Imperial’s Cooper to Be Blu Even as E-Cigarette Sales Lag

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc’s Alison Cooper was lauded as the surprise winner in the Reynolds/Lorillard tobacco megadeal when she agreed to buy Blu, the world’s best-selling electronic cigarette.

The chief executive officer of the U.K. purveyor of Davidoff cigarettes may have more work than she bargained for, after Blu sales fell 35 percent in the second quarter. Cooper also needs to revitalize traditional smokes -- including the fading Winston label -- picked up in the $7.1 billion purchase designed to help alleviate antitrust issues from the larger Reynolds purchase.