Cigarette sales in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union boosted pre-tax profit for Gallaher, the UK cigarette giant being taken over by Japan Tobacco, by 9.6 per cent in 2006.

Pre-tax profit at the world's fifth-largest tobacco group - whose brands include Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut and Mayfair in Britain - rose to £565m for the year to 31 December, up from £516m in the previous year, on sales up over 2 per cent to £8.4bn.