GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — ITG Brands, which bought Lorillard's cigarette production plant last year, has announced that it will lay off an undisclosed number of workers later this year as its contracts to produce brands for Reynolds American end.
ITG spokesman Mark Smith told news outlets Wednesday that it doesn't have a final number of employees it will likely lay off or an exact time.
Smith says ITG has 1,700 employees in Greensboro, including 1,100 production workers who, under Lorillard, produced 15 percent of the nation's cigarettes.
ITG, the U.S. division of Imperial Tobacco Group, acquired the plant from Greensboro as part of the $27.4 billion merger of Reynolds American and Lorillard.
Starting in June, the workers in Greensboro will no longer be producing Newport for Reynolds, as it has been doing since June 2015.