Japan Tobacco

Japan Tobacco Inc.
日本たばこ産業株式会社
Type Public KK
Traded as TYO: 2914
Osaka SE: 2914
Nagoya SE: 2914
Fukuoka SE: 2914
Sapporo SE: 2914
Industry Tobacco, Pharmaceuticals, Food
Founded Minato, Tokyo, Japan (April 1, 1985 (1985-04-01))
Headquarters 2-1, Toranomon Nichome, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Key people Hiroshi Kimura (President & CEO)
Pierre de Labouchere (CEO of JT International SA)
Products See below
Revenue ¥6,194.5 billion (including excise tax)
¥1,956.6 billion (excluding excise tax)
(consolidated, March 2011)
Operating income ¥328.6 billion (consolidated, March 2011)
Net income ¥144.9 billion (consolidated, March 2011)
Total assets ¥2,879.3 billion (consolidated, March 2011)
Total equity ¥1,854.4 billion (consolidated, March 2011)
Employees 48,472 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2011)
Subsidiaries Gudang Garam
Website www.JT.com

Japan Tobacco Inc. (日本たばこ産業株式会社 Nihon Tabako Sangyō Kabushiki-gaisha?), abbreviated JT, is a cigarette manufacturing company. It is part of the Nikkei 225 index. In 2009 the company was listed at number 312 on the Fortune 500 list. The company is headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo.[1] The international headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

Contents

History

The company traces its origins to 1898. Incorporated in 1949 as the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation (日本専売公社 Nippon Senbai Kōsha?), Japan Tobacco was a state monopoly until 1985, when it became a public company.

It was two-thirds owned by the Japanese Ministry of Finance until June 2004, and the Japanese government share is presently 50%. JT International (JTI), acquired in 1999 from R.J. Reynolds, is an operating division of Japan Tobacco Inc., handling the international production, marketing and sales of the group's cigarette brands. It sells Camel, Salem, and Winston brands outside the USA.

Japan Tobacco also operates in foods, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, engineering, and real estate. Japan Tobacco completed the largest ever foreign takeover in Japanese history through acquisition of Gallaher Group plc in April 2007.[2]

Japan Tobacco runs the Tobacco and Salt Museum in Tokyo.

Market

Japan Tobacco controls 66.4% of the cigarette market in Japan and will seek more takeovers from 2009 to build on the 1.4 trillion JPY (USD 15 billion) purchase of Gallaher Group, with President Hiroshi Kimura commenting that further acquisitions would be appropriate after the full integration of Gallaher by 2009.[3][4]

In 2006/2007 Japan Tobacco starts Serbia production, plans to invest another $100 million, have paid $35 million euros for 98.5 percent of Senta Tobacco Industry in May 2006, with a further $10 million invested since then. The plant has a production capacity of some five billion cigarettes a year.[5]

Brands

JT flagship brands

Other brands

  • Dorchester
  • Embassy
  • Export A
  • Frontier
  • Fusion
  • Genghis Khan
  • Gold Coast
  • Hi-Lite
  • Islands
  • Kool
  • Kosmos
  • Luch
  • Lviv
  • MacDonald
  • Magna
  • Mercedes
  • Mi-Ne
  • Monte Carlo
  • More
  • Nasha Prima
  • Nevskie
  • Nil
  • North Star
  • Now

Smoking etiquette posters

JTI runs a series of posters designed to educate smokers about of smoking etiquette. http://www.jti.co.jp/sstyle/manners/ad/gallery/index.html

Environmental record

Japan Tobacco had recent health issues involving their company. Contaminated gyoza dumplings made by a Chinese company's factory in China, which sold its products to JT, poisoned ten people, including a five year old girl who has now recovered. Thousands of other Japanese people were going to the hospital because of stomach issues as well. A number of dumplings were found containing dichlorvos and methamidophos from pesticide.[6] The health minister of Japan said the contamination at the Chinese factory was possibly intentional, and the police are investigating for an attempted homicide.[6] The dumplings were from China, but Japan Tobacco has said it does not plan to cease its manufacturing in China. Frozen food sales went down by 60% for the business since this health scare.[7] Japan Tobacco's stock price fell 7.1% after they were forced to recall their products, and the company also lost a $500 million merger deal with Nissin Foods because of this incident.[8]

See also

Japan portal
Tokyo portal
Companies portal


References

External links