Imperial Tobacco will on Thursday unveil the long-awaited details of its planned restructuring of Altadis, the Franco-Spanish maker of Gitanes and Gauloise cigarettes it acquired last year for €12.6bn (£10bn).

As many as 2,400 jobs in France and Spain, or about 20 per cent of Altadis’ workforce in the two countries, could be axed as part of Imperial’s drive to hit its cost-saving targets, analysts said.