Scandinavian Tobacco Group Releases 2019 Annual Report

In the report, STG reports that net sales were down 2.6 percent while EBITDA before special items was up 7.1 percent. Free cash flow before acquisitions stood at DKK 1,187, also up from the previous year. Overall net profit was also up to DKK 748. North America Online & Retail had the most net sales, accounting for 35 percent of STG’s overall net sales for 2019, followed by Region Smoking Tobacco & Accessories (23 percent), Region Machine-Made cigars (24 percent) and North America Branded (18 percent). The company has over 200 leading branded with 12 different production sites, a sales company in 14 different countries and currently employs 6,900 employees worldwide. The company names the French market as a current challenge that it’s currently formulating a plan for. General Cigar Company has also seen some improvements in recent years as the company has focused on improving its focus, flexibility and overall efficiency. The company, led by Régis Broersma, has cut 70 recent of its SKUs, which has led to a lowering of inventories worth around USD $40 million. For its employees, General Cigar has also changed its incentive programs to emphasize the importance of performance, based on monthly targets, a change that has helped to empower its employees.

In the report, Nigel Northridge, STG’s chairman and CEO Niels Frederiksen, issued a joint statement within the report: “With declining markets and increasing regulation being constants in our industry, we are obligated to demonstrate agility. Looking ahead to 2020, we will continue to adapt our business to the tough market conditions and demonstrate cost discipline while transforming and modernizing our Group to become better equipped to execute on the strategy and achieve our vision of becoming the undisputed global leader in cigars and pipe tobacco. Based on the successful improvements to the core business in 2019 and the acquisition of Royal Agio Cigars, the Group is in a strong position to grow and create further value for our shareholders in 2020 and to explore options to best maximize total shareholder return.”

You can download STG’s full 2019 Annual Report here. For all the latest news from Scandinavian Tobacco Group, visit st-group.com.