Consolidation is Broadly Done

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 05/16/2011

Imperial Tobacco's chief executive, Alison Cooper, said on Tuesday that her company had no current acquisition plans, according to a Reuters News story. "There is nothing immediate on the M&A [mergers and acquisitions] radar," she was quoted as saying after announcing Imperial's half year results. "We do have some flexibility to do deals but there is nothing of any substantial scale, the consolidation is broadly done,". Cooper described talk of a deal between Imperial and British American Tobacco as "vague speculation" and said such a deal, which would probably have to include a third party to get around anti-trust concerns, would be "not impossible but difficult". Enditem