ITEM 1. BUSINESS
A. The Company
Alliance One is a Virginia corporation with revenues of approximately $2.2 billion and operating income of approximately $154.8 million for the year ended March 31, 2012. Our common stock has been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1995. Through our predecessor companies, we have a long operating history in the leaf tobacco industry with some customer relationships beginning in the early 1900s. Alliance One is one of only two global publicly held leaf tobacco merchants, each with substantially similar global market shares. We have broad geographic processing capabilities, a diversified product offering and an established customer base, including all of the major consumer tobacco product manufacturers. Our goal is to be the preferred supplier of quality tobacco products and innovative solutions to the world’s manufacturers and marketers of tobacco products.
Additional Information
We are required to file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The public may read and copy any materials that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Information on the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.
Our website address is http://www.aointl.com. We make available free of charge through our website our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The information contained on our website shall not be deemed part of this annual report on Form 10-K for any reason.
B. The Business
Leaf tobacco merchants purchase, process, pack, store and ship tobacco to manufacturers of cigarettes and other consumer tobacco products throughout the world. In an increasing number of markets, we also provide agronomy expertise for growing leaf tobacco. Our revenues are primarily comprised of sales of processed tobacco and fees charged for processing and related services to these manufacturers of tobacco products. Processing and other revenues are less than 5% of our total revenues. We do not manufacture cigarettes or other consumer tobacco products.
We deal primarily in flue-cured, burley, and oriental tobaccos that are used in international brand cigarettes. Several of the large multinational cigarette manufacturers have expanded their operations throughout the world, particularly in Asia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, in order to increase their access to and penetration of international brand cigarette markets. As cigarette manufacturers expand their global operations, we believe that demand will increase for local sources of leaf tobacco and local tobacco processing and distribution, primarily due to beneficial tariff rates and lower freight costs. For some large multinational cigarette manufacturers, international expansion will cause them to place greater reliance on the services of leaf tobacco merchants with the ability to source and process tobacco on a global basis and to help develop higher quality local sources of tobacco by improving local agronomic practices. For other large multinational cigarette manufacturers, international expansion also includes vertical integration of their operations, either through acquisition of our competitors, establishing new operations or contracting directly with suppliers. In recent years, Japan Tobacco, Inc. (“JTI”) began enhancing their direct leaf procurement capabilities with the acquisition of small leaf processors in Malawi and Brazil and the formation a joint venture for tobacco leaf in the United States. Last year, Philip Morris International, Inc. (“PMI”) began strengthening their direct leaf procurement capabilities with the acquisition of supplier contracts and the related assets from Alliance One and another tobacco merchant in Brazil. In addition, some customers are entering into joint venture arrangements to secure their future leaf requirements. We will continue to work with our customers to meet all their needs as their buying patterns and business models change while continuing to be a provider of quality tobacco products and innovative solutions.
Purchasing
Tobacco is primarily purchased directly from suppliers with small quantities still sold at auction. In non-auction markets, we purchase tobacco directly from suppliers and we assume the risk of matching the quantities and grades required by our customers to the entire crop we must purchase under contract. In other non-auction markets, such as China, we buy tobacco from local entities that have purchased tobacco from suppliers and supervise the processing of that tobacco by those local entities. Principal auction markets include India, Malawi and Zimbabwe and our network of tobacco operations and buyers allows us to cover the major auctions of flue-cured and burley tobacco throughout the world. In the United States and other locations, a number of our customers purchase tobacco directly from the suppliers in addition to the leaf merchants. Although our facilities process the tobacco purchased directly from suppliers by these customers, we do not take ownership of that tobacco and do not record sales revenues associated with its resale. The number of customers purchasing tobacco directly from suppliers and the locations in which they purchase tobacco directly from suppliers is expanding.
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Purchasing (continued)
Our arrangements with suppliers vary from locale to locale depending on our predictions of future supply and demand, local historical practice and availability of capital. In certain jurisdictions, we purchase seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and other products related to growing tobacco and advance them to suppliers, which represents prepaid inventory. The suppliers then utilize these inputs to grow tobacco, which we are contractually obligated to purchase. The advances of inputs for the current crop generally include the original cost of the inputs plus a mark-up and interest as it is earned. Where contractually permitted, we charge interest to the suppliers during the period the current crop advance is outstanding. We generally advance inputs at a price greater than our cost, which results in a mark-up on the inputs. We account for our advances to tobacco suppliers using a cost accumulation model, which results in us reporting our advances at the lower of cost or recoverable amounts excluding the mark-up and interest. The mark-up and interest on our advances are recognized when the tobacco is delivered as a decrease in our cost of the current crop. Upon delivery of tobacco, part of the purchase price paid to the supplier is paid in cash and part through a reduction of the advance balance. The advances applied to the delivery are then reclassed out of advances and included as unprocessed inventory. We advance inputs only to suppliers with whom we have purchase contracts. For example, in Brazil, we generally contract to purchase a supplier's entire tobacco crop at the market price per grade at the time of harvest based on the quality of the tobacco delivered. Pursuant to these purchase contracts, we provide suppliers with fertilizer and other materials necessary to grow tobacco and may guarantee Brazilian rural credit loans to suppliers to finance the crop. Under longer-term arrangements with suppliers, we may advance or guarantee financing on suppliers' capital assets, which are also recovered through the delivery of tobacco to us by our suppliers.
In these jurisdictions, our agronomists maintain frequent contact with suppliers prior to and during the growing and curing seasons to provide technical assistance to improve the quality and yield of the crop. As a result of various factors including weather, not all suppliers are able to settle the entire amount of advances through delivery of tobacco in a given crop year. Throughout the crop cycle, we monitor events that may impact the suppliers’ ability to deliver tobacco. If we determine we will not be able to recover the original cost of the advances with deliveries of the current crop, or future crop deliveries, the unit cost of tobacco actually received is increased when unrecoverable costs are within a normal range which is based on our historical results or expensed immediately when they are above a normal range based on our historical results. We account for the unrecoverable costs in this manner to ensure only costs within a normal range are capitalized in inventory and costs that are above a normal range are expensed immediately as current period charges.
Alliance One has developed an extensive international network through which we purchase, process and sell tobacco and we hold a leading position in most tobacco growing regions in the world. We purchase tobacco in more than 35 countries. During the three years ended March 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, approximately 27%, 35% and 36%, respectively, of our purchases of tobacco were from the South America operating segment and approximately 73%, 65% and 64%, respectively, were from the Other Regions operating segment. Within the Other Regions operating segment, approximately 28%, 30% and 32% of our purchases for the three years ended March 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, were from Malawi, China, the United States and Turkey.
We process tobacco to meet each customer's specifications as to quality, yield, chemistry, particle size, moisture content and other characteristics. Unprocessed tobacco is a semi-perishable commodity that generally must be processed within a relatively short period of time to prevent fermentation or deterioration in quality. The processing of leaf tobacco facilitates shipping and prevents spoilage and is an essential service to our customers because the quality of processed leaf tobacco substantially affects the quality of the manufacturer’s end product. Accordingly, we have located our production facilities in proximity to our principal sources of tobacco.
We process tobacco in more than 35 owned and third-party facilities around the world including Argentina, Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Tanzania, the United States, Malawi, Thailand, Germany, Indonesia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. These facilities encompass all leading export locations of flue-cured, burley and oriental tobaccos. In addition, we have entered into contracts, joint ventures and other arrangements for the purchase of tobacco grown in substantially all other countries that produce export-quality flue-cured and burley tobacco.
Upon arrival at our processing plants, flue-cured and burley tobacco is first reclassified according to grade. Most of that tobacco is then blended to meet customer specifications regarding color, body and chemistry, threshed to remove the stem from the leaf and further processed to produce strips of tobacco and sieve out small scrap. We also sell a small amount of processed but unthreshed flue-cured and burley tobacco in loose-leaf and bundle form to certain customers. Oriental tobaccos are handled and processed in a similar manner other than that the tobaccos are not threshed to remove stems.
Processed flue-cured, burley and oriental tobacco is redried to remove excess moisture so that it can be held in storage by customers or us for long periods of time. After redrying, whole leaves, bundles, strips or stems and scrap where applicable are separately packed in cases, bales, cartons or hogsheads for storage and shipment. Packed flue-cured, burley and oriental tobacco generally is transported in the country of origin by truck or rail, and exports are moved by ship. Prior to and during processing, steps are taken to ensure consistent quality of the tobacco, including the regrading and removal of undesirable leaves, dirt and other non-tobacco related material. Customer representatives are frequently present at our facilities to monitor the processing of their particular orders. Throughout the processing, our technicians use quality control laboratory test equipment to ensure that the product meets all customer specifications.