Altria - 68%

Hallöchen,

wurde hier doch mittels Welt vor kurzem als ein Allheilmittel von Fünfen dargeboten, gegen Verarmung ?

Gruß
V

Einen Paukenschlag gab es am Morgen bei Altria. Philip Morris soll Wissenschaftler von Universitäten in Massachusetts bestochen haben, um Ergebnisse von Studien über die Auswirkungen des Rauchens zu finanzieren. Dabei bleibt natürlich ein fader Verdacht. Die Aktie des Konzern brach um 68 Prozent ein. Kurz danach wurde das papier aus dem Handel genommen.

Quelle NT-V
31.03.08

Schau mal:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mo

28.03.2008 23:04
Altria splits US, Int'l cigarette units

NEW YORK (AP) - For the first time since Philip Morris, Esq., opened a tobacco shop on Bond Street in London in 1847, the company's U.S. and international businesses will be separate.

The Altria Group Inc. (News/Aktienkurs) holding company split its two cigarette units on Friday, sealing the deal by giving its shareholders stock in the newly independent Philip Morris International. Altria now consists of Philip Morris USA, cigar maker John Middleton Inc., a money-management arm and a 28.6 percent stake in Britain-based beer maker SABMiller PLC. It will move its headquarters to Richmond, Va., from Midtown Manhattan.

Both Philip Morris companies produce Marlboros. PMUSA also makes Virginia Slims, Parliament and Basic cigarettes while PMI makes the L&M, Bond Street and other brands.

The split is not only the final step to a restructuring that began in 2004, it essentially rolls back a strategy to turn the Philip Morris Cos., as it used to be called, into a general consumer products company. It widened its product offerings beyond cigarettes and beer in 1985 with the $5.6 billion acquisition of General Foods.

By 2003, it had adopted the Altria name. But in November 2004, it announced its plan to spin-off of Altria's remaining majority stake in Kraft Foods Inc. and separate the two tobacco units, reversing the idea of keeping the disparate holdings under one corporate umbrella.

The breakup frees Philip Morris International from legal and public relations concerns here in the U.S. In preparation, PMI has created a slew of new Marlboro-branded products for fast-growing markets around the world. Some of the cigarettes are designed to cater to local tastes: the clove-based Marlboro Mix 9 in Indonesia; thicker Marlboro Wides in Western Europe, Japan and Mexico; and Marlboro Fresh Mint and Crisp Mint in Hong Kong.

Shareholders got one share of Philip Morris International stock for every one share of Altria they own. Altria will keep its MO ticker and Philip Morris International will adopt the PM ticker. The board has announced dividends that are equivalent to Altria's before the split, and said it would buy back $7.5 billion in shares over two years.

The larger PMI, which operates in more than 160 countries, earned revenue of $55.1 billion in 2007, compared PMUSA's $18.49 billion.

Louis Camilleri, who was chief executive of Altria, is the new CEO of the international business. PMI has an office in New York but most of its staff works out of a Lausanne, Switzerland, office.

While PMI escapes the shadow of pending and yet-to-be-filed lawsuits in the U.S., critics of the industry are wary of the damage its marketing power could have on consumers in poorer nations.

The U.N.'s World Health Organization issued a report in February that said the 'tobacco epidemic' could claim 1 billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically step up efforts to curb smoking. The agency reported that governments around the world collect more than $200 billion in tobacco taxes every year but spend less than one-fifth of 1 percent of that revenue on tobacco control.

'Faced with an epidemic that kills 5.4 million people each year, the world will not tolerate increased profits for a few, at the expense of the health and lives of so many,' Kathy Mulvey, international policy director for Corporate Accountability International, said in a statement Friday.

Shares of Altria, trading on a when-issued basis without the value of PMI, fell 70 cents to $22.22 on Friday. Shares of PMI, on a when-issued basis, rose 38 cents to $51.06.

Both will begin regular-hours trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. PMI shares will also trade on the NYSE Euronext Paris and SWX Swiss exchanges. Both will be on the Standard&Poor's 100 and 500 Indices, Altria said in a statement Friday.

In after-hours trading, Altria lost 13 cents to $73.70.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=MO&sid=1365843&o_symb=MO&freq=2&time=20

l

MO (altes Philip Morris = Altria) Kursstand: 22,65$ -51,2$
PM (neues Philip Morris Intl.) Kursstand: 52,96$ +1,88$ (heute)

ergibt unter dem Strich sogar ein Plus für heute.