Imperial Brands, plc Says £2 Billion Divestiture “On Track” for May 2020
There is now a timeline for the proposed sale of Altadis U.S.A., JR Cigar and 50 percent of Habanos S.A.
Imperial Brands, plc—the British multinational corporation that owns the aforementioned cigar assets as well as other tobacco businesses—has announced that it is “on track” to divest £2 billion ($2.5 billion) worth of assets by May 2020.
While that is not a guarantee that its cigar businesses will be sold, Imperial announced in late April that it was trying to sell its premium cigar businesses. Analysts at Jefferies estimated at the time that Imperial could generate $1.3-2 billion from the sale of the premium business. They also estimate that the premium cigar business generates $450 million in revenue and earns $111 million in profit annually.
The £2 billion number was announced in May 2018 after criticism from shareholders, to date Imperial has generated less than 15 percent of that target through the sale of its assets.
Today’s announcement came as part of a financial update in which the company announced that it would buyback £200 million in shares.
Charlie Minato
I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.
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