British American Tobacco ups payout despite smoking slump

Smoking is on the decline in western Europe and the USA, but cigarettes powerhouse BAT is still able to fire up rewards to shareholders. British America Tobacco, the outfit behind brands such as Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike, did share buybacks of £750 million last year and plans to raise that amount in 2012. The full-year dividend also rises 11% to 126.5p. The tobacco company, which made 705 billion cigarettes...

BAT in $2 bln share buyback

British American Tobacco , the world’s second-biggest cigarette maker, increased its share buyback to 1.25 billion pounds ($2.0 billion) after it raised prices and saw strong growth in emerging markets to help boost full-year earnings. The London-based maker of Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes bought back 750 million pounds of shares in 2011 and has raised its 2012 programme, confident it...

Philip Morris Names Threats to Cigarette Market

Philip Morris International Tobacco Company is more concerned about the influence on tobacco sales of Russia’s recent acceptance into the WTO than it is about the warning labels the company is required to put on its cigarette packs and about anti-tobacco campaigns. Philip Morris Izhora, one of the company’s two full cigarette production plants in Russia, decreased production by 2 percent last year — to 70...

History of Cigarettes and Smoking

Tobacco and smoking has a long and checkered history dating. The tobacco plant is believed to be widely spread in America since the 1st Century. Pictorial records of smoking date back to the 11th century. Below is a synopsis of the history of smoking: cigarettes, cigars and tobacco. 1492:Columbus Discovers Tobacco. 1518:Juan De Grijalva lands in Yucatan, observes cigarette smoking by natives. 1531:Santo Domingo:...

Altria Group Keeps Smoldering

Some stocks are smoking but others just smolder along year after year, which is what Altria Group (MO) has been doing for a long, long time. The tobacco industry is having trouble in the United States but is still growing in the emerging countries as disposable income there increases. Altria Group, Inc. , through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine in the...