Egypt's Eastern Tobacco Company has raised the price of nine cigarette brands as of Monday, the firm said in statement to the Egyptian Stock Exchange. Prices of Wings, Florida and Boston were raised to LE4.25 ($0.71), LE4.25 and LE4.75 from LE4.2 and LE4.5 per pack respectively. Cleopatra and Mondial brands were increased to LE5, Eastern Company said. Egypt's tobacco monopoliser kept the prices of popular brands such as Golden at LE4.25 per pack. "The price increases are marginal and don't exceed LE0.25 per pack. The move comes in line with the company's pricing policy to cover rising cost," said a company official on condition of anonymity. In April, the firm forecast a drop in net profit in fiscal year 2011-12. The company said it expected net profit to reach LE650 million in its next financial year, 29.7 per cent less than the figure it previously forecast for 2010-11, which ends in June. Eastern, which also makes higher-margin foreign brands for multinationals such as British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, has forecast net profit of LE925 million in the current year.
