Imperial Tobacco's Achilles Heel Is European Distribution Business

This is part one of a two part series on the company. Part one is an overview of Imperial and its operations, part two will look at the company’s valuation and future prospects. Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (OTCMKTS:ITYBY) (LON:IMT) is an unloved company. The stock has underperformed in the home index, the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX), by nearly 15 percent so far this year, and Imperial has underperformed its only London listed peer by about 10 percent. Imperial Tobacco’s underperformance due to Europe exposure Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (OTCMKTS:ITYBY) (LON:IMT)’s underperformance has been down to its exposure to Europe, where the…