Imperial Tobacco, the world's fourth-biggest cigarette group, saw strong sales and profits growth in the first three months of 2012
It said conditions in Spain, Ukraine and the United States improved to push its half-year sales up 3%.
Imperial, whose cigarette brands include Davidoff, West, Gauloises and JPS, said today that cigarette volumes in its October-March half-year period fell 4%, with price rises helping sales to see growth.
The Bristol-based company said in a trading update that its financial performance was in line with its expectations for its year to end-September 2012, as it prepares to announce its half year results to end-March on May 1.
The group, which sells over 340 billion cigarettes annually, had already warned sales fell 1% and volumes were down 7% in its October-December 2011 first quarter due to a tough a Spanish market, Syrian sanctions and destocking in Ukraine and the US.
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