[Intl-tobacco] Japan Tobacco to expand abroad under new president

[robert weissman]

Japan Tobacco to expand abroad under new president
Nachrichten/AFX

April 12, 2006

TOKYO (AFX) - Japan Tobacco Inc (Nachrichten) (JT) said it has named a
new president
to spearhead overseas expansion in view of a shrinking market at home.

Japan Tobacco said its new president is Hiroshi Kimura, who has led the
group's
overseas operations for the past seven years.
His predecessor, Katsuhiko Honda, who will become an advisor to the company.

JT is hoping for a boost from rising sales in Russia, Ukraine and other
emerging
markets, Kimura told a news conference.

'Also, by taking measures to raise our share in Western Europe and the
mature
markets of some Asian countries, I hope [our overseas business] will
continue to be
the driving force of the entire JT group's profit,' Kimura said.

In the six months to last September, JT's overseas tobacco revenue was
was 417.6 bln
yen, 8.8 pct more than a year earlier, while its domestic sales were
1.75 trln yen,
2.4 pct less.

Overseas sales are helping to maintain a rich cash flow and Kimura is
ready to buy
other firms to expand, which would further reduce the number of players
in the
industry after the round of global consolidation in 1999 and 2000.

'The number of players has decreased ... but I believe we will see
another round of
regrouping,' Kimura said.

Kimura said he is 'watching all [takeover] moves with very strong
interest', and
that acquisitions will be 'an important tool for external growth.'

JT controls more than 70 pct of the domestic market but the percentage
of Japanese
adults who smoke fell to a record low of 29.2 pct, according to a JT
survey released
in October.