Egypt’s Eastern - Cigarette Producer - Given 3 Months to Introduce Watermarks, Mal Says

Eastern Co. (EAST) lost as much as 4.1 percent before closing unchanged at 93.86 Egyptian pounds. Egypt’s monopoly cigarette producer was given three months to implement a watermark system to combat counterfeit products, Al Mal reported, citing Fathy Abdelaziz, who heads the information unit at the country’s tax authority.

Eastern said yesterday implementing the system would cost the company about 207 million pounds ($34 million).