More than 200 years of experience

At present, there are approximately 160 companies in Denmark whose history goes back at least two hundred years. We are one of them. We celebrated our bicentenary in 2005. In the Register of Companies we are listed under the name Hermann Krügers Eftf. A/S. The name refers to the merchant Hermann Krüger who owned the company from 1877 to 1904.

The company's origins are traceable to 1805, when tobacco manufacturer Peter Abraham Bock advertised his tobacco-twisting factory in the newspaper, making this the official year of our founding.

On August 1, 1916, Hermann Krüger's Tobaksfabrik was reorganized into a public company under the name A/S Herm. Krüger and controlling interest was subsequently transferred to the Erik Stokkebye Tobaksfabrik company, which closed the original factory in Copenhagen in 1927. After this, Oliver Twist products were solely manufactured in Odense.

After a somewhat unsettled existence, including the purchase of a large foreign company, Herm. Krüger was bought out by the present owner in 1974, and Herm. Krüger's Eftf. A/S was founded as a family-owned company.

The name "House of Oliver Twist A/S" was registered as a trade name in 1992, after which it alone is used in all external communications. Hermann Krüger's Eftf. A/S endures, however, as the name is still listed in the Register of Companies.

Today, we are the oldest independent tobacco company in Denmark, with more than 200 hundred years of experience.

Børge Drest Nielsen, bought the company in 1974.

Today, his son, Michael Drest Nielsen, is an active member of the executive management.

If you are interested in a more detailed review of the company and reading about a slice of Danish tobacco history at the same time, please see the timeline.