R J Reynolds Tobacco Co

The U.S. government may try to block R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.'s proposed $3-billion acquisition of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. after antitrust enforcers concluded that the combination would stifle competition, people familiar with the matter said. Federal Trade Commission lawyers have recommended that the agency challenge the plan by R.J. Reynolds, the second-largest U.S. tobacco company, to acquire the No. 3 company, the people said.

The staff of the Federal Trade Commission may urge commissioners to try to block R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.'s $3-billion purchase of British American Tobacco's Brown & Williamson unit, a newsletter reported. The agency's staff may be concerned that combining the two companies' menthol brands may restrict competition and lead to price increases, Art Amolsch, editor of FTC:Watch, said. Shares of R.J. Reynolds, which makes Salem and Camel cigarettes, fell $1.37 to $63.15 on the NYSE.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, said first-quarter earnings surged 72%, helped by reduced costs and increased shipments of full-price brands. Net income had its biggest gain in more than a year: It rose to $122 million, or $1.43 a share, from $71 million, or 84 cents, a year earlier. Sales were unchanged at $1.22 billion, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company said. Sales had fallen the previous five quarters. Shares of R.J. Reynolds rose $2.

A state appeals court threw out a $21.7-million award against two tobacco giants Wednesday, ruling that a jury shouldn't have considered evidence of industry misconduct in a 10-year period during which cigarette makers were protected from litigation. The decision marked the first time a jury award had been overturned as a result of a California Supreme Court ruling in 2002 that determined the effect of previous legislative protections for the industry.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, is being investigated by several states for the company's assertion that its Eclipse brand may pose less of a health risk than regular cigarettes. The company received requests for information from the attorneys general of Vermont, Maine and Connecticut, R.J. Reynolds said. Those states are working with California, New York and the District of Columbia, the company said. The Winston-Salem, N.C.

A California appeals court Wednesday affirmed a ruling that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. violated youth advertising restrictions, but the judges ordered a lower court to reconsider the $20-million penalty imposed in the case. The decision upheld a finding by a San Diego Superior Court judge that Reynolds had violated terms of the national tobacco settlement reached with state attorneys general in 1998 by failing to reduce the exposure of teens to its cigarette ads.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. will get a California Supreme Court review of a $14.8-million fine the company received for distributing tobacco at events where children were present. The California Supreme Court agreed to decide whether state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer exceeded his authority with the fine for violating a state law banning tobacco giveaways on public grounds where minors might be in attendance.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. lost its bid for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal of a $165,000 award it paid a cancer-stricken Florida smoker who has since died. The court refused, without comment, to hear the second- largest U.S. tobacco company's arguments that it couldn't be penalized for selling a legal product. Floyd Kenyon, a retired schoolteacher, blamed R.J.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. spent more than a half-billion dollars in tobacco-related lawsuits from 2000 through 2002, according to a financial report. The parent company of the nation's second-largest cigarette maker spent $512 million to defend itself in the lawsuits, Reynolds said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Philip Morris USA Inc., the No. 1 cigarette maker, disclosed in November that it had spent $1.

The European Commission said Thursday it would press ahead with a U.S. lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. on money-laundering charges after a U.S. court threw out a separate cigarette-smuggling claim. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York on Wednesday upheld a lower-court decision to dismiss the European smuggling suit against R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris Cos. The European Union's central regulator is moving ahead with a suit against R.J.