Public limited company | |
Traded as | : OTCQX: OTCQX: |
Industry | Tobacco |
Founded | 1901 |
Headquarters | Bristol, United Kingdom |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Mark Williamson (Chairman) Alison Cooper (CEO) |
Products | Cigarettes, cigars, fine-cut rolling tobacco, snuff, rolling papers and tubes |
Revenue | £27.634 billion (2016) |
£2,229 billion (2016) | |
£0.669 billion (2016) | |
Number of employees
|
33,900 (2016) |
Subsidiaries |
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Website | www |
Imperial Brands plc, formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom. It is the world’s fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco, and the world's largest producer of cigars, 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, Gauloises Blondes, Montecristo, Golden Virginia (the world's largest-selling hand rolling tobacco), Drum (the world's second-largest-selling fine-cut tobacco), and Rizla (the world’s best-selling rolling paper).
Imperial Brands is listed on the and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation around £24.3 billion as of 23 December 2011, the 19th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Imperial Tobacco Canada has no relationship to Imperial Tobacco Group plc. Imperial Tobacco Canada is the Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco.
The Imperial Tobacco Company was created in 1901 through the amalgamation of 13 British tobacco and cigarette companies: W.D. & H.O. Wills of Bristol (the leading manufacturer of tobacco products at that time), John Player & Sons of Nottingham, and 11 other independent family businesses, which were in competition with companies from the United States by the American Tobacco Company. First W. D. & H. O. Wills of Bristol merged with Stephen Mitchell & Son of Glasgow. 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.