Imperial Brands affirms guidance after sales miss expectations

LONDON (Reuters) - British tobacco company Imperial Brands kept its full-year outlook on Wednesday after reporting first-half sales and revenue that missed expectations. The maker of Davidoff and Gauloises cigarettes sold 133.9 billion cigarettes in the six months to 31 March, missing expectations for 136 billion. Tobacco net revenue was 3.4 billion pounds, where analysts were expecting 3.8 billion, according to a company-supplied consensus. However, operating profit topped expectations, coming in at 1.64 billion pounds, where analysts expected 1.62 billion pounds. The company said it was on track to meet full-year expectations. (Reporting by Martinne Geller, editing by Louise Heavens)