IMPERIAL GROUP, PLC

leading British manufacturer of tobacco products, including Player and Embassy cigarettes, Wilson's snuff, and several brands of cigars. Its other products included beer, prepared foods, and packaging. Corporate headquarters are in London. The company was founded as the Imperial Tobacco Company in 1901 by a consortium of British tobacco manufacturers seeking strength through unity following an attempt by James Buchanan Duke of the American Tobacco Company to take over the British tobacco industry. Tobacco long dominated the company's product line, contributing 90 percent of its profits as recently as 1968. After that time the company diversified, and the word tobacco was dropped from the corporate name in 1973 to reflect the changes. The company reregistered as a public limited company in 1981, the year that it assumed the name Imperial Group. In 1986 Imperial Group was purchased by Hanson Trust PLC, a diversified manufacturer, of which it became a subsidiary. Imperial also produced and distributed a number of food products.