Cigar Weekly

England-based Imperial Tobacco Group Plc announced that it has reported a 45 percent drop in first-half profit on costs for buying Altadis SA and will sell $10 billion of stock to help fund the takeover, more than analysts estimated, Bloomberg reported. Net income dropped to $461 million in the six months through March from $840 million a year earlier, Imperial said in a statement. The company agreed to buy Madrid-based Altadis in July of last year, months after unveiling the acquisition of U.S. cigarette maker Commonwealth Brands. The takeover gave Imperial, Europe's second-largest cigarette maker, brands including Gauloises and the world's largest manufacturer of cigars. The company has raised its stake in Logista, the cigarette distributor controlled by Altadis, to about 97 percent following an offer to minority investors.