency, Rospotrebnadzor, has begun legal proceedings against British American Tobacco (BAT), claiming that the company has been deliberately misleading consumers.
Head of the agency, Gennady Onischenko, told journalists on Monday that he had signed the appropriate papers to begin a legal action and ordered them to be forwarded to the court.
Although he did not specify the exact nature of the charges, Onischenko accused tobacco companies of operating a dual standard policy; supplying Russian consumers with cigarettes of a lower quality than cigarettes supplied to the European market;
The Executive Director of British America Tobacco of Nigeria (BATN) Foundation, Mr. Foluso Koku, has pledged the commitment of the foundation to improve the quality of life of Nigerians both in urban and rural areas.
The Executive Director, who spoke at the inauguration of solar- powered bore holes for Du and Kazung Du communities in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau, said Du and Kazung Du are the country homes of Governor Jonah Jang and the former Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr. Buba Gyang
The British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) Foundation last Friday in Du, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau, handed over two solar-powered boreholes to the community.
Handing over the boreholes to the Plateau State government, the foundation's Chairman, Chief Olu Akinkugbe, said that each of the boreholes was equipped with a 20, 000 litre-tank and a solar panel, among other accessories.
Akinkugbe said that the foundation was committed to supporting the ongoing campaign for the eradication of water-borne diseases in Nigeria through the provision of potable water to some communities.
. Financiere Richemont SA, the world's largest jewelry maker, said five-month revenue gained 11 percent on Chinese demand for Cartier necklaces and Piaget watches.
Sales rose 11 percent from April through August, the Geneva- based company said today in a statement, matching the 11 percent median of 12 analysts' estimates gathered by Bloomberg News. Growth weakened from the first quarter's 13 percent and Richemont said the U.S. market is slowing, while the luxury goods industry faces ``difficult'' conditions beneath the top end of the market. . . .
The jeweler is splitting into a luxury-goods maker and an investment company at the same time that it spins off a 27 percent stake in British American Tobacco Plc to avoid higher taxes. The holding is co-owned by Remgro Ltd., which also is controlled by South Africa's billionaire Rupert family.
Russia will sue cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) for spreading misinformation and selling lower grade products than in Europe, state consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Monday. . . .
"British American Tobacco maintains its activities in Russia are in full accordance with Russian law," BAT's director of corporate affairs in Russia, Alexander Lyuty, said.
The head of the watchdog, Gennady Onishchenko, told a press briefing: "These gentlemen are satisfied with Russia as an uncivilised market where they can sell products not according to European legislation which are dangerous and poisonous." He said he had already sent BAT the appropriate legal documents.
BAT denied receiving the documents.
British American Tobacco has become the latest UK company to be targeted in Russia with threats of legal action by the country's consumer rights agency, Rospotrebnadzor.
Gennady Onishchenko, director of Rospotrebnadzor, said yesterday that he had signed a lawsuit against BAT for "misleading" consumers and infringing their rights, although he would not give details.
Russia's top health officer said Monday his governmental agency is suing British American Tobacco's Russian office for misleading consumers, Russian news agencies reported.
British American Tobacco (BAT), a United Kingdom-based cigarette company, is pushing for the affixture of strip stamps on locally manufactured cigarettes to be part of the proposed amendments to the current excise tax system in the country.
In a letter to the House of Representatives, BAT said that the affixture of internal revenue strip stamps would help reduce the incidence of cigarette smuggling in the country.
"BAT believes that affixing strip stamps on every pack intended for retail sale reduces the incidence of smuggling. It is also worth mentioning that a strip stamp prominently affixed on cigarette packs confirms that excise taxes due on the cigarettes, whether imported or domestic, have been paid," BAT said in its letter.
Gennady Onishchenko, director of consumer rights agency Rospotrebnadzor, said he has signed a lawsuit against BAT for "misleading the consumers" and infringing on their rights. Rospotrebnadzor would not specify the nature of the claim. . . .
Onishchenko launched a ferocious attack on global tobacco companies in July threatening with legal action for "nicotine genocide." He said the corporations are making huge profits at the expense of Russians' health.
On Monday Onishchenko reiterated the claims saying the tobacco producers view Russia as "an uncivilized market where they can sell dangerous and poisonous products." He also accused the companies of lobbying for "barbaric norms for the amount of tar and nicotine in tobacco products."
THE Government has proposed that excise duty on cigarettes be increased by three sen per stick to 18 sen. With this, the duty for a 20-stick pack is now higher by 60 sen.
The excise increase of three sen per stick also brings the total excise hike to 380% over the last five years.
British American Tobacco (M) Bhd (BAT) managing director Jack Bowles said: "We are disappointed that there is such a high excise increase.