Tokyo, July 12, 2008 – Japan Tobacco Inc. (“JT”) (TSE: 2914) announced today that Gallaher Group Ltd. and Gallaher Ltd. (together referred to as “Gallaher”), JT’s tobacco subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, have concluded an early resolution agreement with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK competition authority. Gallaher has agreed to pay a fine of approximately £93 million for anti-competitive business practices relating to the retail pricing of tobacco products in the UK during 2000 to 2003, i.e. prior to JT’s acquisition of the Gallaher group of companies. Gallaher is required to continue to co-operate with the OFT during its ongoing investigation.
In August 2003, the OFT sought information from Gallaher and other tobacco manufacturer as well as a number of retailers as part of an investigation into the retail pricing of the cigarette, tobacco and tobacco-related market in the UK. Since then, Gallaher has co-operated fully with the investigation. [...]