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Imperial Tobacco has reported a six per cent increase in pre-tax profits after increasing in cigarette volumes and boosting its market share across its operating regions.

In a statement the British company revealed that its pre-tax profits increased to £1,237 million in the 12 months to September 30th, up from £1,168 million in the previous year.

The world's fourth-largest cigarette firm said its volumes increased seven per cent to 200 billion cigarettes over the year, while the company's net revenue increased by four per cent to £3,280 million.

Imperial said strong performances had been achieved by its key brands - including West, Davidoff and JPS - while the company said good growth had been reported for a number of regional brands.

The tobacco giant, which also makes Lambert & Butler and Richmond cigarettes, said it was particularly pleased with the performance of Commonwealth Brands – the US cigarette firm it bought in April.

Imperial said it had achieved an "excellent return" on the investment in the first six months of owning the company.

Meanwhile it has also been confirmed that Imperial expects its proposed acquisition of rival Altadis to be approved by Spanish regulators soon.

Imperial said the prospect of the enlarged group presented "considerable opportunities" for its business going forward and said that following the expected completion of the Altadis takeover it will focus on "rapidly realising" such benefits by swiftly integrating the operations of the two companies.

Commenting on today's results Imperial chief executive Gareth Davis said: "This has been another excellent year for Imperial Tobacco in which we have delivered record financial results, with further growth within our cigarette volumes and market share gains within all our regions."

He added that Imperial's ongoing commitment to effectively manage its cash, reduce costs and improve efficiencies, left the group "well placed to continue to create significant value for our shareholders".