Altria profit up but cigarette volumes shrivel

Altria Group Inc. said Thursday that its fourth quarter earnings rose 7% even as cigarette volumes continued to shrivel, and the tobacco titan said the business outlook for 2010 remains challenging.
Altria (MO 20.01, +0.02, +0.10%) earned $725 million, or 35 cents a share, in the quarter ended , from $679 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue at the Richmond, Va.-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes rose 29% to $6.01 billion from $4.65 billion.
On an adjusted basis, the company said it would have earned 39 cents a share in the latest quarter.
The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for the company to earn 40 cents a share on revenue of $4.17 billion.
The company said the business environment for 2010 is likely to remain challenging, as adult consumers remain under economic pressure and face high unemployment.
Its tobacco operating companies also continue to see competitive promotional activity. It also expects that continuing state budget issues may lead to excise tax increase proposals in many states in 2010.
Altria forecast that its 2010 profit to be $1.78 to $1.82 a share, including estimated charges of 7 cents a share related to exit, integration and implementation costs, UST-acquisition related costs and SABMiller (UK:SAB 1,706, +14.00, +0.83%) special items.
Excluding items, profit is forecast to be $1.85 to $1.89 a share.
Altria spun off Philip Morris International (PM 46.21, -0.43, -0.92%) at the end of March 2008 in a move designed to separate the fast-growing overseas cigarette business from a U.S. unit hobbled by litigation worries, huge payments to states and seemingly inexorable year-on-year volume declines.
About a year ago, it closed on the acquisition of smokeless tobacco and wine maker UST.
During the period, Philip Morris USA's domestic cigarette shipment was down 11.4% while its flagship Marlboro brand's retail share was down 0.4 percentage point to 41.7%.
On the brighter side, smokeless tobacco brands Copenhagen and Skoal's combined volume rose 7.8% versus the prior-year period, driven by the successful launch of Copenhagen Long Cut Wintergreen "Marlboro displayed resiliency in an intensely competitive promotional environment, and we are also pleased with the strong retail share and volume growth of Copenhagen in the fourth quarter of 2009," said Michael Szymanczyk, chief executive, in the earnings report.
Shares of Altria rose 20 cents to $20.01

On Your Side: E-Cigarettes fuels fierce debate between users, medical community

Nich Wallace is smoking a vaporized version of nicotine. No tobacco. No cigarette smoke. An e-cigarette is a battery-operated device.
"All you're getting exposed to is a fog, a glycerine fog."
Also foggy -- the debate over the product's safety. Manufacturers say they are safer and healthier than regular cigarettes. It's an argument that's gotten the attention of the medical community.
"I am not going to say it is as dangerous as a cigarette. It is dangerous," said MCG Dr. Janie Heath.
Even if it's not the same as cigarettes, Dr. Heath still doesn't recommend it for people trying to quit smoking.
FDA studies found the vapor includes a chemical found in antifreeze and some amounts of carcinogens. But the FDA admits they've done just limited testing.
A federal court judge issued an injunction against the FDA on Thursday, ordering them to stop detaining imports of e-cigarettes that cross into the United States. The decision said the products could not be defined as a drug-device and are for therapeutic purposes. The FDA has been trying to regulate the drug by calling it a drug-device for its supposed similarities to cigarettes.
"We need more science to be able to say, yes it's OK, this is better to consume in a cigarette -- that there are 4800 toxins in one cigarette," said Heath.
Because it's not classified as a drug there are no mandated health warnings. Some retailers have them anyway -- to keep young people away.
"It's really appealing to youth, because it's cool looking, it's high tech, and it smells good," Heath added.
"When I was in school, you didn't want to bring in grape-flavored cigarettes either, you wanted Marlboro reds," Wallace said. "If you're doing it for that cool factor, this is not marketed towards them, not intended for them, and they probably wouldn't like it if they could get their hands on it."
Smoking of any kind is illegal under the age of 18.
Wallace supports enforcement, just not regulation that he says could take e-cigarettes out of his hands.
Adds Wallace: "The old quit or die attitude the government is pushing isn't going to work, and people are going to finally say, look this is safer, and I can do this, and I think we're going to win out on that."

Cigarette tax hike? Idea is smoldering back to life in Legislature

After their bid for a tobacco tax hike went up in smoke last session, crusaders for the cause are coming back again, confident that Utahns will soon be paying more for their cigarette fix.
"It's 100 percent," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, who has unsuccessfully sponsored the bill for the past several years.
Christensen said he plans to push to raise the 69.5-cent per-pack tax up to $2. It would make Utah's tax on par with Arizona's and give the state the 11th-highest cigarette tax in the country. Earlier this year, Congress raised the federal cigarette tax 62 cents per pack to $1.01.
Advocates for the tobacco tax hike, like the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association, hope the higher tax would motivate 3,000 teens and 10,000 adult smokers to kick the habit and thousands more to never pick up the habit.
The tobacco companies and Utah Food Industry Association have argued that a higher Utah tax would just force sales into neighboring states or onto Indian reservations or military bases.
Utah already has the lowest rate of smokers in the country, and its cigarette sales have been falling since the 1980s, meaning it could be a diminishing source of revenue.
Legislative leaders said earlier this year that a tobacco tax increase was likely.
"I think it will happen," Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said in May. "The question is the amount. Will it be a buck? Will itbe more?"
The estimated $76 million the tobacco tax increase could generate could help cover part of the state's budget shortfall, Waddoups said. The state is expected to have a budget shortfall as high as $850 million.
But it may be premature to start counting those tobacco dollars just yet. While supporters had former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s support for a tobacco tax increase last year, Gov. Gary Herbert says he won't recommend a tobacco tax hike in his budget proposal due out in December.
"I'm not proposing or pushing any tax increases," he said in an interview last week.
And now legislative leaders are waffling on their seeming endorsement of the tobacco tax hike.
It boils down to a well-choreographed dance: Herbert won't propose a tax hike, passing the buck to the Legislature. The Legislature, calling Herbert's bluff, is challenging him to show how he will balance the budget without gutting state programs.
Waddoups said this week that he has told the governor he will support him in trying to pass a budget without new taxes, but the tobacco tax remains an option if legislators can't get the budget balanced.
If it comes to that, the tobacco tax battle will likely draw another swarm of lobbying from big tobacco companies and could pit members of the dominant Republican Party against each other.
House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, says tax hikes may be a nonstarter next year.
"I don't think anyone is eager to raise taxes right now in this environment we're in," said Garn. "I think we'd have a tough time raising taxes in the economy we're in right now. ... I don't think there's a lot of support for it."
And leading conservative legislators say they will fight any effort to increase the tobacco tax.
"As I've discussed this budget with my conservative colleagues, we have pretty much been in agreement that now is probably the worst time to consider tax increases when we're hoping to see this economy recover," said Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, co-chairman of the House Conservative Caucus, which includes about 30 House members.
He said there is also concern that allowing a tobacco tax increase could open the door to other "sin taxes" such as soda and fatty food. Hughes said that between the cuts made last year and use of at least half of the $518 million held back in the state's Rainy Day Fund and Education Growth Fund, the budget can be balanced without a tax hike.
House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara, suggested last session that the tobacco tax be kept in reserve in case it's needed in the coming year, and he thinks it might prove to be useful.
"As the financial pressure builds on the state more and more, I think that improves the likelihood of [the tobacco tax] passing," Clark said. "As the pain of the cuts become closer to reality, there may be more of an appetite to look at some of those revenue enhancements and tobacco has been one of them."

E-Cigarette Battle Continues

PHOENIX – Despite concerns by public health officials as to their safety, electronic cigarettes are gaining ground in the United States, USA Today reports. The battery-powered device uses nicotine, flavoring and chemicals in a cartridge, which turns the nicotine into a vapor to be inhaled by the user.
State and local lawmakers are considering ways to restrict the smokeless product, which some use to get around smoking bans. The Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA) says at least 500,000 Americans use e-cigarettes. “People who smoke ought to have better alternatives because some can’t quit,” said Matt Salmon, who leads the ECA.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested e-cigarettes and found the devices to have carcinogens. In a lawsuit, electronic cigarette distributors are challenging the FDA’s authority to regulate the products.
Across the country, several states are trying to restrict access to the products. “We’re actively investigating these companies and their products,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
California banned the sale of e-cigarettes but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. In Oregon, the state attorney general reached an agreement with retailers and distributors to keep the products off shelves.
A New Hampshire state representative is proposing a bill to make it illegal to sell the devices to minors, while in New Jersey, an assemblywoman will be submitting a bill to put e-cigarettes under the same restrictions as cigarettes.

More than $100,000 worth of cigarettes, Bacardi liquor and pharmaceuticals stolen

LOXAHATCHEE -- A 48-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on charges he stole more than $100,000 worth of cigarettes, Bacardi liquor, and pharmaceuticals and was storing the goods at his house in Loxahatchee.
Servando Gomez has been charged with grand theft over $100,000 and is in the Palm Beach county jail on $15,000 bond.
Investigators said they traced Gomez back to a home off Okeechobee Boulevard, where they discovered pharmaceuticals stacked floor to ceiling, according to an arrest report.
The cancer-fighting pharmaceuticals were reported stolen by a company in Tennessee.

Americans give electronic cigarettes mixed reviews

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Should electronic cigarettes be a new option for smokers trying to kick the habit? Reactions from Americans are mixed.
More than half of people questioned in a poll think electronic cigarettes should be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but 47 percent believe the devices should be available to smokers who want to quit.
"In the hunt for a safer cigarette, electronic cigarettes, often referred to as ecigarettes, are becoming a popular option among those either trying to quit or who are looking to replace standard tobacco smoke with an alternative that manufacturers claim to be safer," Zogby International, which conducted the poll, said in a statement.
About half of the 4,611 adults who took part in the poll had heard about ecigarettes, which are battery-powered, or rechargeable devices that vaporize a liquid nicotine solution. They do not produce smoke but an odorless water vapor.
Sold mostly on the Internet, ecigarettes were first made in China. Last year the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against using electronic cigarettes, saying there was no evidence to prove they were safe or helped smokers break the habit.
The WHO said people who puff on ecigarettes inhale a fine mist of nicotine in the lungs.
Nearly a third of people questioned in the poll think that e-cigarettes, because they don't produce smoke, should be allowed in places where smoking is forbidden, but 46 percent disagreed.
Men who were aware of the availability of ecigarettes were more likely than women to say they should be an option available to smokers who want to quit.
Young people, aged 18-29, and singles were the groups most open to trying electronic cigarettes.
Tobacco is the single largest cause of preventable death worldwide, according to the WHO.

Australia May Raise Tobacco Tax by A$2 Billion, Australian Says

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Australia may raise cigarette taxes by A$2 billion ($1.7 billion) if it adopts the recommendations of a panel of advisers, the Australian newspaper reported.

The National Preventative Health Taskforce recommended a price rise of 17.5 Australian cents a cigarette, raising the price of a packet to A$20, and an increase to alcohol pricing, the newspaper said, citing Taskforce Chairman Rob Moodie.

More than 800,000 people might be saved from early deaths if the strategy reduces smoking and drinking rates and obesity levels stabilize, the newspaper said.

How Smoking Cigarettes Can Change Your Looks

Have you looked in the mirror lately only to be surprised by the person looking back at you? You might wonder what happened to make you look so much older. You might be really surprised to find out that the cigarettes you smoke are making you not only feel older, they are making you look older too. These cigarettes put out that awful smoke and this settles on the skin of your body clogging up the pores that your skin gets its air supply through. It not only clogs up the pores on the outside, but on the inside as well.

This is why you might start losing your hair or your teeth at a early age. Your skin will start looking like the skin of a much older person. It will also become dry and rough to the touch and all of that flaking is your dead skin. On the inside of your body everything in there is starting to slow down or just quit doing its job. When this happens you will most likely end up in the hospital one day with some kind of smoking related illness or disease. The bad thing about this is that once the damage to your body is really bad, it usually does not much better even if you quit because some damages are irreversible.

When somethings stops working you can usually get it fixed or replace it with a new one, but that is not always so with parts of the human body. When these parts get sick and die ,you can not always have them replaced. You could have yourself or a member of your family put on a organ donor list, but it might be quite some time before one is found. Even if a matching donor is found, a body might not accept it and you will have to be placed back on the list if a transplant is a viable option and sometimes it is not. Some people never get one in time.

Try to imagine yourself older and what shape you could get in if you continue to smoke. Your body might be trying to tell you that you should stop smoking before it is too late. If you are a woman and find that you are having to use more make-up, then the damage has started. If you stop right then your body might be able to start cleaning itself up. You might be able to notice the changes in some of these things right away and then again you might not, but quitting smoking is always a better choice than continuing to do so.

3 million cigarettes seized in Carlow

Customs officers yesterday seized more than three million contraband cigarettes worth an estimated €1.2 million in Co Carlow.
The cigarettes arrived in Dublin from China on Friday in a 40-foot container supposedly carrying toys.
Customs officers, backed by members of the gardaí, kept the container under surveillance and when the cigarettes were being offloaded they moved in.
Three people from the Carlow area have been arrested in connection with the seizure and are being held at Carlow Garda station.

In France the division "cigarettes" policemen is created.

However, in France until recently not too actively struggled with smoking cigarettes in public places. For example, the interdiction on cigarettes in the French bars and restaurants, theoretically, operates with 1991, however in practice all turns out exactly on the contrary: nobody forbids to allocate for smoking cigarettes special premises outside of a hall of restaurant, as is everywhere. Since January of the next year all will change: smoking cigarettes in institutions of a public catering.As an interdiction on smoking cigarettes in other public places will come into force in France since February, 1st. Infringers are threatened with the penalty at rate of 68 euro. By the right to check how this interdiction is carried out, are allocated not only the French policemen and gendarmerie, but also transport police and the whole army of inspectors. And still the French government hopes, that the interdiction will be observed not because of strengthening police measures, and owing to moral pressure of a society upon smokers.

Are Your Teenagers Still Being Pressured Into Smoking

In the world we live in today and in the past, many of our children are exposed to smoking on a daily basis. The kids have to deal with either smoking cigarettes or the peer pressure from a lot of their friends to try marijuana for the first time. It really does not matter if it is cigarettes or marijuana, they are both bad for your lungs. Some parents think that if their kids smoke marijuana when they are young, although it may not be good for them to experiment with, studies do show that most kids that do try it, usually do not keep that habit very long.

With marijuana the kids are just trying to be cool and fit in with their class mates an a lot of them do at least try it, but studies has proven that about 80% of them never end up smoking it after high school is over. It seems as if they lose interest in those high school days and the marijuana as well. But the same thing does not apply when it comes to smoking cigarettes, most kids want to try cigarettes for the first time just trying to fit in with the crowd. This is the age, and even before, that the parent should really express the important facts about not trying cigarettes or marijuana for the first time.

It is a proven fact that about 80% of kids that try cigarettes for the first time find themselves a few years later wanting to know why they just can not seem to be able to kick the habit of smoking cigarettes. Out of the high school, kids who try smoking cigarettes in high school are now hooked on a drug that has been covered up liked classified information. This is exactly what the cigarette companies know that they have created. There is no reason to advertise any more on television because their tobacco products are so entrenched in some parts of society, peer pressure is doing it for them.

All you have to do now days is just look around out in public at how many of us are lighting up on a regular basis. The kids that see this are just kids, but that does not mean their curiosity is not gotten by what they see. So, as parents we need to make sure that our kids are not being led into smoking cigarettes because when tobacco is compared to other addictive drugs, there really is no difference in the addictive quality or the damage it can cause to your health.