The boss of Punch Taverns, Britain’s biggest pub company, called time on his nine-year tenure and walked away from the debt-laden business. Giles Thorley, a lawyer and banker before he went into the business, personally made tens of millions of pounds from Punch in the pre-recession boom, but the company – which has a stockmarket value of £540m – is now hobbled by a debt mountain of more than £3.5bn. Shares in Punch, which have provi ... Jump to full article >>

The Bank of England has announced that £20 notes with the image of the beloved English composer will not be legal tender after June 30 this year. Sir Edward, whose melodies have come to capture a certain type of Englishness, is to be pulped a mere 11 years after he had the honour of gracing the £20 note. William Shakespeare managed 23 years in our wallets before he was discontinued from the £20 note. After June 30 shops will no longer have to ... Jump to full article >>

The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has decided to exclude 17 companies that produce tobacco from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), based on a recommendation from the Fund’s Council on Ethics. The divestment of shares in these companies has already been completed. “When the Graver Committee proposed the current ethical guidelines, there was debate on whether to exclude tobacco producers from the Fund. Under some doubt, it was decided ... Jump to full article >>

“Investors should Philip Morris International to light up your returns and cash in on the growth of the global tobacco market,” says Gregory Dorsey. In Leeb’s Performance Income Letter, he explains, “The stock, a new addition to our Growth & Income portfolio, is well positioned to provide solid results over the long haul.” “Philip Morris International owns the international tobacco operations of its forme ... Jump to full article >>

Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), Reynolds American, Inc. (RAI), Lorillard Inc. (LO), and other cigarette makers may be seeing lower demand and increased government regulation, but their stocks have been among the most profitable and stable during the economic crisis. The cigarette industry has been remarkably robust throughout the global economic downturn – it turns out that smokers will cut just about everything but their smokes from th ... Jump to full article >>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Philip Morris International joined with U.S. tobacco industry groups on Thursday to ask President Barack Obama’s administration to challenge Canada’s new law banning flavored cigarettes and small cigars. Their request comes even as the administration takes its own steps to ban candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. “Canada’s ban on blended cigarettes violates its WTO (World Trade Organization ... Jump to full article >>

When American investors think of tobacco greatness, Altria (NYSE: MO) and Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) are the first companies to come to mind. But based on recent performance, British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) should definitely be moving into the mix, following the interim management report the company released on Wednesday. With British American reporting results on a nine-month basis, we’re somewhat comparing apples and ora ... Jump to full article >>

AUSTIN — The Texas treasury lost $19.5 million through an investment in the Ponzi scheme run by convicted financial swindler Bernard Madoff. The money was part of a $224.5 million investment the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. had with a Texas-based hedge fund called Austin Capital Safe Harbor. Austin Capital closed in May because of losses it suffered in one of Madoff’s scam investment funds. Comptroller Susan Combs chairs the Tre ... Jump to full article >>

Now may be the time to sell your tobacco bonds. The CHART OF THE DAY shows how one issue, the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation of New Jersey’s 5 percent bond due in 2041, has outperformed the Bond Buyer 40, a price index of long-term benchmark municipal debt, since the end of the first quarter of 2009. The New Jersey security gained 83 percent by the end of the third quarter, while the index rose 32 percent. Long-term tobacco bonds, so ... Jump to full article >>

The council has been accused of dealing with “traders in death” by investing in tobacco companies. The attack came from Cllr Maggie Mansell, Labour’s shadow cabinet member for health at Monday’s meeting of the council’s cabinet which backed a new anti-smoking strategy to reduce tobacco consumption across the borough. The council has around £20m of its pension fund for employees tied up in shares in Imperial Tobacco ... Jump to full article >>