Cuban cigars boost Imperial Tobacco
Net revenues are up 10 per cent at Bristol's Imperial Tobacco, helped by a hike in sales of luxury Cuban cigars.
The volume of the Cuban cigars sold in emerging markets such as Russia and China was up 14 per cent in the last year, the tobacco company told the Stock Exchange this morning.
Imperial Tobacco's key brands Davidoff, Gauloises Blondes, West and JPS were up 3 per cent but the company suffered a 1 per cent fall in net tobacco revenues in the final quarter to 30 September.
Growth was particularly strong in non-EU markets such as Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, said the company.
"In Eastern Europe, we delivered strong growth in new cigarette formats," read a statement this morning.
"Results were impacted primarily due to distributor destocking in Ukraine although we grew market share for the year to December.
"In the USA, the market remains highly competitive with first quarter volumes impacted by trade buying patterns around our October price increase. The integration of our cigarette and mass market cigar businesses is progressing as planned."
Imperial Tobacco said new products had helped it create a "strong position" in the UK and Germany's cigarette and fine cut tobacco industry, and said sales were on the rise in both countries.
