Regulatory body raids cigarette producer's HQ

TOBACCO GROUP PJ Carroll Co was raided by the Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) last month, with the regulatory body removing documents relating to the cigarette maker’s marketing material.

The unannounced raid of Carroll’s Sandyford head office took place on July 30th, with the OTC seeking all of the company’s marketing information dating back 12 months.

The regulator has wide-ranging powers to visit tobacco companies and demand and remove material in relation to their activities under two acts that were enacted earlier in this decade – the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002 and the Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Act 2004.

It is understood that PJ Carroll was the only one of the three major tobacco groups in Ireland to have its offices raided by the regulator.

Ronan Barry, the head of corporate and regulatory affairs for PJ Carroll in Ireland, confirmed that the company’s offices had been visited by the OTC.

“They wanted to see all of our marketing materials,” Mr Barry said. “We don’t know why. We haven’t had any feedback at this stage.”

The raid was made shortly after a new law banning point-of-sale advertising material and forcing retailers to stock tobacco products out of sight of consumers came into force on July 1st.

Mr Barry stressed that PJ Carroll has complied with all relevant legislation at all times.

“We showed them everything,” he added.

Éamonn Rossi, the OTC’s chief executive, told The Irish Times that it “would not be appropriate” for the office to make any comment in relation to the raid.

PJ Carroll is owned by listed cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco (BAT), which last week announced that Irishman Richard Burrows would be its next chairman.

Carroll is Ireland’s third-biggest cigarette company, with a 16 per cent market share. The group employs 55 people here.

Its brands include Carrolls No.1, Major, Rothmans and Winfield.

Latest accounts for PJ Carroll Co show it achieved sales of €228.9 million in 2007, roughly the same level as the previous year.

Its after-tax profit during the year declined to €6.8 million from just more than €10 million in 2006.

The Irish company paid a dividend of €3.1 million to BAT in 2007.