Tobacco Asia

64 tobaccoasia Issue 3, 2021 May / June Staff Report Stefan Bomhard, c.e.o., Imperial Brands Last February Imperial Brands announced the appointment of Stefan Bomhard as c.e.o., but it was not until July that he fully took over. Prior to joining Imperial, Bomhard was c.e.o. of Inchcape Plc., a global distribution and re- tail leader in the premium and luxury automotive sec- tors, where he demonstrated strong strategic and opera- tional leadership. Bomhard holds a Ph.D. in marketing and has significant experience across multiple consumer sectors and within large multinational organizations, particularly in brand building and consumer-led sales and marketing. Prior to his time at Inchcape, Bomhard was president of Bacardi Limited's European region and was also responsible for Bacardi's global commercial organization and global travel re- tail. Before that, Bomhard was chief commercial officer of Cad- bury Plc after being c.o.o. of Unilever Food Solutions Europe. This followed senior management and sales and marketing roles at Diageo (Burger King) and Procter & Gamble. In January this year, after a six-month review, Bomhard made waves with a five-year strategy for Imperial which would see the company pivoting back to cigarettes, an area that, ac- cording to Bomhard, had been "neglected" as Imperial became "overly focused" on vaping devices and other alternative nico- tine products. The emphasis for the new strategy was to focus on the company's top five cigarette markets that provide 72% of its profits (Australia, Germany, Spain, the UK, and the US), to take a "more disciplined" approach to next-generation products (NGPs), and to bolster its sales force. "The vapor business expanded too quickly and too broad- ly, with little consumer validation and poor investment deci- sions," Bomhard said, adding that previous investments had not sufficiently been based on consumer research. "The new strategy will have a renewed emphasis on a more focused group of priority tobacco markets and a more disciplined execution in NGP," he said. He also said that the company's strategy for NGPs would depend on the market, such as placing greater emphasis on heated tobacco products in Europe, vaping in the US, and oral tobacco in Scandinavia. By end of March 2021, it seemed that the new strategy had largely been working. Imperial reported increased tobacco market share in its main five markets with gains in the US, the UK, and Spain outweighing declines in Australia and Germany. The company also reaffirmed its forecasted low-to-mid single The Changing of the Guard There is a "changing of the guard", so to speak, in the past year at some of the major global tobacco companies, with some familiar faces from the industry, as well as some new, taking the reins. Stefan Bomhard Jacek Olczak digit growth in organic adjusted operating profit growth for the year, saying that its tobacco sales matched its expectations. Im- perial has predicted its revenue will grow by 1% on an organic, constant currency basis for the first half of the coming financial year due to increased tobacco prices and raised NGP revenue growth, as well as expecting increased profits from Logista, its logistics operations in Europe. Jacek Olczak, c.e.o., Philip Morris International In December 2020, Philip Morris International (PMI) an- nounced that Jacek Olczak would be taking over from André Calantzopoulos as c.e.o. in May 2021, as Calantzopoulos takes over his responsibilities as executive chairman of the board, succeeding Louis Ca- milleri, who retired. Holding a master's de- gree in economics, Olczak served as PMI's c.o.o. since January 2018 and as c.f.o. from August 2012 through December 2018. He joined the company in 1993 and worked in finance and general management positions across Europe, including as manag- ing director of PMI's mar- kets in Poland and Germany and as president of the European Union region before his appointment as c.f.o. in 2012. Olczak has worked closely together with Louis Camilleri and André Calantzopoulos since PMI became an independent company, sharing a single strategic vision, so a seamless transi- tion and continuity of leadership is only natural. That strategic vision is leaving traditional combustible cig- arettes behind and "delivering a smoke-free future." Key to this vision is PMI's IQOS device, which heats tobacco rather than burn it. The latest IQOS VEEV, which was launched in New Zealand in Q3/2020, heats e-liquids which contain pharmaceu- tical-grade nicotine and food-grade flavorings. In an interview with The Edge earlier this year, Olczak said, "Our ambition is that all those adults who would otherwise con- tinue smoking cigarettes around the world switch to better alter- natives based on science." "Adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke deserve to know about, and have access to, better alternatives to cigarettes. Smoke-free products such as IQOS, while not risk- free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. We must get the facts straight to clear up any confusion for consum- ers and prevent them from going back to and using cigarettes, one of the most harmful forms of nicotine consumption."

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