Imperial Tobacco Trading Guidance Stands

Source from:  biz.yahoo.com LONDON (AP) Wednesday March 19 03/20/2008

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC said Wednesday that trading in the current year, including its recent acquisition of Altadis, is in line with previous guidance. The company said one-off accounting adjustments, including a rise in the fair value of stocks, the elimination of inter-company sales, would reduce operating profit by around euro110 million (US$173 million) in the first half and euro30 million (US$47 million) in the second half. Other adjustments relate to depreciation, assets held for sale, derivatives and intangible assets. The company had forecast annual operating efficiencies of about euro300 million (US$450 million) per year by 2010 when it acquired the Spanish company last year. "Gaining full access to the Altadis business is providing greater visibility of the level and timing of cost savings. We remain very confident of achieving (those) operational efficiencies," the company said. Of euro650 million (US$1 billion) of Altadis' non-core assets identified for disposal, sales of some euro331 million (US$522 million) had been achieved by last month, the company said. Imperial Tobacco shares fell 1.2 percent to 2238 pence (US$44.95; euro28.51) on the London Stock Exchange. Enditem