Fitch affirms Imperial Tobacco

Fitch Ratings said it has affirmed Imperial Tobacco Group's long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating at BBB- and its short-term issuer default rating at F3.

The outlook remains negative.

Fitch said that the senior unsecured ratings of debt issued by the following subsidiaries of Imperial Tobacco are also affirmed at BBB-/F3: Imperial Tobacco Finance plc, Imperial Tobacco Overseas BV, Altadis Emisiones Financieras, SAU and Altadis Finance BV.

"The negative outlook reflects the risk that the de-leveraging process may be slowed down by lower-than-anticipated cash flow growth over the coming two years. It also reflects Fitch's concerns about Imperial's sizeable refinancing needs in 2010, in excess of its currently available liquidity," said Giulio Lombardi, senior director in Fitch's European retail, leisure and consumer products group.

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