Battle for E-Cigarette Leadership: Imperial Tobacco Acquires Blu

 

Introduction: Imperial Tobacco Group's Alison & middot; Cooper agreed to buy the world's best-selling electronic cigarettes Blu. A smoke-free battle for the e-cigarette leadership is officially on. It is reported that with the strengthening of tobacco control regulations and tobacco companies to invest in tobacco alternatives, Cooper in July snapped up Blu e-cigarettes decision to promote imperial tobacco from the field of e-cigarettes laggards to become a leader. The move has seen Alison & middot; Cooper dubbed a surprise winner of the Renault/Lorillard Tobacco merger.

Chinese e-cigarette news: When Alison & middot; Cooper of Imperial Tobacco Group agreed to buy Blu, the world's best-selling e-cigarette, she was dubbed an unexpected winner of the Renault/Lorillard Tobacco merger.

The CEO of the British supplier of Davidoff cigarettes may have a lot on her plate that she didn't expect, with Blu's second-quarter sales slumping 35%. Cooper also needs to revitalize traditional cigarettes —— including the declining Winston brand, which was acquired in a $7.1 billion buyout designed to help alleviate antitrust concerns from Renault's larger acquisitions.

With tobacco control regulations tightening and tobacco companies investing in tobacco alternatives, Cooper's decision to snap up Blu e-cigarettes in July was designed to propel Imperial Tobacco from laggard to leader in the e-cigarette space.

Empire Tobacco has lagged behind Fillmore International and British American Tobacco in “harm reduction” products and is a late entrant to the e-cigarette race in the UK.

Challenger MarkTen

However, she will have to wait until the deal is expected to close by the middle of next year before she can start work on Blu, hoping to maintain a dominant position in the market alongside competing brand MarkTen from the Ochia Group.

MarkTen's dollar market share rose 9.3 percent to 12.9 percent in the four weeks from July 13, while Blu lost 4.8 percent of the market to 33.5 percent, according to Information Resources. Blu's decline accelerated in the second quarter as customers shifted to cheaper rechargeable kit options. Revenue fell to $37 million from $57 million in the same period last year.

Imperial Tobacco is confident it can do well with the Blu brand.

“Nothing has changed yet,” said Simon · Evans, a company spokesman, “Blu is still No. 1 in the marketplace and it is a brand we are looking to internationalize. ”

Cooper, who joined Imperial Tobacco as a finance manager in 1999 and became CEO in 2010, has experience in building brands that need it after Imperial Tobacco's 2008 acquisition of Attardis to add Gallic cigarettes and Cohiba cigars. Under her leadership, the cigarette brands are increasing revenues in the Middle East, and Cohiba

Coiba is also helping to grow the Asian market.

Internationalization push

When Cooper became boss, Imperial Tobacco's share price, including dividend reinvestment, has lagged behind Lorillard, Renault, Fillmore and Ochia, as well as British rival British American Tobacco. Although Imperial Tobacco's shares fell 7% after it agreed to buy those brands on July 15, the company's stock has beaten Renault, Fillmore and British American Tobacco in the last year.

“What's reassuring to me is that she managed to persuade the former CEO of Lorillard Tobacco to lead the U.S. business,” said Philip & middot; Gorham, an analyst at Morningstar, referring to Martin & middot; Orlowski, who ran the company for a decade.

Retro Brands

“We knew we were acquiring unloved and underinvested brands and we were desperate to get our hands on them,” Evans said, “and with a lot of attention and investment, we are confident we can turn things around. ”
Evans said the company will concentrate on the Winston brand.
“I guess one way to get back into the market is to play the retro card and appeal to the whole retro, hipster crowd,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kenneth · Shea, “You're not the edgiest if you're sucking up to Cloudston. ”
Cooper will have to bide her time before waiting for the Reynolds-Lorillard merger to be completed.

Once she gains ownership, Bloomquist, an analyst at Berenberg Bank, said: “It will be a clear failure or a clear success—— — but it will all be visible. ”#p#Pagination#e#