Davidoff heading to the USA

[tippexx]

Media Release

Davidoff Appoints New President for North America

Basel/Switzerland, July 14th 2011. The President and Chief Executive Officer of
the Oettinger Davidoff Group, Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, announced today the
appointment of James (Jim) Young, as the new President North America of
Davidoff of Geneva Distribution, Inc. effective September 1st.

After 11 years at the helm of Davidoff?s US Operations, Peter Baenninger,
will relocate to corporate headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, to take up a new
role as Head of Global Retail effective January 1st 2012.

Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard says: ?I am delighted to welcome Jim to Davidoff at
this exciting time for our company. The US is of critical importance to our
strategic growth plans and Jim is uniquely suited to lead our businesses in the
future. With his broad, cross functional, US and international experience, I am
convinced he will only add to his track record of success. Our strong portfolio
of Davidoff, AVO, Camacho, Cusano, Griffin?s, Zino Platinum and Winston
Churchill is a compelling platform for Jim and the team to take our US
business to the next level?.

Mr Hoejsgaard continues: ?It is Peter?s success in building our retail stores in
the US that makes him ideally positioned and particularly qualified to take on
this new and important global retail role?.

Jim Young was most recently President Guinness USA and prior to that he was
with Diageo in London. From 1985-2001 he was with Joseph E. Seagram &
Sons in a range of senior Finance and General Management positions in the
US, Asia and Europe, lastly as General Manager Seagram Spain & Portugal.
Jim holds an MBA in Finance & Accounting from Columbia University and a BS
with highest honors in Marine Transportation from the U.S. Merchant Marine
Academy.

The CHF 1.3 billion Oettinger Davidoff Group with almost 4,000 employees
around the world, traces its roots back to 1875 and remains family owned to
this day with two distinctly different businesses: one that is focused on FMCG
distribution in the Swiss market and one dedicated to the core business of
producing, marketing and retailing premium branded cigars, tobacco products
and accessories. The premium branded cigar business include Davidoff, AVO,
Camacho, Cusano, Griffin?s, Private Stock, Zino, Zino Platinum and Winston
Churchill Cigars. The Oettinger Davidoff Group is anchored in a strong ?cropto-
shop? philosophy, having pursued a vertical integration from its tobacco
fields in the Dominican Republic and Honduras to its world wide network of 65
flagship stores.


For further information:
Oettinger Davidoff Group
Corporate Communications
Paloma Szathm?ry
Nauenstrasse 73
CH- 4002 Basel
Phone: +61 279 36 24
E-mail: paloma.szathmary@davidoff.ch
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Hmmmmm. I wonder if they sniff a change in the air. Like no more Embargo pretty soon maybe and what to be better placed to pick up their old threads an Cuban associations?

[Simon-JG-hr]

I can't work out where the change is in that press release (nor from CA's coverage of the 'event'). As far as I can tell, Davidoff have essentially promoted the former head of US operations to a role which is based in Switzerland, and someone has been promoted to replace him...

[tippexx]

and someone has been promoted to replace him...

Teaches me not to read things too quickly, or too much into them Si. Though God knows how I got onto Davidoff's mailing list for that sort of thing, I've never had anything to do with them?

[Simon-JG-hr]

I'm sure they have their ways. I did read it quite closely as I'd spotted a tweet from CA earlier which seemed to be suggesting MASSIVE news from Davidoff. Their report was much the same as the above (almost certainly just a rewritten press release... )

Mind you... I might not be reading enough into it... This guy might have been chosen for a specific reason... Let the theories begin to develop over cigars around the world.

[Bigboned]

What would be the biggest concern of removing embargo? Lower quality due to increased production or price hike?
Sorry maybe should be a separate thread appologies tipp

[tippexx]

What would be the biggest concern of removing embargo? Lower quality due to increased production or price hike?
Sorry maybe should be a separate thread appologies tipp

No apologies needed BB. It's an interesting question. The US market would not accept the prices we pay for Cubans if they could obtain them legally. Could Cuba keep up with a increase in production? I don't know, but it's a biggish island so maybe there's the space for more fields.

[jebus]

Not sure I agree completely with them not accepting CC prices. There are plenty of examples of pricey nicaraguans which are hugely popular in the states. But I guess the average Cuban is significantly more pricey than the average NC.

Would there not also be quite a dodgy transition period of questionable quality cigars while those new fields got going? On top of that surely all the prime tobacco locations must already be in use?

[monkey66]

I don't think this has anything to do with anything except Davidoff wanting a slice of the US market Direct.

They have a big line of NC's, humidors and accessories and are probably just expanding their territory. They have arguably the strongest high-end brand in the industry and are inevitably actively perusing the biggest single market.