Our Company’s roots date back to 1888, when the first generation of the Karelia family established itself as a small tobacco business in Kalamata, Greece. Its activities were largely regional in the first few decades of its operations, until the political and economic outlook in the country became more stable allowing Karelia to expand the markets for its brands on a nationwide level. From the 1950’s until today, numerous Karelia brands have gained popularity resulting in a wide circulation and substantial market share in all of Greece. The corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities have been traditionally located in Kalamata, and since 1971 have been situated in the current premises that were built, totaling an area of 80.000 square metres. The sales and marketing offices are located at the Karelia Building in Athens. The company entered the Athens Stock Exchange in 1976, and was publicly traded under the name Karelia Brothers. That same year, Karelia became the Greek licensed manufacturer for RJ Reynolds (currently Japan Tobacco International), by producing and distributing the brand Winston, and subsequently in 1981, with the Camel brand. Since the early 1990’s the Group has been transformed from a predominantly Greek company into an international group employing 459 people, and benefits from a substantial network of agents and distributors developing its brands in all corners of the world. In 1991 the company adopted its current name, the Karelia Tobacco Company Inc. In 1994 Karelia established an office in Sofia, Bulgaria. Karelia’s wholly-owned subsidiary Meridian Duty Free Specialists, a shipchandling company was acquired in 1995. In the year 2000, Karelia ended its cooperation with Japan Tobacco International, in order to concentrate on developing its own trademark brands. In 2003, the Company established a subsidiary in the UK called Karelia Tobacco Company (UK) Ltd. for the distribution of its brands in that market. In 2007, the subsidiary in Bulgaria was upgraded to a commercial import company called Karelia Bulgaria EOOD. In 2008, a subsidiary was established in Turkey, called Karelia Tütün ve Ticaret A.S. In the same year, the company acquired the Backwoods cigar brand from Altadis S.A., for the Greek domestic and duty free markets. Today, Karelia Tobacco Company is Greece’s largest cigarette manufacturer and exporter, and one of the fastest growing independently owned cigarette companies in the world. We operate offices all over Greece, and distribute our brands to a sales network covering 45,000 points of sale. The ability to create brands, several of which uphold a prominent status in the history of cigarettes, has firmly established our company as a respected brand innovator in the tobacco industry. Our brands are present in over 65 countries around the world in Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East. For over seven years, our brands have benefited from double-digit export growth. Our current annual sales turnover is 504 million euros, including excise taxes of 359 million euros.