Japan Tobacco Inc. said Wednesday that it posted a net profit of $10 million in overseas cigarette sales in 2000, a turnaround from a net loss of $16 million the previous year.
JT, the world's third-largest tobacco group, climbed back into the black as overseas sales expanded by 6 percent in volume to 203.1 billion cigarettes.
Brisk sales in Western Europe and a pickup in demand in Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe contributed to the rise, the former tobacco monopoly said in a preliminary report.
In value, tax-included sales came to $4.896 billion, a decrease of $76 million from 1999.
Sales without tax, however, increased from $2.871 billion to $2.933 billion.
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