Iraq, Syria weigh on Imperial Tobacco

By John Lee.

Imperial Brands, formerly Imperial Tobacco Group, stated on Wednesday that "ongoing instability [in Iraq and Syria] continued to impact performance, particularly of Gauloises and Gitanes" cigarette brands.

In its half-year results to the end of March, the company said that Iraq and Syris now represent less than 3 percent of total Group volume, down from 6 percent in the same period last year, and added that they "should no longer have a significant impact on performance in the second half".

Excluding Iraq and Syria, revenues in 'Growth Markets' increased 9.7 per cent.

(Source: Imperial Tobacco)