IMASCO LIMITED, with headquarters in Montreal, was formed in 1970 to diversify Imperial Tobacco Company into other consumer markets. For 30 years, the company acquired and invested in other businesses, expanding the potential of each. Along the way it astutely adjusted its portfolio, retaining only those companies with the greatest promise.

In January 2000, shareholders accepted an acquistion proposal from UK-based British American Tobacco, and Imasco’s operations will now carry on under new ownership. These companies have achieved outstanding success by keeping abreast of the evolving needs of Canada’s diverse, ever-expanding family. Their continued success is a lasting legacy to Imasco, one of the most successful corporations in Canadian history.
 

1.  In today’s tobacco industry, being a cost-effective producer is a market imperative. Imperial Tobacco’s new, high-speed cigarette makers are part of the company’s $118-million investment in streamlining and modernizing manufacturing operations to increase productivity.  2.  For each new prescription, a Shoppers pharmacist reviews a personalized Health Watch Reminder with the patient. Private counselling is the fastest-growing area in pharmacy, and Shoppers health care advisory services are helping patients with chronic diseases to better manage their care.

Imperial Tobacco

Canada’s largest tobacco enterprise, whose brand families Player’s, du Maurier, and Matinée lead the domestic market.

Imperial Tobacco Company was incorporated in 1912 when the Canadian tobacco industry was still in its infancy. Begun as a consolidation of two Montreal companies, Imperial acquired many other Canadian tobacco businesses over its 88-year history. Its greatest growth spurt came following World War II when the company constructed additional plants in Ontario and Quebec, and Imperial engineers developed machinery for processing leaf tobacco that ultimately became licensed to manufacturers around the world. Imperial recently invested upwards of $230 million in state-of-the-art production facilities and information systems that will ensure the company’s competitiveness far into the future.

The passing decades have wrought many changes in the tobacco industry, and Imperial’s hallmark has been the capacity to adapt to market requirements. For instance, health concerns emerging in the 1960s led to greater regulation of tobacco products. By the early ’70s Imperial voluntarily discontinued all TV and radio advertising and, in response to changing consumer preferences, developed lighter brands. These products were well received, and by 1980 Player’s was Canada’s most popular cigarette.

The company has long been a supporter of Canadian performing arts. du Maurier Arts Foundation was founded in 1971 to stimulate entertainment developed by Canadians and performed by Canadian artists from coast to coast. With total contributions of many millions of dollars, the Foundation is indelibly linked with some of Canada’s finest artistic accomplishments.

Shoppers Drug Mart

Canada’s leading drugstore group, with 824 stores, meeting health-care needs through personalized, convenient pharmacy services.

Shoppers Drug Mart traces its beginnings to the day a young Toronto man inherited two city drugstores. Scarcely 20 years old, Murray Koffler rose to the challenge presented by his pharmacist father’s sudden death by enrolling in pharmacy school and learning the heart of the business. He then set about redefining the 20th century drugstore. First, Koffler ripped out his stores’ soda fountains, determined to emphasize the pharmaceutical dispensaries. He required his pharmacists to wear starched white coats as a symbol of their professionalism. In the general merchandise sections, he developed groundbreaking, consumer-oriented approaches to displaying and promoting products.

In the mid-’50s, Koffler began acquiring other drug-stores, instituting a franchising model in which pharmacist “associates” owned and operated their own stores. The concept became a cornerstone of the system’s success. In 1962, Koffler’s 17-store chain became known as Shoppers Drug Mart. The company went public, and major expansion occurred through acquisitions and mergers during the 1960s and ’70s. Upon entering the chain, a store would typically double its profits from the previous year.

When it came time to sell his business in the late 1970s, Murray Koffler chose Imasco chiefly because of its strong financial position, but also because of the company’s reputation for generous contributions to Canadian causes. Koffler had cultivated a strong tradition of community giving at Shoppers, carving out leadership roles for the company in public-health education and hospital support.

Shoppers Drug Mart has continued to grow and develop, in step with the evolving Canadian health-care system. Its pharmacists are important liaisons between physician and patient, counselling patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma to better manage their own care. It’s a far cry from soda fountain days!

Canada Trust

A leader in Canadian personal banking services. In 1986 Imasco acquired Canada Trust, one of the most respected financial institutions in Canada. The company started out in 1854 – Canada’s frontier days –as the Huron & Erie Savings and Loan Society (H&E) in London, Ontario, then the country’s western edge. In pre-confederation days, Canadian banks handled commercial accounts only, and private citizens literally stashed their savings under mattresses. H&E was one of the earliest “building societies,” innovative enterprises in which individuals pooled their savings to loan farmers the funds to buy land. Farmers paid back the money in monthly installments of principal plus interest– another innovation. These loans remained H&E’s dominant business until 1898, when the company acquired General Trust Corporation of Calgary. The subsidiary “Canada Trust” was formed, and the name eventually encompassed the corporate identity.
 

Customers want to complete their financial transactions at times and places convenient to them, and Canada Trust is dedicated to “making banking easy.” EasyLine telephone banking (pictured) and ATM banking are well-used alternatives to the branch, and the company is now expanding to PC banking and secure Internet services.

Business was difficult during the Depression years, particularly in the Prairies where drought led to the abandonment of both land and loans. The company helped its beleaguered customers by advancing money for seed, and sometimes by accepting harvested crops as payments on mortgages. Not surprisingly, profits dwindled and did not return to 1930 levels until 1950. Following World War II, the company launched a growth strategy of acquiring other trust companies.

During the ’60s and ’70s, Canada Trust continued to emphasize personal financial services, cultivating a reputation of friendliness and convenience. Innovations such as 8-to-8 service amazed a public used to traditional banking hours. The tradition of convenience evolved further in the ’80s and ’90s, thanks to technology, until, by now, Canada Trust customers have come to depend on a “comfortable banking experience” like no other.