the public ban has zero effect on smoker numbers. if public bans worked there would be no drug addicts at all.

looks to me like its ready to climb after its latest correct.

Down 5%ish, but only mainly as result of todays IMT news/markdown IMHO, probably now a recovery play for those not in at some point.

Pleased with the payday on Friday, fallen back since then but on the way back up again now. To go back in or not that is the question.

Stan - there was a bit here earlier on IMT.

Thanks Skinny IMT one to avoid I think, This play on BAT was purely on the evidence of what I said in post 7. It's nice when the strategy does pay off, Think I'll stay out of these for now though.

Predictably down by the Divi amount of 93p or thereabouts so far.

British American Tobacco enters electronic cigarette market in Britain with the 'Vype'

British American Tobacco has become the first tobacco company to launch an electronic cigarette in the UK, raising fears that it could eventually boost its profits with public money should the NHS begin prescribing ecigarettes as a smoking-cessation tool.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced earlier this year that it plans to regulate the products as non-prescription medicines from 2016, at which point they would be considered as a treatment option for the NHS. At present the market is dominated by smaller manufacturers who could struggle to thrive in a heavily regulated marketplace.

BAT confirmed on Monday that the firm’s new ecigarette, known as Vype, will be available to buy online from Tuesday, and will then be brought into shops from September this year.

Interims out today http://www.bat.com/group/sites/uk__3mnfen.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO72TJQU/$FILE/medMD9A4Q2X.pdf?openelement

Going Ex divi this week paying 45p or 1.32% at Fridays close.

British American Tabacco: Citi cuts target from 4000p to 3800p, while leaving its buy recommendation unaltered

BAT grows sales http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4691662

All cigarettes going to be in plain packaging with just the nasty health warnings and sickly pictures on government announced on the news tonight .

StockMarketWire.com
British American Tobacco reports a strong performance in 2014 in a tough environment with group revenue up by 2.8% at £15,682m at constant rates of exchange.

Reported revenue was 8.4% lower at £13,971m, as a result of adverse exchange rate movements.

Adjusted group profit from operations increased by 4.4% at constant rates of exchange to £6,075m and decreased by 7.2% at current rates of exchange to £5,403m.

Profit from operations, at current rates of exchange, was 17.7% lower at £4,546 million, impacted by a non-tobacco litigation charge and adverse exchange movements on a translational and transactional level.

Chairman Richard Burrows said:
"The Group continued to perform extremely well despite challenging trading conditions. We grew revenue and profit at constant rates of exchange and we increased our market share.

"Although significant exchange rate movements in many of our key currencies impacted our reported results, the underlying performance of our business remains strong. The increase in our total dividend for 2014 to 148.1p reflects our commitment to growing shareholder returns as well as our confidence in the strength of our business, our strategy and our future."

confess i don't hold any tobacco stocks, though for no moral reason
they're certainly good defensively and (i think) with decent yields too

whether one should by BATS or IMT or even both is probably personal choice

in the last year, IMT has easily out-performed BATS, but with BATS just touching 200 dma (southbound) that might be a reason to buy

I trade it fairly frequently. It's quite volatile as the chart shows but can take a quid or two out of it so long as you avoid chasing after a spike..

Interim Management statement http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5324704

i would change the chart above, but MAM can't cope with changed epics so as IMT is now IMB, the chart only goes back a couple of months so difficult to compare

imo, they're both excellent stocks to hold as they perform well and are backed by good divis

StockMarketWire.com
British American Tobacco has outlined plans to merge with its US partner Reynolds in a deal valued at $47bn.

British American Tobacco, which owns 42.2% of Reynolds American Inc, has made a proposal to merge with Reynolds through the acquisition of the remaining 57.8% in the company.

US securities laws require BAT to announce its merger proposal promptly after it was made to the Board of Reynolds.

As a result, BAT has been unable to have prior negotiations with Reynolds regarding the proposal. BAT's proposal values Reynolds at $56.50 per share, of which $24.13 would be in cash and $32.37 would be in BAT shares. This represents a premium of 20% over the closing price of Reynolds common stock on 20 October. BATS says this would create a stronger, truly global tobacco and Next Generation Products company with:

- A leading position in the US tobacco market, the largest global profit pool (ex-China) with strong growth dynamics.

- A significant presence in high growth emerging markets across South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, together with the most attractive developed markets.

- A unique portfolio of strong brands, bringing together ownership of Newport, Kent and Pall Mall.

- Combined Next Generation Products and R&D capabilities to deliver a world class pipeline of vapour and tobacco heating products across all the fastest growing NGP markets globally.

- Creating the world's largest listed tobacco company by net turnover and operating profit.

all aboard if you are not already invested here
ST reports that the company is close to securing a tax rebate of £1.2bn!
that can scarcely be other than a bonus for the shareholders and sp

with no posts from anyone else, i guess you all missed the boat this morning

We are all taking the moral high ground Mr C! ;o)