Tabaksindustrie gaat goed jaar tegemoet
Hoewel de anti-rokenpropaganda zou doen vermoeden dat het onderhand wel erg slecht moet gaan met de tabaksindustrie laten de feiten wat anders zien.
Alle tabaksondernemingen verwachten voor 2006 een topjaar en de aandelenkoersen stijgen enorm: Altria/Philip Morris steeg met 22%, BAT met 45% en Japan Tobacco met 47%. De prijzen van tabak in de VS stegen daarbij met 7.2%.
De grote groeimarkten zijn Rusland, Turkije en Oost-Europa.
Michael Smith, at JP Morgan Chase, said: “The global trading outlook appears the best for 10 years and trading in emerging markets may be the best we have ever seen [in 2006].”
In that sense it is less surprising that tobacco stocks have outperformed benchmark indices over the past year. Of the world’s top three tobacco companies, America’s Altria, which includes the Marlboro maker Philip Morris, rose 22 per cent, British American Tobacco gained 45 per cent and Japan Tobacco increased 47 per cent.
In Britain, the FTSE 350 Tobacco Index, which represents the three major UK tobacco groups – BAT, Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher – jumped 31 per cent last year, outperforming the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks, which rose only 19 per cent.
The bull run is set to continue. Jonathan Fell, at Morgan Stanley, said: “Tobacco stocks are once again likely to outperform the broader market during 2006.”
