Japan Tobacco's FY Opg Profit Seen up 33 Pct on Acquisition - Report

Source from:  7-August-2007 TOKYO (Thomson Financial) 08/08/2007

Japan Tobacco Inc is expected to post operating profit of 440 billion yen in the year to March 2008, up 33 percent from a year earlier, thanks to the purchase of leading British tobacco company Gallaher Group Plc, the Nikkei reported on Wednesday. In May, the nation's largest tobacco producer forecast operating profit of 312 billion yen for the current fiscal year, without including the profits to be earned by the British company. Because of brisk demand in Russia and other emerging markets, sales are estimated to soar 32 percent to about 6.3 trillion yen, around 1.4 trillion yen higher than an earlier projection, the business daily said, without citing sources. (1 US dollar = 118.80 yen) yasuhiko.seki@thomson.com yas/ms COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. Enditem