TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Japan Tobacco, the world's third-biggest cigarette maker, posted a 4.8 percent rise in nine-month operating profit, despite a steep fall in tobacco sales last quarter in its home market, and raised its annual outlook.
Japan Tobacco, behind Philip Morris International Inc and British American Tobacco in sales volumes worldwide, said its operating profit rose to 264.6 billion yen ($3.22 billion) in April-December.
The maker of the "Mild Seven" cigarette brand lifted its operating profit forecast to 308 billion yen from 281 billion yen for the year to March, lower than the consensus of 310.9 billion yen in a poll of 14 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Japan Tobacco, 50 percent owned by the Japanese government and with close to two-thirds of the nation's cigarette market, said earlier that sales volumes in Japan fell by almost half year-on-year in October-December following a tax hike.
As of Friday, shares of Japan Tobacco had risen over 20 percent since the implementation of the tax hike on Oct. 1, outperforming a 12.5 percent advance in the benchmark Nikkei 225. (Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Joseph Radford)