THE impact of the smoking ban will cost city brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle at least £10 million. The Edinburgh-based firm today predicted the ban in Scotland, as well as its arrival in the rest of the UK, will hit profits in 2007.
The warning comes as the brewing industry continues to assess the impact the ban in Scotland is having on business.
In the same paper, the business pages give the story a different slant:
EDINBURGH-BASED brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle has unveiled plans to trim £50 million from costs as it announced a 13.9 per cent rise in annual profit to £452 million...
Revenue was up seven per cent to £4.15 billion, while S&N said the concept of beer to be drunk with food, and low and no-alcohol beer were having a significant positive impact on sales.
The company also warned, however, that it was set to take a hit of £10m from the impact of the smoking ban in 2007 - which will encompass the first six months of the ban south of the border and the initial eight months of the ban in Wales and Northern Ireland.
But it added that the impact of the Scottish ban had so far been "minimal" on its UK business.
So profits went up by 13.9% but next year the smoking ban might knock a "minimal" 2.2% off the profits total. Must be a slow news day.
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