Us Consumer Group Ends Its Last Links With Tobacco
The US company is also changing its name to Fortune Brands to expunge any memories of the tobacco connection. Its shares jumped $3 1 /2 to $48 1 /8, a rise of eight per cent, in early trading after the announcement on Tuesday.
American Brands move reflects the growing pressures on the US tobacco industry as lawyers, anti-tobacco campaigners and state attorneys pursue billions of dollars worth of lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers.
American Brands quit the US tobacco industry at the end of 1994 when it sold American Tobacco to Britains BAT Industries for $1 billion, but it retained the UK-based Gallaher, maker of Britains two top-selling cigarettes