Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group has extended by four years until end-2010 its deal to distribute and sell Philip Morris cigarette brands Marlboro, Chesterfield and Raffles in the UK, it said on Monday.

Imperial and Philip Morris's owner Altria originally entered a five-year agreement in 2001 stretching to end-2006. Marlboro's UK market share was 6.6 per cent at the outset and has increased under the deal to 7.7 per cent currently. Raffles and Chesterfield brands bring the UK market share held by the three brands to around 8 per cent.
Imperial, which makes Lambert & Butler and Embassy cigarettes in Britain, put its UK cigarette market share at 44.7 per cent in April without counting the Philip Morris brands. (pi)