BAT plans comeback for Mao smokes

FORTYSOMETHING Brits who thought it cool to smoke the same cigarettes as Chairman Mao in the 1970s will shortly be able to relight their fantasies as BAT Industries relaunches State Express 555 on these shores. This is the first reaction to losing the rights to the £120m Marlboro market in the UK to Philip Morris last summer.

Spokesman Michael Prideaux said that, as an unblended cigarette, State Express is not a direct competitor with Marlboro, but added: 'The trade does not like the Gallaher/Imperial duopoly of brands in this country and is looking forward to a new premium brand. Later on we could bring in Lucky Strike and Kent, which compete directly with Marlboro and Marlboro Lights.'

BAT chairman Martin Broughton said recent investments, notably in Vietnam and South Korea but also in Turkey and Egypt, would be as successful as those made in Eastern Europe in the mid-1990s and which now account for 10% of turnover.

The group sold a billion more cigarettes during the third quarter to the end of September, at 203.5bn. Operating profits for the first nine months were 8% ahead at £2.1bn and earnings per share rose by the same proportion to 45.76p.