New CEO for Imperial Brands
Imperial Brands has named Stefan Bomhard as the company’s new chief executive officer, replacing Alison Cooper. Imperial, which has revenues of £31.6 billion ($41 billion), is one of the world’s largest tobacco concerns, making cigars (both by hand and machine), cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products and a 50 percent ownership of Cuba’s Habanos S.A.
Bomhard comes from Britain’s Inchcape PLC, an automotive distributor and retailer with £9.3 billion ($12.1 billion) in revenues. He was group CEO for the past five years. Bomhard has also spent time at Bacardi Limited as regional president of Europe, and as chief commercial officer of Cadbury PLC.
Cooper spent 20 years with Imperial, and nine as its CEO. Last October, the company announced she would step down once a successor was named. The management change coincided with poor financial results. For Imperial’s most recent fiscal year, profits were down 21.4 percent.
Imperial is also in the midst of selling its premium cigar division. Talks were said to be in “an advanced stage” last year, but the deal has yet to be completed.
