uFourth Largest Cigarette Maker Imperial Tobacco Drops “Tobacco” From Its Namer

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• Imperial Tobacco Group, the fourth largest cigarette company in the world, is the latest company to distance itself from its bread and butter by dropping the “tobacco” part of its name. 

  The British company, which recently acquired the Salem, Kool, Winston, blu e-cigarette brands during the Reynolds, Lorillard merger, announced on Tuesday that it would change its name to Imperial Brands, Bloomberg reports.

  The change, which still has to be approved at a February shareholders meeting, was made to better reflect Imperial’s “dynamic, brand-focused business.”

  “Our business is built around great consumer brands,” Imperial said in a statement. “Our growth and specialist brands are the key assets in our portfolio and we continue to focus on building the contribution they make to our volume and revenue development.”

  The company says that the changes will be predominantly focused on its corporate headquarters and website.

  Imperial is the latest tobacco giant to distance itself from cigarettes, albeit in name only. Bloomberg reports that Philip Morris Co. changed its name to Altria Group for similar reasons nearly a decade ago. The Philip Morris name does live on, however, in Philip Morris International. That company, which was spun off from Altria in 2008, is responsible for the non-U.S. sales and marketing of Marlboro and other big-name tobacco brands.

  Cigarette Maker Drops Tobacco From Name, Becomes Imperial Brands [Bloomberg]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist