OPERATING SEGMENTS

Universal’s operations involve selecting, procuring, processing, packing, storing, shipping, and financing leaf tobacco for sale to, or for the account of, manufacturers of consumer tobacco products throughout the world. Through various operating subsidiaries located in tobacco-growing countries around the world and significant ownership interests in unconsolidated affiliates, the Company processes and/or sells flue-cured and burley tobaccos, dark air-cured tobaccos, and oriental tobaccos. Flue-cured, burley, and oriental tobaccos are used principally in the manufacture of cigarettes, and dark air-cured tobaccos are used mainly in the manufacture of cigars, pipe tobacco, and smokeless tobacco products. A substantial portion of the Company’s revenues are derived from sales to a limited number of large, multinational cigarette manufacturers.

The principal approach used by management to evaluate the Company’s performance is by geographic region, although the dark air-cured and oriental tobacco businesses are each evaluated on the basis of their worldwide operations. Oriental tobacco operations consist principally of a 49% interest in an affiliate, and the performance of those operations is evaluated based on the Company’s equity in the pretax earnings of that affiliate. Under this structure, the Company has the following primary operating segments: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Dark Air-Cured, Oriental, and Special Services. North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia are primarily involved in flue-cured and/or burley leaf tobacco operations for supply to cigarette manufacturers. The Dark Air-Cured group supplies dark air-cured tobacco principally to manufacturers of cigars, pipe tobacco, and smokeless tobacco products, and the Oriental business supplies oriental tobacco to cigarette manufacturers. From time to time, the segments may trade in tobaccos that differ from their main varieties, but those activities are not significant to their overall results. Special Services includes the Company's laboratory services business, which provides physical and chemical product testing and smoke testing for customers, as well as its liquid nicotine joint venture and its food ingredients business.

The five regional operating segments serving the Company’s cigarette manufacturer customer base share similar characteristics in the nature of their products and services, production processes, class of customer, product distribution methods, and regulatory environment. Based on the applicable accounting guidance, four of the regions – South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia – are aggregated into a single reporting segment, “Other Regions”, because they also have similar economic characteristics. North America is reported as an individual operating segment because its economic characteristics differ from the other regions, generally because its operations require lower working capital investments for crop financing and inventory. The Dark Air-Cured, Oriental and Special Services segments, which have dissimilar characteristics in some of the categories mentioned above, are reported together as “Other Tobacco Operations” because each is below the measurement threshold for separate reporting.

Universal incurs overhead expenses related to senior management, finance, legal, and other functions that are centralized at its corporate headquarters, as well as functions performed at several sales and administrative offices around the world. These overhead expenses are allocated to the various operating segments, generally on the basis of tobacco volumes planned to be purchased and/or processed. Management believes this method of allocation is representative of the value of the related services provided to the operating segments. The Company evaluates the performance of its segments based on operating income after allocated overhead expenses, plus equity in the pretax earnings of unconsolidated affiliates.

Reportable segment data as of, or for, the fiscal years ended March 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, is as follows:



	Sales and Other Operating Revenues						Operating Income
	Fiscal Year Ended March 31,						Fiscal Year Ended March 31,
	2016		2015		2014		2016			2015			2014
Flue-Cured and Burley Leaf Tobacco Operations:
North America	$	361,827	$	305,028	$	348,627	$	31,147		$	31,060		$	23,217
Other Regions⁽¹⁾	1,538,971		1,739,781		1,932,228		143,596			125,839			133,447
Subtotal	1,900,798		2,044,809		2,280,855		174,743			156,899			156,664
Other Tobacco Operations⁽²⁾	219,575		226,992		261,260		11,325			10,326			18,511
Segment total	2,120,373		2,271,801		2,542,115		186,068			167,225			175,175
Deduct: Equity in pretax earnings of unconsolidated affiliates ⁽³⁾							(5,422		)	(7,137		)	(3,897		)
Restructuring and impairment costs⁽⁴⁾							(2,389		)	(4,890		)	(6,746		)
Add: Other income⁽⁵⁾							3,390			12,676			81,619
Consolidated total	$	2,120,373	$	2,271,801	$	2,542,115	$	181,647		$	167,874		$	246,151

	Segment Assets						Goodwill
	March 31,						March 31,
	2016		2015		2014		2016			2015			2014
Flue-Cured and Burley Leaf Tobacco Operations:
North America	$	364,271	$	281,757	$	272,161	$	—		$	—		$	—
Other Regions⁽¹⁾	1,549,758		1,609,393		1,676,507		97,318			97,372			97,367
Subtotal	1,914,029		1,891,150		1,948,668		97,318			97,372			97,367
Other Tobacco Operations⁽²⁾	318,768		297,299		316,225		1,713			1,713			1,713
Segment and consolidated totals	$	2,232,797	$	2,188,449	$	2,264,893	$	99,031		$	99,085		$	99,080

	Depreciation and Amortization						Capital Expenditures
	Fiscal Year Ended March 31,						Fiscal Year Ended March 31,
	2016		2015		2014		2016			2015			2014
Flue-Cured and Burley Leaf Tobacco Operations:
North America	$	4,314	$	4,284	$	6,018	$	2,282		$	5,814		$	2,676
Other Regions⁽¹⁾	29,187		28,827		29,044		25,122			39,303			37,584
Subtotal	33,501		33,111		35,062		27,404			45,117			40,260
Other Tobacco Operations⁽²⁾	4,143		4,213		3,837		19,749			13,268			5,589
Segment and consolidated totals	$	37,644	$	37,324	$	38,899	$	47,153		$	58,385		$	45,849


⁽¹⁾	Includes South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia regions, as well as inter-region eliminations.

⁽²⁾

Includes Dark Air-Cured, Oriental, and Special Services, as well as inter-company eliminations. Sales and other operating revenues, goodwill, depreciation and amortization, and capital expenditures include limited amounts or no amounts for Oriental because the business is accounted for on the equity method and its financial results consist principally of equity in the pretax earnings of the unconsolidated affiliate. The investment in the unconsolidated affiliate is included in segment assets and was approximately $81.8 million, $74.9 million, and $93.3 million, at March 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively.


⁽³⁾	Equity in pretax earnings of unconsolidated affiliates is included in segment operating income (Other Tobacco Operations segment), but is reported below consolidated operating income and excluded from that total in the consolidated statements of income.


⁽⁴⁾	Restructuring and impairment costs are excluded from segment operating income, but are included in consolidated operating income in the consolidated statements of income (see Note 2).

⁽⁵⁾

Other income in fiscal year 2016 represents a gain from remeasuring to fair value the Company's original 50% ownership in Procesadora Unitab, S.A., a tobacco processing joint venture in Guatemala, upon acquiring the 50% interest held by the Company's joint venture partner (See Note 13). Other income represents the reversal of a valuation allowance on IPI excise tax credits in Brazil in fiscal year 2015 and the gain on the favorable outcome of the IPI tax credit case in fiscal year 2014 (see Note 13).

Geographic data as of, or for, the fiscal years ended March 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, is presented below. Sales and other operating revenues are attributed to individual countries based on the final destination of the shipment. Long-lived assets generally consist of net property, plant, and equipment, goodwill, and other intangibles.



Geographic Data	Sales and Other Operating Revenues
	Fiscal Year Ended March 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Belgium	$	371,580	$	336,396	$	289,206
United States	275,147		290,950		304,527
Germany	155,180		170,338		173,872
China	135,032		174,872		210,956
Netherlands	121,767		113,297		208,031
Russia	109,559		126,652		123,114
All other countries	952,108		1,059,296		1,232,409
Consolidated total	$	2,120,373	$	2,271,801	$	2,542,115

	Long-Lived Assets
	March 31,
	2016		2015		2014
United States	$	84,072	$	70,929	$	61,347
Brazil	133,727		135,980		135,359
Mozambique	53,069		55,733		49,543
All other countries	154,090		141,893		149,750
Consolidated total	$	424,958	$	404,535	$	395,999