Imperial Group Performance on Track

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 03/25/2011

The Imperial Tobacco Group has confirmed that it believes its financial performance and position for the financial year to September 30 will remain in line with the board's previous expectations. The company said that first half tobacco net revenues - at constant currency and excluding other income growth in the company's Moroccan business - were expected to increase by about two per cent with stick equivalent volumes declining by about one per cent. Spain remained a challenging market, the company said, because of a December duty increase, a ban on smoking in public places and the ongoing weak economy. But it said it continued to drive portfolio initiatives to capitalise on consumer trends in the market. "We have further grown volumes of our global strategic cigarette brands Davidoff, Gauloises Blondes and West, with particularly good results in our emerging markets," Imperial said in a note posted on its website. "JPS has maintained its excellent performance and we have continued to deliver strong growth in fine cut tobacco volumes." Imperial expects to release its results for the half year, ending March 31, on May 10. Enditem