IMPERIAL TOBACCO COMPANY
British American Tobacco looks to raise $2.5 billion by trimming 4% stake in ITC, ropes in Wall St banks
BAT has 29.03% holding in the cigarette-to-chips conglomerate, as per December 2023 disclosures. Based on Monday’s closing price, BAT’s shareholding is valued at Rs 1.47 lakh crore ($17.75 billion). ITC’s total market capitalisation amounted to Rs 5.07 lakh crore ($61.17 billion). BAT sells cigarettes under brands such as Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike. The value unlocking could potentially help it prune leverage and resume a share buyback programme to enhance shareholder value. It launched the 2 billion buyback in 2022, but didn’t renew it last year.
How ITC succeeded in pivoting from its traditional tobacco business to FMCG under Sanjiv Puri
A look at ITC’s top line shows the revenue share of its tobacco business has nearly halved—from 62% in FY14 to 37% in FY23. This change can’t come about unless you understand the Indian consumer. Sanjiv Puri, chairman and managing director of ITC, is among the few executives who has a finger on their pulse. In an exclusive interaction with ET, Puri talks about how the FMCG behemoth came to be.
ITC Next: How do you turn around an elephant and make it dance?
"The other piece in ITC Next was getting structural efficiencies out of the investments we had done on ICMLs (Integrated Consumer Goods and Logistics) facilities. So we integrated the warehouses and the factories and put in automated warehouses. It is now a seamless flow from the factory into the warehouses. Your layers of handling and transportation are reduced, so you bring in efficiencies there," Puri said.
ITC: The one Indian conglomerate that’s in no hurry to win
Recently, ITC has closed underperforming apparel businesses and sold menswear brand John Players to Reliance Retail. With a high cigarette market share, ITC makes almost 93% of its profits from the product. As smoking declines in India, ITC needs to focus more on food and developing a low-carbon supply chain to connect farmers with consumers.
Companies sell their businesses in Russia
Below are some of the companies by sector that have secured deals to sell their businesses in Russia:
European shares rise ahead of key data, ECB minutes
As of last close, the region-wide index is up 2.85% for the newly commenced quarter - compared with previous quarter's sharp selloff - due to expectations of less-severe policies by central banks amid mixed set of data from the United States and Europe.
Companies sell their businesses in Russia
The moves, part of a broader corporate exodus from the country, are likely to stir concerns that Russian firms and institutions are snapping up prized assets for a bargain.
Nestle, tobacco groups latest companies to pull back from Russia
The moves came after Coca-Cola and McDonald's halted sales in Russia, where a senior member of the ruling party has warned that foreign firms which close down could see their operations nationalised.
Europe's STOXX 600 eyes third month of gains on earnings support
The pan-regional STOXX 600 index rose 0.13%, hovering below its all-time high, and on course to end the month 2.3% higher.
FTSE 100 ends worst session in nearly two-months; cigarette makers, oil stocks weigh
Sterling hit its highest in more than six weeks against the dollar, further weighing on the FTSE 100, many of whose constituents earn most of their revenues overseas and see their repatriated profits eroded by a stronger pound.
The ITC story: How tobacco nationalism and ownership structure landed India in a mammoth value trap
London-based BAT has tried in the past to raise its stake and take over the cigarette maker, but local managers have seen it off using Indian financial institutions’ voting power. However, many investors are now wondering if empire-building by ITC’s management, in the garb of protecting national interests, has gone too far.
For investors, tobacco is a bigger sin than alcohol? Or, so say their stocks
Ever since 2016, valuations of major global tobacco stocks have seen consistent de-rating.
Trade concerns keep a lid on Europe's rise, upbeat earnings boost Germany
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was marginally higher by 0850 GMT, a day after it hit its lowest in more than four weeks.
What makes Indian managers hit worldwide, reveals new book
A book has revealed the "unique combination" of factors that led the Made-in-India manager become a global hit
Oil helps European stocks rise while tobacco goes up in smoke
The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.2 per cent by 0826 GMT.
World Bank exits event funded by tobacco companies
Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha has also refused to participate in the event. Sinha's name also featured earlier on the website among guests.
ITC gains 3% intraday, may separate its core tobacco business amid growing regulatory pressure
ITC has set an ambitious target of making the FMCG segment a Rs 1-lakh-crore business in the next 15 years.
Davos 2013: ITC is building Indian brands in all consumer goods categories, says chairman Y C Deveshwar
"Brand-building requires a lot of investment, but we have the staying power and the resources,” Deveshwar said on the sidelines of WEF.
ITC stock plunges: Main business vulnerable to threats of regulation
Tobacco continues to be the company's bread and butter and an area that is being threatened by regulation and heavy taxation across the world.
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