Tokyo, April 25, 2008 – Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) (TSE: 2914) announced today that on April 25, 2008 (GMT), the company’s tobacco subsidiary in the United Kingdom, Gallaher Ltd. (Gallaher), together with several other companies, had received a statement of objections from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the UK competition authority. The statement of objections addresses the possibility of anti-competitive behaviour with respect to retail prices for tobacco products in the UK market prior to JT’s acquisition of Gallaher.
In August 2003, the OFT notified Gallaher of an inquiry into vertical agreements between manufacturers and retailers in the UK cigarette, tobacco and tobacco-related markets. Since that time Gallaher has been fully cooperating with the OFT regarding the inquiry.
The JT Group is reviewing the statement of objections, and will be responding to the OFT as required.
While the matter is still under review, an allowance of undisclosed amount, based on the company’s current assumptions, has been booked as a liability in the purchase price allocation related to JT’s acquisition of Gallaher.