LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group (L:IMT) said it was well placed to meet expectations for the 2016 financial year after it reported an acceleration in underlying tobacco net revenue for the end to its 2015 year.
The maker of cigarettes such as Gauloises and Davidoff said underlying tobacco net revenue was up 3.1 percent in the year to Sept. 30, up from the flat performance it reported at the nine month stage.
Looking ahead, Imperial Tobacco said it expected the first quarter volumes to continue to reflect the tough trading situation in Iraq and Syria as well as strong comparatives from last year.
It said however that first half revenue should benefit from stronger relative pricing and that overall it was well placed to meet expectations for the year.
