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LONDON—Tobacco? Who, us?

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC said Tuesday that it plans to change its name to Imperial Brands PLC, joining a long line of companies that have cast off unsavory or outdated monikers.

"Imperial Brands better reflects the dynamic, brand-focused business that we are now," the company said in a statement. In its annual report, Imperial said it would seek approval from shareholders for the name change at its annual meeting on Feb. 3.

Bristol, England-based Imperial started out in December 1901 as Imperial Tobacco Co. and is now is the world's fifth-biggest tobacco company, making such brands as Davidoff, Winston and Gauloises.

The company's move to rebrand comes as cigarette consumption globally has slumped and companies are racing to perfect tobacco alternatives.

"This is a step change for Imperial," said New York-based brand consultant Dean Crutchfield. "They're making a big public statement about the intent and future direction of the business, which is to go beyond tobacco." Still, he described the new name as "putting lipstick on a pig," saying it wouldn't change much in the eyes of investors or consumers.

While the overall company's name will change, the company's tobacco division will remain Imperial Tobacco. Imperial's other businesses include cigar unit Tabacalera, U.S. unit ITG Brands, e-cigarette unit Fontem Ventures and a Spanish logistics unit, Cia. de Distribució n Integral Logista Holdings SA, in which it holds a majority stake.

Imperial isn't the only tobacco company to rebrand. Philip Morris Cos. in 2003 changed its name to Altria Group Inc., in a bid to give the parent company, which owned a large stake in Kraft Foods Inc., an identity separate from that of its tobacco units.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, in a 2003 article published in the American Journal of Public Health, alleged that the company believed "a name change might solve a multitude of problems" given that recognition of the Philip Morris name "was almost entirely negative, associated only with tobacco." Altria didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technology companies have gotten into the act, too. Research In Motion Ltd. in 2013 said it would change its name to BlackBerry Ltd., a move that better aligned the mobile-telephone company with its primary product.

The former Google Inc. recently created a holding company called Alphabet Inc. that contains the Google unit—including the search business, YouTube and the Android and Chrome operating system—as a subsidiary. Alphabet has been investing in an array of such businesses as building robots and self-driving cars, helping to cure disease, developing nanoparticles and extending Internet connectivity via balloons.

Apple Computer Inc. in 2007 changed its name to the more succinct Apple Inc., to reflect its wider range of products like iPods, iPhones and Apple TV.

Some companies have had name changes thrust upon them by circumstance. Last year, Belgian company ISIS Chocolates realized it couldn't contend with the association of its name with that of the militant organization that is also known as Islamic State. The company now goes by Libeert, after the family that owns it.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 15, 2015 14:25 ET (19:25 GMT)

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