Imperial Tobacco growth-brand cigarette volume, including JPS, West, Davidoff and Gauloises, increased 11 per cent after adjustment to exclude stock optimisation in the three months to 31 Dec, the company said.

Unadjusted growth-brand volume rose 23 per cent to 35.4 billion stick equivalents. Total tobacco volume at 71.8 billion stick equivalents declined an underlying 4 per cent, or 1 per cent in unadjusted terms.
“In growth markets we are building our presence in Italy, Japan and Egypt, maintained stable market share in Russia, with Maxim continuing to perform well, and in the US, grew volumes of USA Gold in our key target states”, Imperial said. “In returns markets we’ve built on our progress in Australia and grown net revenue in Germany and in Ukraine. In the UK, L&B Blue and Gold Leaf have grown share in what remains a competitive market. Increases in illicit trade in Morocco and further declines in dark tobacco in France held back our results. In Spain we strengthened our portfolio with brand migrations and have continued to see improvement in our share of Blond tobacco.”
Net revenue fell 2 per cent, or an adjusted 1 per cent, in the business quarter to GBP 1.5 billion (EUR 2 billion).