Tobacco Shares Fall in Europe on U.S. Class-Action Jury Verdict(fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Tobacco Shares Fall in Europe on U.S. Class-Action Jury Verdict

London, July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of British American Tobacco Plc and
other tobacco companies fell after a U.S. jury decided that cigarette
makers must face claims by potentially hundreds of thousands of smokers
seeking billions in damages.

BAT, the world's second-largest cigarette company and maker of Lucky
Strike, fell as much as 16.5 pence, or 2.9 percent, to 554p ($8.63).
Imperial Tobacco Group Plc fell 4p to 684p. Shares of Philip Morris Cos.
and other U.S. tobacco companies also declined in Europe.

The six-member Miami jury announced its verdict Wednesday in the first of
three phases of the first smoking-related class- action lawsuit to go to
trial. Still, some analysts and investors said the shares could rebound on
expectations that the verdict will eventually be appealed and its
class-action status revoked. ``In the end, this case will just be a big
waste of taxpayers' money,'' said Timothy Ghriskey, senior portfolio
manager at Dreyfus Corp., which held about 8 million Philip Morris shares
in March. ``But we're going to have to go through all of this in the
meantime.''

Brown & Williamson, a subsidiary of BAT, is a defendant in the case. BAT
declined to comment on the ruling, citing a court- imposed gag order.

A second phase of the trial will now decide how much damages to award a
handful of individual plaintiffs. A third phase would determine how much
money to award other smokers in the class.

In Amsterdam, shares of Philip Morris, the world's biggest tobacco
company, declined as much as 8.6 percent to 37 euros ($37.7). The shares
also dropped on other European exchanges.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. shares fell as much as 1.6 percent to
31.5 euros in Germany.

In the U.S. yesterday, Philip Morris shares fell 2 5/8, or 6 percent, to
37 7/8. R.J. Reynolds fell 1 3/16 to 30 7/8, Loews Corp. fell 13/16 to 79
1/16 and Brooke Group Ltd. was unchanged.