Tadeu Marroco told the Financial Times that the FTSE 100-listed owner of Lucky Strike and Dunhill was “very keen” to work with regulators to address problems such as vaping’s use among teenagers and its environmental impact.

“We need to have better regulations. We cannot ignore the benefit of migrating smokers out of cigarettes, but being unregulated, we have issues related to youth access and the environment,” Marroco said.

“The problem is that this is a phenomenon that has grown so fast and the regulators are always catching up. But there are clearly opportunities for us to improve the level playing field.”

The remarks from Marroco, who assumed the top job in May, come as a number of countries around the world crack down on flavoured e-cigarettes following calls from medical advisers. Countries including India, Thailand and Argentina have already implemented complete bans on all e-cigarettes.

NHS guidelines in the UK suggest vapes can help people stop smoking although they also state that the activity “is not completely risk-free”. The government said in April it would offer 1mn smokers vape starter kits. Selling vapes to those under 18 is illegal.

It has consulted on banning flavoured single-use vapes in England after a flood of flavoured products came on to the market. Brands such as Chinese-owned Elf Bar sell brightly-coloured disposable products in a variety of flavours including “blue razz lemonade”, “strawberry banana” and “cotton candy ice”, deemed to be attractive to younger consumers.

Research by health charity Action on Smoking and Health published in June said 20.5 per cent of under 18s in the UK had tried vaping, up from 15.8 per cent in 2022.

Marroco did not go into specifics about what good regulation would look like, in his view. But he said that BAT, which launched its disposable vape Vuse Go in 2022, had been careful when selecting the colours and the flavours for its devices with the goal of targeting adults. Its flavours include “passionfruit ice”, “strawberry kiwi” and “berry watermelon”.

The company trains retailers to ensure they are committed to avoiding selling to consumers under 18 years old, he added.

However Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH, was sceptical of calls for regulation by one of the industry’s biggest players. “As far as I’m aware, they are not calling for limits on the promotion of products or limits to the branding of products,” she said.

BAT’s transition away from products such as cigarettes has been sluggish in comparison with US rival Philip Morris International, but there are signs this is shifting. In its most recent results the tobacco group said revenue from so-called reduced-harm products rose 27 per cent in the six months to June. They now account for 17 per cent of total sales and Marroco said the company was “well on track” to achieve 50mn customers in non-combustible products by 2030, up from the current 24mn.

Rae Maile, analyst at Panmure Gordon, argued that Marroco was “trying to make sure that there is fair competition . . . the perceived sins are being levelled against BAT and the other major manufacturers when it is not them who are the cause of the [underage vaping problem]”.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Eri Sugiura

But its care industry is still struggling with chronic staff shortages. Nearly 690,000 additional nurses will be required by 2040 to meet demand, says the health ministry. Last year, 63 per cent of care homes reported a shortage in caregivers — an increase on the 61 per cent from a year before, according to a survey by the Care Work Foundation, an industry advisory group.

Sompo says that, by deploying this technology, the workload in a typical 60-person capacity care home can be reduced by 15 per cent, which translates into cost savings worth $60,000 a year. The data allows caregivers to make accurate predictions of health conditions, such as dementia or mobility problems, from which they can create nursing plans to reduce risk of such diseases — instead of dealing with them only when symptoms appear.

In April, Sompo started selling its software platform to other companies and expects to have signed up 100 Japanese care providers in the fiscal year to March 2024.

Ken Endo, the chief executive of Sompo’s nursing care and seniors business, says “the industry is 100 per cent dependent on people, yet there has been no system in place to deepen your expertise” — a fact that “astonished” him when the company joined the care sector in 2015.

Industry wages are low. Care workers’ average monthly pay last year, excluding bonuses, stood at $1,800 — 25 per cent lower than the national average, according to health ministry data. Sompo, which awarded its biggest pay rise to date last year, of up to 11 per cent, has one of the lowest staff turnover rates among care homeowners.

Japan operates a system of universal elderly care, under a long-term insurance scheme set up in 2000. Users pay about 10 per cent of the cost, with government funding the remainder. But, while the government has increased the fees paid to care providers, pressure from inflated social security costs meant it has been difficult to lift wages.

Kayo Uemura, an associate at Development Bank of Japan who advises government on robotics in nursing, says the tens of thousands of small businesses that make up Japan’s elderly care sector have been slow to adopt digital tools, as they lack economies of scale. However, she adds: “If Sompo can establish a standardised system integrating the technology, it would overturn the industry, which has conventionally been hesitant to embrace new tools.”

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Eri Sugiura

Rules controlling foods high in fat, salt or sugar have been in partial effect in the UK since October, barring large stores from placing such items in prominent positions near checkouts and store entrances.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Eri Sugiura

The bold assertion by Mikio Okumura, head of Sompo Holdings, comes as the company prepares to roll out Japan’s first dementia prevention insurance package — a product designed for the world’s oldest society and based on analysis of the heartbeats, appetite and sleeping patterns of thousands of nursing home residents.

The move by Sompo marks the latest insurance industry escalation of a battle to secure an advantage through tech. Okumura said this was an area of competition that would decide the survivability of individual companies as they moved away from their conventional business areas.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Eri Sugiura