Gallaher Group

History[edit]

The business was founded in 1857 by Tom Gallaher in Derry, Ireland (now part of Northern Ireland.)^[2] By 1896, he had opened the largest tobacco factory in the world in Belfast. The business was incorporated on 28 March 1896 to "carry on in all their branches the businesses of tobacco, cigar, cigarettes and snuff manufacture".


Formerly manufacturing in London and Dublin, Gallaher moved production to Belfast (cigarettes) and Wales (cigars) in the early 20th century.


Gallaher went on to acquire a number of rival companies including J. A. Pattreiouex (1937), J. R. Freeman (1947), Cope Bros & Co (1952) and Benson & Hedges (1955).^[3]


In 1962, Gallaher acquired J Wix & Co., the British subsidiary of American Tobacco, in exchange for Gallaher shares. As a result, American Tobacco owned 13% of Gallaher Ltd. In July 1968, American Tobacco increased its ownership to 28%. American continued to increase its ownership for several years and by October 1974 Gallaher Ltd had become a 100%-owned subsidiary of American Brands (as American Tobacco was now known).


Gallaher held a Royal Warrant of Appointment for 122 years, until the warrant was revoked in 1999 by Queen Elizabeth II. Her son, the Prince of Wales' rigorous anti-smoking campaigning is thought to have been a major influence behind that decision. Gallaher was allowed one year to remove the Royal Coat of Arms from its brands bearing the mark on their packaging.^[4]


On 4 August 2000 Gallaher completed the acquisition of Liggett Ducat, Russia's number one cigarette brand.^[5] In January 2002, Gallaher became the 100% owner of Austria's former nationalised biggest tobacco-company Austria Tabak.^[6]


In 2002 US tobacco firm Reynolds formed Reynolds-Gallaher International to access cigarette sales in most countries in the European Union. The agreement was scheduled to run through 2012 but in May 2007, as a result of the acquisition of Gallaher Group by Japan Tobacco, it was announced that this joint-venture would cease in November 2007.^[7]


Japan Tobacco became the sole owner of the Gallaher Group on 18 April 2007, in the largest ever foreign acquisition in Japanese history.^[8]


The closure of the former J. R. Freeman's factory in Cardiff was announced in September 2007, with all work scheduled to move to the Ballymena factory by September 2009.^[9]


In 2015, JTI Gallaher announced the closure of their Ballymena operations with all work due to re-locate to Eastern Europe in a cost saving measure by 2017. This resulted in the loss of over 1000 jobs in the town and the cessation of tobacco production in Ireland by Gallaher after more than 100 years.