Oettinger Davidoff AG Announces 2016 Revenue (Update)

Oettinger Davidoff AG, the Swiss parent of the Davidoff, Camacho, AVO, Zino and other brands, has announced its 2016 revenue results.

The company says it generated CHF 595 million ($609.9 million) in 2016, a substantial drop from the year before. That decline was due in large part to the sale of Contadis AG, a distribution company that it sold to Lekkerland Schweiz. Davidoff projected the sale would drop revenues by CHF 440 million.

Davidoff is actually claiming an 8.2 percent growth “on a comparable basis.” The company is private, so it doesn’t have to divulge further information. However, the company’s revenues were CHF 1.126 billion in 2015, meaning with the CHF 440 million drop, it should be CHF 686 million not factoring in the 8.2 percent growth.

Update: Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, ceo of Oettinger Davidoff AG, told halfwheel that the company’s CHF 595 million was only in core businesses, The company generated another CHF 81.5 million from Contadis AG in January and February of 2016, though it opted to not include those figures for this announcement because it wanted to focus on its core business. In addition, Hoejsgaard said another, smaller business the company sold had a decline and the company estimated a CHF 4 million difference because of currency. 

As for the companies specifically, it says the core Davidoff brand grew 20 percent in 2016 despite increased regulation in the U.S. and the European Union.

“2016 was a challenging year for the cigar industry as new and costly anti-tobacco legislation was introduced in both the EU and the USA,” said Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, ceo of Oettinger Davidoff AG, in a press release. “While we are extremely pleased with the continued double-digit growth of Davidoff and our global market share gains, we did not achieve all our goals for 2016.”

In addition, Hoejsgaard says the Camacho brand’s global sales have doubled in the last five years.

The company also highlighted its Asian investments, which include the buyout of Bluebell Cigars Asia, a distributor, and a joint-venture with Sparkle Roll Group Limited, a Hong Kong-based distributor of consumer goods in China.

“We expect a challenging and difficult 2017 as new restrictions in our core markets USA and Europe take hold and retailers hold back and await clarity,” said Hoejsgaard. “We are confident that we can continue to gain market share through our strong innovation and global retail footprint.”

Update (June 19, 2017) — Added information regarding the discrepancy between 2016 projections and actual. This story was originally published on June 15, 2017.