Michelle Henderson July 19, 2012 AAP SUPERANNUATION fund First State Super has wiped from its investment portfolios all companies involved in the manufacture of tobacco products, in a move welcomed by cancer specialists. Chief executive Michael Dwyer said the decision to exclude the cigarette and tobacco companies from its entire investment portfolio followed strong feedback from the health industry, which represents about 40 per cent of the fund’s 770,000 members. “In reaching its decision the Trustee Board had been particularly mindful of its many members who work in the health sector, especially members from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne,” Mr Dwyer said in a statement on Thursday. “Our decision reflects both the strong views expressed by our employers and members and our support for government initiatives to minimise tobacco consumption,” he said. He said a review of each fund’s investment strategies showed excluding tobacco companies would not compromise…

Michael Baker July 18, 2012 The Age Change is often difficult for a business to embrace but when that change is so rapid and profound – for example when a new technology changes the way a product is delivered and consumed – it can evoke an extraordinary variety of responses. Some are profoundly brave and innovative, others laughably ineffective. Nowhere is this more evident than in the retailing of media products: primarily books and entertainment videos. These were the first two product categories to be “Amazoned”, and mainstream media retailers have struggled mightily for their very existence ever since. Among book retailers around the world a variety of strategies have crystallised, making them business school case studies for how a category reacts to a lethal threat imposed from outside. Apart from just rolling over and playing dead (the strategy employed by retailers like Borders and Angus & Robertson, which ended…

Jeff Kennett Herald Sun July 19, 2012 SADLY, many of my concerns for Australia’s manufacturing, retailing and food industries that I first raised 18 months ago are being played out, not only for industries but also for employees and their families. Prices paid by supermarket shoppers are hurting suppliers and manufacturers, says former premier Jeff Kennett Today I wish to focus on two sectors – food and manufacturing. Coles and Woolworths have about 80 per cent of Australia’s supermarket business – the second-strongest effective monopoly in the world behind New Zealand. Both chains are ripping up relationships with suppliers, farmers and manufacturers that have served all well for more than 70 years. Coles first demanded its suppliers charge it only 3 per cent as profit on top of their costs. Woolworths has followed, with its latest edict to suppliers: “Reduce your costs to us by 10 per cent or risk…

Kate Hagan July 19, 2012 The Age SMOKING rates have dropped below 15 per cent for the first time in Victoria, and young adults are no longer the most likely to smoke. Figures released yesterday show that 14.4 per cent of Victorians were regular smokers last year – down from 15.3 per cent in 2010 and 21.2 per cent in 1998, when the Quit Victoria survey began. Since 2005 regular smoking has declined most rapidly among young and disadvantaged people, who have traditionally been slow to take up anti-smoking messages. Cancer Council Victoria’s chief executive, Todd Harper, said smoking rates dropping below 15 per cent was a ”historic moment” that could be attributed to greater tobacco control over the past five years. Measures that contributed to the result included graphic warnings on cigarette packets, price increases, television advertising and smoke-free areas, he said. A total of 16.5 per cent of…

Jul 18, 2012 NACSOnline A new report found that one in 10 cigarettes sold in the European Union was illegal. BRUSSELS, Belgium – Over the years, Europe has steadily restricted smoking and jacked up cigarette taxes, but that hasn’t stopped contraband cigarettes from surging, the Wall Street Journal reports. A new report by KPMG found that one in 10 cigarettes were sold illegally in the European Union in 2011. Also complicating things are legally made cigarettes, so-called “illicit whites” that are smuggled into the EU from Ukraine and Russia, essentially becoming “duty-free” cigarettes. Illicit white smokes comprise nearly a quarter of all contraband cigarettes, a sharp increase from just 4% in 2007. The uptick of contraband cigarettes impacts tax revenue for the EU’s cash-strapped countries. The report puts the EU’s yearly shortfall from illegal cigarette sales at €11 billion. OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) has stepped up its efforts to catch…

Jul 17, 2012 CSNews HAVERSTRAW, N.Y. — The village of Haverstraw, N.Y., will drop a local law that was to ban the display of tobacco products at retail locations, according to a Journal News report. Last night at a special meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a settlement with a group of retailers and manufacturers that filed a lawsuit challenging the ban, which was passed in April 2012 and would have gone into effect this October. The lawsuit claimed the ban violated the First Amendment right to free speech. Under the terms of the settlement, the group of plaintiffs, which includes the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS), Lorillard Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., American Snuff Co. LLC, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Brands Inc., and John Middleton Co., agreed to drop the lawsuit if Haverstraw repeals the law. The Board…