Philip Morris Pakistan

Philip Morris Pakistan, formerly known as Lakson Tobacco Company, is a Pakistani tobacco manufacturing company which is a subsidiary of Philip Morris International. It is headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. The company is involved in the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes and tobacco products.

It is the second-largest tobacco company in Pakistan after Pakistan Tobacco Company.

History
Philip Morris Pakistan was founded in 1969 as a joint venture between Lakson Group, Philip Morris International, and Rothmans International. It was then known as Lakson Tobacco Company as 51 percent of the shareholding was held by Lakhani family. Two years later, in 1971, it was listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

In 1997, Premier Tobacco was merged into Lakson Tobacco Company. Premier Tobacco was founded in 1952 by SA Samad as a joint venture with Philip Morris and Rothmans International. Premier Tobacco became a listed company on the Karachi Stock Exchange in 1955. In 1984, Samad sold his controlling stake to Sadruddin Hashwani of Hashoo Group, which was ultimately acquired by Lakhani family from Hashwani in 1987.

In 2007, Philip Morris International increased its shareholding in the company to 97 percent and renamed it as Philip Morris Pakistan.

In 2015, Philip Morris shut down its plant in Mandra, Rawalpindi District due to rising costs and smuggling of tobacco in Pakistan. 141 employees lost their jobs.

In 2019, Philip Morris closed Kotri plant in order to restructure their finances. As a result, 193 employees lost their job.

Tobacco brands

 * Gulf
 * Kenmore
 * Lord
 * Morven Gold
 * Princeton
 * Royals

Production
By 1996, Philip Morris had an installed capacity to produce 18.76 billion cigrattes in three factories located in Dadu, Karachi, and Sahiwal. Until 1991, the company also operated a factory in Mardan, but it was closed due to the rise of smuggling. The company currently operates two factories in following cities:
 * Sahiwal
 * Mardan