Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

company headquartered in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, and

Japan Tobacco Hepburn: ''Nippon Senbai Kōsha'' , type = 1985-: Public (''kabushiki gaisha'') 1949-1985: Statutory corporation , traded_as = , industry = FoodTobacco , foundation = 1898 (as Imperial Japanese Tobacco Company)1 June 1949 (as Japan Tobacco ...

, and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers. Imperial Brands produces over 320 billion cigarettes per year, has 51 factories worldwide, and its products are sold in over 160 countries. Its brands include Davidoff,

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, Gauloises Blondes,

Montecristo Montecristo, also Monte Cristo (, ) and formerly Oglasa ( grc, Ὠγλάσσα, Ōglássa), is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province ...

, Golden Virginia (the world's best-selling hand rolling tobacco), Drum (the world's second-largest-selling fine-cut tobacco), and

Rizla Rizla (), commercially styled Rizla+., is a French brand of rolling papers and other related paraphernalia in which tobacco, or marijuana, or a mixture, is rolled to make handmade joints and cigarettes. The company was sold in 1997 to Imperial ...

(the world's best-selling rolling paper). Imperial Brands is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalization around £18.5 billion as of 4 June 2019, the 28th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Imperial Tobacco Canada Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited is a cigarette manufacturing company operating in Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco. It was created in 1908 and bought out the Canadian interests of the American Tobacco Company, w ...

, the Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco, has no relationship to Imperial Brands.

History

1901 to 2000

The Imperial Tobacco Company was created in 1901 through the amalgamation of 13 British tobacco and cigarette companies: W.D. & H.O. Wills of

(the leading manufacturer of tobacco products at that time),

John Player & Sons John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US ma ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, and 11 other independent family businesses, which were in competition with companies from the United States by the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...

. First W. D. & H. O. Wills of

merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Subsequently, other smaller companies including Lambert & Butler, William Clarke & Son, Franklyn Davey, Edwards Ringer & Bigg, Hignett Brothers, Hignett's Tobacco, Adkins & Sons, Richmond Cavendish, D&J MacDoland and F&J Smith joined in the amalgamation. In 1904, James & Finlay Bell Ltd merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son. The Company's first chairman was William Henry Wills of the Wills Company. J&FBell ThreeNuns 2oz

In 1902, the Imperial Tobacco Company and the

agreed to form a joint venture: the British-American Tobacco Company Ltd. The parent companies agreed not to trade in each other's domestic territory and to assign trademarks, export businesses, and overseas subsidiaries to the joint venture. It built the Imperial Tobacco Company Building at

Mullins, South Carolina Mullins is a city in Marion County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,663. Incorporated on March 4, 1872, Mullins was named after Col. William S. Mullins, who served as a representative for Marion C ...

, US between 1908 and 1913. It also established its own leaf-buying organisation in the United States through its building, the Imperial Tobacco Warehouse, in Durham, North Carolina, which is now owned, and has been renovated by, Measurement Incorporated. American Tobacco sold its share in 1911, but Imperial maintained an interest in British American Tobacco until 1980. In 1973, the Imperial Tobacco Company, having become increasingly diversified by acquisition of (amongst others) restaurant chains, food services and distribution businesses, changed its name to Imperial Group. In 1910, Imperial Tobacco formed the Imperial Tobacco Company of India. In 1985, the company acquired the

Peoples Drug Peoples Drug was a chain of drugstores based in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1905, Peoples was subsequently purchased by Lane Drug in 1975, Imasco in 1984, and finally by CVS in 1990, which continued to run the stores under the Peoples ban ...

chain and all subsidiaries from A. C. Israel. In 1986 the company was acquired by the conglomerate Hanson Trust plc for £2.5 billion. Divestments during the period of ownership by Hanson included

Courage Brewery Courage Brewery was an English brewery, founded by John Courage in 1787 in London, England. History Courage & Co Ltd was started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown, Bermondsey in 1787. He was a Scottish shipping agent of Fr ...

to Elders,

Golden Wonder Golden Wonder is a British company that manufactures snack foods, most notably crisps. These include Ringos, Golden Wonder and Transform-A-Snack. Since 2006, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Northern Irish company Tayto, after bei ...

to Dalgety, Finlays to Arunbhai J. Patel, the wholesaling arm of Sinclair & Collis to Palmer & Harvey, Imperial Hotels and Catering to

Trust House Forte Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden. ...

and Ross Frozen Foods to United Biscuits. This also led to a dispute over pension payments to employees, as seen in '' Imperial Group Pension Trust Ltd v Imperial Tobacco Ltd''. In 1996, following a decision to concentrate on core tobacco activities, Hanson de-merged Imperial and it was listed as an independent company on the UK stock exchange.

2000 to present

In 2003, Imperial acquired the world's then fourth-largest tobacco company, Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH of Germany: the deal added brands such as Davidoff, Peter Stuyvesant, and

to its portfolio. In 2007, Imperial Tobacco entered the United States tobacco market with its $1.9-billion acquisition of Commonwealth Brands Inc., then the fourth-largest tobacco company in the US.Bruce Schreiner
"Houchens expanding at a rapid pace: Company has evolved since Kentucky start"
Associated Press, 24 December 2007 In February 2008, Imperial acquired the world's then fifth-largest tobacco company, Altadis, whose brands included

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

, Gauloises Blondes, and

Gitanes Gitanes (, " Gypsy women") is a French brand of cigarettes, owned and manufactured by Imperial Tobacco following their acquisition of Altadis in January 2008, having been owned by SEITA before that. History Gitanes was launched in 1910 in fo ...

. A number of factory closures were subsequently announced, including the long-running cigar factory in Bristol. Following the Scottish Parliament's decision in January 2010 to ban the display of tobacco products in shops, as well as the availability of tobacco vending machines in public buildings with effect from autumn 2011, Imperial Tobacco attempted to challenge the change in the law on the grounds that regulations of the sale goods rested with the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. However, this case was dismissed on 30 September 2010 by Lord Bracadale in the Court of Session in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. In 2011, Altadis USA Inc. said it would add to its Fort Lauderdale, Florida, headquarters and move Commonwealth Brands Inc. employees from

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the ...

. The company's name changed to Commonwealth-Altadis Inc. In 2013, Imperial opened a new global headquarters in Bristol. In April 2014, Imperial announced the closure of its long-running Horizon factory in

. The factory closed in 2016, marking the end of cigarette production in England. On 15 July 2014,

Reynolds American Reynolds American, Inc. is an American tobacco company which is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco and is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States. Its holdings include R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Snuff Company ...

agreed to buy

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

-based

Lorillard Tobacco Company Lorillard Tobacco Company was an American tobacco company that marketed cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. The company had two operating segments: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. Th ...

, for $27.4 billion. The deal also included the sale of the Kool, Winston, Salem, and blu eCigs brands to Imperial for $7.1 billion. In November 2014, Imperial said Commonwealth-Altadis and the Lorillard operations being acquired would be called ITG Brands LLC. The deal with Lorillard was completed on 12 June 2015, and as part of the deal, Greensboro became the location of the ITG headquarters. On 1 November 2018, ITG announced production would move from the former

plant in Reidsville, North Carolina, built in 1892 and later expanded, to Greensboro by 2020. The plant made USA Gold, Sonoma, Montclair and Rave. Imperial tobacco logo

In February 2016 Imperial changed its name to "Imperial Brands" to distance itself from tobacco. In 2018 a subsidiary, Imperial Brands Ventures, took a stake in Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies which is licensed by the UK government to develop cannabis-based medicines. In November 2019, after searching for a new chairman since February, the company announced its senior independent director Thérèse Esperdy would take the role.

Products

The company's brands include:

Cigarettes

* All JTI * Ducados * Dutch Masters (cigar) *

Backwoods Smokes Backwoods is an American brand of cigars that was introduced in 1973. This product was notable during the 1970s and 1980s for heavy advertising, which became one of the more obvious examples of how companies at the time reacted to changing laws ...

* blu (vape) * Brandon's * Capstan * Carlton * Crowns * Davidoff *

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

* Escort * Excellence *

Gauloises Gauloises (, "Gaulish" eminine pluralin French; ''cigarette'' is a feminine noun in French) is a brand of cigarette of French origin. It is produced by the company Imperial Tobacco following its acquisition of Altadis in January 2008 in most cou ...

* Horizon *

* John Player Best * Kool * Lambert & Butler * Mark Fernyhough * Maverick * Moon * Parker & Simpson * Peter Stuyvesant * Prima * R1 * Regal * Richmond * Rodeo (in Macedonia) * Route 66 * Royale * Salem *

Superkings Superkings (or John Player as it was originally called) is a Great Britain, British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Imperial Brands, Imperial Tobacco. History Superkings was launched in 1983. The name Superkings is de ...

* USA Gold *

* Winston * Woodbine

Other

Bali Shag Bali Shag is a traditional Netherlands, Dutch-style tobacco blend. The blend is a mixture of dark burley tobacco and light virginia tobaccos. Bali Shag is a European cut tobacco which is popular mostly in the US and Western Europe. The tobacco is ...

* Drum * Golden Virginia * Players Gold Leaf * Champion Legendary * RizLa+ * Tally-Ho * Skruf Snus * Van Nelle * White Ox

Gallery

File:Fortuna cigarettes (Spain) - front.jpg, Fortuna cigarettes packet File:Gauloises Blondes.JPG, Packets of Gauloises Blondes cigarettes File:MonteCristo Cigar.jpg, A Montecristo cigar File:Drum Original Tobacco.jpg, A packet of Drum tobacco File:LEXMARK-SCAN 005.jpg, Rizla+ King Size Silver Slims File:Skruf.JPG, Skruf snus

Operations

The Nottingham factory and the group's French factory in Nantes closed in 2016, with production moved to Eastern Europe.

Controversies

In May 2022, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' reported that the company had lobbied politicians in Scotland. Ivan McKee, the trade minister, was the highest-ranking government official who had met with the executives from Imperial Brands: he met them twice in 2018.

Notes

References

External links

*
Imperial Tobacco
(archived, 22 Jul 2008) * {{Portal bar, Companies, United Kingdom British companies established in 1901 Tobacco companies of the United Kingdom 1996 initial public offerings Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Manufacturing companies established in 1901 Manufacturing companies based in Bristol Multinational companies headquartered in England