Imperial Tobacco Appoints New General Manager
09 May 2014
New General Manager for Imperial Tobacco Australasia
The world’s fourth largest tobacco company, Imperial Tobacco, has appointed Paul Matthews as General Manager for
Australasia.
Mr Matthews has a wealth of tobacco industry experience built up over a career of 20 years with the Imperial Tobacco
Group (ITG). Having held a number of roles in the Sales area of our UK business, Paul moved to Mexico as General Manager
then onto the USA as Vice President of Consumer & Trade Marketing.
Most recently Mr Matthews held the position of Senior Vice President of Sales for Commonwealth-Altadis, Inc – an
Imperial Tobacco Group Company, leading a team of over 700 people in the USA.
Mr Matthews said he was looking forward to working for Imperial Tobacco in Australia.
“My priority is to build on the growth momentum ITA has already had, with a particular focus on strengthening our market
share. Conditions are tough for the tobacco industry in Australia but our recently released half-year results show that
we continue to demonstrate resilience and remain on course to deliver our full year targets.”
“Imperial Tobacco Australia has had lots of success in recent years, driven mostly by JPS, Australia’s fastest growing
tobacco brand. Having said that, none of these remarkable results could have been achieved without our team of staff who
have developed fantastic initiatives designed to back growth and build resilience.”
Background on Imperial Tobacco Australia
Established in 1999, Imperial Tobacco Australia (ITA) joined the Australian market alongside main competitors British
American Tobacco Australia and Phillip Morris Australia. Imperial Tobacco Australia currently holds approximately 22%
market share in the 20 billion stick Factory Manufactured Cigarette category*. In the Fine Cut Tobacco (or Roll Your
Own) category, ITA is the market leader in Australia, holding approximately 61% market share*.
*Source - Infoview Exchange of Sales - MAT to 31st Jan 2014