Tobacco giant Imperial Brands today said that it was on track to hit its full year targets after it increased its revenue in the first half of the year.

The FTSE 100 firm said that revenue was up 3.5 per cent at the half year at $15.6bn, driven by a 3.2 per cent in tobacco revenue and a 16.0 per cent in revenue from next-generation products.

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The latter division, the firm said, which is made up of heated tobacco and vaping products, had benefitted from more focused investment.

Imperial Brands said that it had increased reported profit from £925m to £1.6bn, driven largely by the £281m proceeds from the sale of Premium Cigar Division.

Shareholders will receive a first half dividend of 42.12p, up from 41.70p last year.

The company, which makes Gauloises Blondes and Winston cigarettes, said it expected modest second half group, though it warned it was facing a £50m headwind due to a new Australian excise regime.

Chief executive Stefan Bomhard said: “We have made a good start in implementing our new strategy to transform Imperial and remain on track to meet full year expectations.

“In tobacco, we have put in place a clear market prioritisation to increase focus on our best opportunities for sustainable profit delivery.

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“We have begun to stabilise the aggregate market share performance across our top five priority markets reflecting the changes we have made to tighten performance management and the good underlying momentum established over the past year.

“This is an encouraging start and one that I look forward to building on over time as we begin to step up investment in new strategic initiatives.”