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Imperial Tobacco has announced a cash-call to raise £4.9 billion to part-fund its acquisition of Altadis.

The Lambert & Butler maker is launching a one for two rights issue at 1,475p per share, a 43.1 per cent discount to its closing share price yesterday.

The world's fourth biggest tobacco manufacturer bought Altadis, which makes French brand Gitanes among others, in January.

The Altadis acquisition – as well as organic growth – helped drive cigarette volumes up 34 per cent to 121.1 billion over the last six months, the company said.

However, the £11.3 billion acquisition has dented profits for the first half, which are down 42 per cent to £326 million.

Despite the drop in profits and the rights issue, the company was upbeat about its prospects for the full year.

Chief executive Gareth Davis said: "Our strengthened cigarette portfolio and our world leadership in cigar, fine cut tobacco and papers, provides plenty of scope to grow and develop our business.

"Combined with our focus on reducing costs and effectively managing our cash, we remain very well placed to continue to deliver long term sustainable value for our shareholders.

"I can confirm that the overall anticipated performance of the group for the financial year ended 30 September 2008 remains in line with our expectations at the time of our March trading update."

Imperial Tobacco said market share for leading UK brand Lambert & Butler was broadly stable at 16.6 per cent compared to 16.7 per cent last year, Richmond was up to 15.9 per cent from 15.5 per cent, and Windsor Blue increased market share to 2.8 per cent.

Although the company's 'value' brands performed well, premium brands dipped to 46.1 per cent from 46.4 per cent in 2007, as consumers tightened their belts amid the credit crunch.