British American Tobacco has been hit with a £100million fine after breaking competition rules in Nigeria.
The Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has brought the penalty after a three-year probe revealed the group abused its ‘dominance, seeking to frustrate competitors’.
The maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill has agreed to pay the fine and will allow the commission to monitor its activities for two years to ‘ensure appropriate behavioural and business practices’.
Nigeria is a crucial market for cigarette companies, with one out of ten Nigerians smoking, according to research published by BMC Public Health.
The fine is also the highest ever levied by the Nigerian competition commission and adds to the misery for BAT, which is the world’s second-biggest tobacco group.
Smokescreen: The Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission found BAT had abused its ‘dominance, seeking to frustrate competitors’
In April BAT agreed to pay £511million to US authorities after a subsidiary pleaded guilty to charges that it conspired to violate US sanctions by selling tobacco products to North Korea and commit bank fraud.
The US authorities said the settlement related to BAT activity in North Korea between 2007 and 2017. BAT said ‘we deeply regret the misconduct’.
And the fine was shortly followed by the departure of chief executive Jack Bowles, who stepped down with immediate effect after 20 years at the business.
The FTSE 100 group, which is valued at around £51billion, provided few details on the abrupt exit of Bowles, who was replaced by finance director Tadeu Marroco.
And in a further blow, BAT revealed it had taken a £25billion hit earlier this month after writing down the value of some of its US brands as tobacco sales tumble.
The company said Camel, Natural American Spirit, Newport and Pall Mall – which were acquired in a £40billion takeover of cigarette giant Reynolds American in 2017 – are now worth far less than anticipated.
The write-off sent shares down over 8 per cent, wiping £4.7billion off its value in one day.
Big smoking firms have been on a mission to move away from tobacco as the number of regular smokers continues to slump.
But the shift towards vapes and nicotine alternatives is often a costly operation.
City analysts have previously slammed BAT’s performance as sluggish compared with its larger US competitor Philip Morris International (PMI), the maker of Marlboro. BAT shares remained flat yesterday but have fallen over a third this year.
#fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle#mobile {display:none} #fiveDealsWidget {display:block; float:left; clear:both; max-width:636px; margin:0; padding:0; line-height:120%; font-size:12px} #fiveDealsWidget div, #fiveDealsWidget a {margin:0; padding:0; line-height:120%; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica ,sans-serif} #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitleBox {display:block; float:left; width:100%; background-color:#af1e1e; } #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitle {color:#fff; text-transform: uppercase; font-size:18px; font-weight:bold; margin:6px 10px 4px 10px; } #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {float:left; display:block; width:124px; margin-right:4px; margin-top:5px; background-color: #e3e3e3; min-height:200px;} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {margin-right:0} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {display:block; margin:10px 5px; color:#000; font-weight:bold} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage img {float:left; display:block; margin:0; padding:0} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {border:1px solid #ccc} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage img {width:100%; height:auto} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemdesc {float:left; display:block; color:#004db3; font-weight:bold; margin:5px;} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemRate {float:left; display:block; color:#000; margin:5px} #fiveDealsWidget .dealFooter {display:block; float:left; width:100%; margin-top:5px; background-color:#e3e3e3 } #fiveDealsWidget .footerText {font-size:10px; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;} @media (max-width: 635px) { #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {width:19%; margin-right:1%} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {width:20%} } @media (max-width: 560px) { #fiveDealsWidget #desktop {display:none;} #fiveDealsWidget #mobile {display:block!important} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {background-color: #fff; height:auto; min-height:auto} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {border-bottom:1px solid #ececec; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:10px} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {border-bottom:0px solid #ececec; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:0px} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem, #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {width:100%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {float:left; display:inline-block} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {width:35%; margin-right:1%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent {width:63%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {margin: 0px 5px 5px; font-size:16px} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent .dealItemdesc, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent .dealItemRate {clear:both} }
