Britain's Imperial Tobacco (LON:IMT) reported a good performance from key brands but said problems in Iraq and Syria took their toll.
Imperial said it had excellent results from growth brands with underlying volumes up 7%, net revenue up 12% and market share rising to 6.6%.
The group did not comment in its results on speculation that rival British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) may be lining up a bid for the company in order to break it up.
Growth brands include names such as Davidoff, Gauloises Blondes, JPS, West, Fine, News, USA Gold, Bastos, Lambert & Butler and Parker & Simpson.
Revenue from specialist brands including the likes of Gitanes cigarettes, Golden Virginia fine cut tobacco, Montecristo premium cigars and Rizla papers fell 0.7% as a result of Iraq and Syria, but underlying net revenue excluding the impact from troubles in the Middle East left underlying net revenue up 2.9%.
Underlying group tobacco net revenue increased 3.1% in the year to September 30, up from the flat performance it reported at the nine month stage.
Total adjusted operating profit rose to £3.05bn from £2.98bn last time.
Looking ahead, Imperial Tobacco said it expected the first quarter volumes to continue to reflect tough trading in parts of the Middle East as well as strong comparatives from last year, but it said stronger relative pricing should boost first-half revenue and that overall it was well-placed to meet expectations for the year.
Performance in Russia improved in the year, buoyed by stronger pricing in the second half and gains from Maxim in the growing value segment.
Snus sales increased in Norway and Sweden and it improved our cigarette share in Saudi Arabia.
The company increased its dividend by 10% to 141p. Shares fell 20p to 3,477p.
Chief executive Alison Cooper said: "This was another successful year for Imperial in which we further strengthened the business and improved our quality of growth."