The world's fourth largest tobacco company says the deal with Gauloise-maker Altadis is on course as ban kicks in
Jump to full article: Times Of London (uk), 2007-10-30
Author: Marcus Leroux
Intro: The first three months of the smoking ban in England were enough to send cigarette sales plummeting, Imperial Tobacco revealed this morning as it said it expects the Spanish regulator to approve its £11 billion takeover of Altadis.
Imperial said the smoking ban and a poor summer combined to undo a buoyant first half to the year, with volumes falling by around 2 per cent for the year to September 30. The smoking ban was introduced in England on July 1.
The company said: "As anticipated, and in line with our experiences in other markets with similar legislation, these have resulted in an initial decline in cigarette market volumes. Once the initial impact of public smoking bans has dissipated, we expect annual cigarette market declines of 3 per cent to 4 per cent in line with the long-term trend."
The company reported a 6 per cent improvement in full-year group pre-tax profits of £1.2 billion this morning, boosted by growth in Asia.
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