Imperial benefits from German deal

Cigarettes giant Imperial Tobacco today delivered record half-year operating profits of £497m (€707m) after integrating German acquisition Reemtsma.

The figure, which represented a leap of 56% on a year earlier, comes 12 months after Imperial completed the £3bn (€4.36bn) deal to add the West and Davidoff brands to its own portfolio which includes Lambert & Butler and Embassy.