Annual report 2004 (English) - PDF 3546K - Imperial Tobacco

18
Etinera key figures
• 228 employees
• EUR 191 million in economic sales
and 56 million in EBITDA
• 2 central warehouses, 13 regional
warehouses and 491 local warehouses
• 200,000 square meters of storage
capacity
• 102,000 metric tons distributed
annually
• 150 chartered trucks
Italy:
Altadis becomes the leading tobacco
distributor
Altadis’ acquisition of Etinera enabled the Group – which
was already the leader in tobacco distribution in Spain,
France, Portugal and Morocco – to extend its
front-running position to Italy, Western Europe’s
second-biggest tobacco market.
Etinera, which was created following the spin-off of
the distribution activities of ETI (Ente Tabacchi Italiani),
a privatized company controlled by British American
Tobacco (BAT), is the leading distributor of tobacco
products to Italy’s 56,000 tobacconists. In recent
years, Etinera has invested heavily in modernizing
its IT equipment, improving inventory management
and its order and billing systems, and connecting its
warehouses in real-time.
Quality service
Etinera operates under service contracts with the main
tobacco manufacturers doing business in Italy. Following
its year end-2004 acquisition by Altadis, Philip Morris
– Italy’s leading cigarette company, with a market share
of over 50% – renewed its distribution contract with
Etinera for fi ve years. Likewise, the contract between
Etinera and BAT – the second-ranking Italian player,
with a market share of 30% – was renewed for three
years as soon as the acquisition agreement was signed.
Other manufacturers are also expected to renew their
confi dence in Etinera, with the good relations that the
Group already has with these companies in France and
Spain defi nitely working in its favor.
Altadis’ acquisition of Etinera has reinforced its position
with tobacco companies, for which the Group now offers
an even wider international presence for the distribution
of their products.
Growth prospects
The Group’s expertise will enable Etinera to reinforce
the quality of its services. Between 2005 and 2007,
EUR 35 million will be invested in order to enhance
the company’s security, storage and operations, as
well as order, customer and fl eet management. The
Group will also concentrate on exploiting Etinera’s
potential for diversifi cation into general logistics,
where opportunities are all the more interesting