Sun International recovers from Chile’s smoking ban

The smoking ban was implemented in Chile in March 2013 and had knocked one of Latin America’s best casinos, Monticello’s, revenue down by 22 per cent for the half year. Sun International Limited 0.07% which now has a 98.9 per cent stake in Monticello since July this year, therefore opened four new smoking decks in September and October, resulting in revenue growth of ten per cent for the second half of the year.

“The recovery in revenues in recent months and a comprehensive restructure of the business resulted in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in the second half of the year increasing by 56 per cent to 9.5 billion Chilean pesos on last year at an EBITDA margin of 24.8 per cent, which creates a positive outlook for the year ahead,” said the group in a statement.

Total group revenue for the period increased by 5.4 per cent to 10.8 billion rand while EBITDA was up five per cent at 3.1 billion rand, reflecting a significant turnaround in the second half of the year in which revenue was up 7.4 per cent compared to 3.6 per cent in the first half of the year.

Adjusted headline earnings and diluted adjusted headline earnings per share both however declined by six per cent to 683 million rand and seven per cent to 655 cents respectively. A final dividend of 155 cents was declared, bringing the total dividend for the period to 245 cents, a decline from last year’s 265 cents.

In Sun International’s South African operations, Grand West Casino’s revenue increased by eight per cent to 2 billion rand while Sun City’s revenue was nine per cent higher at 1.4 billion rand with the casino division’s profits up 16 per cent to 519 million rand. Sibaya Casino’s revenue grew by five per cent to one billion rand while Carnival City’s revenue declined by two per cent to one billion rand due to increased competition from Electric Bingo Terminals and Limited Payout Machines. 

In the groups’ hotel operations, the Table Bay Hotel achieved revenue growth of 29 per cent to 233 million rand driven by a 40 per cent increase in international room nights sold which accounted for 73 per cent of rooms’ revenue.

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Anti-Smoking Initiative in Alamo Heights

The authorities in Alamo Heights, Texas, soon will organize public hearing to find out resident’s opinion on smoking ban inside public buildings. Louis Cooper, Mayor of Alamo Heights, asked city staff to include the subject into the schedule on the next meeting of City Council, which will take place next Monday, 5:30 p.m. Mayor says

Mississippi doctors want statewide smoking ban

Eighty-four towns and cities across Mississippi have banned smoking in public places, just like Southaven did recently. Now doctors want to extend a ban on smoking to everyplace in the state.

Southaven’s Country Skillet restaurant has always been the place where people could enjoy a cup of coffee and a smoke, but when Southaven banned smoking, smoking customers had to go somewhere else. Fortunately, Theresa Gilliom says they still came here to eat.

”A lot of people that smoke, they just come in, eat their food, go outside, smoke, come back in and that’s it,” she said.

Dozens of cities have banned smoking over the last several years, but the idea never caught on statewide. That’s why the Mississippi State Medical Association wants to force the issue and have voters speak for themselves. The group hopes to get 50,000 or 100,000 signatures on a petition asking lawmakers to set a referendum on smoking.

Doctors say less than 25 percent of Mississippians are covered by smoke-free workplace laws, and with Mississippi having the sixth highest rate of smokers in the country, a ban would make the state healthier.

Those same doctors say a smoking ban could cut heart disease here by 25 percent. And while Gilliom supports the local ban, she’s not sure it’s a good idea statewide.

”It would be kinda iffy, It’d be iffy because there’s a lot of smokers but it may be worth a try, it’s worth a try,” she said.

Polls paid for by the medical association show statewide support for a smoking ban. Either way, the doctors behind the bill hope they can at least get the attention of Mississippi lawmakers to take another look at taking action.

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Kent County Discusses Smoking Ban in Parks

In the Kent County, Michigan, there was proposed to ban smoking in all parks. At the moment the proposal is under the review of Council. According to Keith Mumford, the county’s parks and recreation director, the smoking ban is going to touch only 6 city parks including Browns Branch Park in Harrington, Brecknock Park in

Big Tobacco Tries to Don A New Look: Are You Buying?

ig Tobacco wants to reclaim the hearts and wallets of most adult Americans by rebranding its tarred image — pitching “smokeless” e-cigarettes, embracing the mantra “harm reduction,” and funding science that could turn tobacco plants into life-saving medicine. That tactical shift, not surprisingly, has cultivated cynics like anti-tobacco crusader Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. Reynolds, who calls the moves mere “window-dressing PR campaigns."

Even at Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) — maker of Camel cigarettes online and creator of the slogan “transforming tobacco” — spokesman Rob Dunham admits the strategy is “not without its challenges; there’s a lot of history to overcome.”

But amid perhaps the most ambitious image makeover in corporate history, Reynolds American’s new direction got a timely boost Tuesday. Its recently acquired subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP), emerged as a key player in developing emergency Ebola treatments used on two American missionaries. The medium to produce that medical breakthrough: tobacco plants.

“We embarked on a transformation agenda that, at its heart, is envisioning a tobacco industry that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, looks very different than the one we see today — or the one we’ve seen historically,” Dunham said.

“I’m not sure we would use the word 'rebranding.' The only reason I would balk at that (word) is it almost suggests we’re trying to somehow re-position as a PR exercise to get people to think differently,” Dunham added. “This is at the very core of our business strategy.”

At Reynolds American, top planks in that platform include “our commitment to reduce the harm caused by cigarette smoking,” curbing youth tobacco use, and “migrating historical cigarette smokers to other forms of tobacco that have the potential for far less risk,” Dunham said.

For RAI — and for its top competitor, Philip Morris USA — much of that migration is toward the industry’s fastest rising niche: electronic cigarettes. The battery-operated vaporizers deliver inhaled nicotine without the tar and combustion of traditional cigarettes. Some Wall Street analysts predict e-cigs alone may eclipse the traditional cigarette market within the next 10 years.

Frisco Included E-cigarettes in Smoking Ban

Yesterday City Council in Frisco, Texas, voted 3-2 to expand its smoking ordinance in order to protect the health of its citizens. The ordinance bans not only use of regular cigarettes but also e-cigarettes in all city parks. However, the law would allow to use chewing tobacco, as the authorities did not build a consensus

ITC raises cigarette prices

Cigarette manufacturer ITC has hiked the prices of select cigarette brands like Classic and Gold Flake Kings by up to Rs 10/pack in light of the rise in excise duty on cigarettes in the Budget.

An ITC spokesperson said that the prices of select ITC Cigarette brands have been increased and the stocks with increased prices will hit the market in the coming weeks. Prices of Classic and Gold Flake Kings have been revised from Rs 85 to Rs 95 for packs of 10, the spokesperson added.

Further, prices of Bristol Filter have been increased from Rs 45 to Rs 47, Capstan Filter from Rs 39 to Rs 47, Flake Filter from Rs 39 to Rs 48 and Flake Excel Filter from Rs 39 to Rs 45.

However, prices of brands like Navy Cut at Rs 69, Gold Flake Filter at Rs 59, Gold Flake Premium Filter at Rs 58 , and Scissors Filter and Flake Premium Filter at Rs 50 remain unchanged. ITC's main rival Godfrey Phillips, however, preferred not to comment on price hike on its products.

In the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced an increase in excise duty on cigarettes in the range of 11 per cent to 72 per cent.

Besides manufacturing cigarettes, ITC also has business interests in various verticals including FMCG, hotels, paperboards and packaging, tobacco products and information technology.

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University of Delaware Banned Smoking on Its Campus

The University of Delaware, located in Newark (state of Delaware), told that all its campuses are going to become tobacco-free starting from this month. The initiative came from students who want to have a healthy environment on their campus. The new policy, which came into action on August 1, bans the use of all tobacco