LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group (>> Imperial Tobacco Group PLC) reported a slight acceleration in revenue on Wednesday as consumer spending picked up in some markets.

Shares of the company, whose brands include Davidoff and Gauloises, were up 2.6 percent by 0847 GMT.

Underlying tobacco net revenue was flat in the six months to 31 March, versus a 1 percent decline in the first quarter. Price increases, put through as lower gas prices were supporting consumer spending, contributed 5 percent.

Imperial said it was on track to meet its targets for 2015, which include increasing its dividend by at least 10 percent.

"The second quarter accelerated a bit," said Morningstar analyst Phil Gorham. "Pricing looks like it's sticking."

The company cited improvements in markets including Britain, Spain and France.

The number of cigarettes sold fell 5 percent in the first half, with particular weakness in Iraq, due to geopolitical instability, and Vietnam, due to illicit trade.

Like all tobacco companies, Imperial faces falling sales as people cut back on smoking due to tighter budgets, tax increases and growing health consciousness. The company expects price increases to offset volume declines in the second half of the year.

Imperial also said it expects to close its $7.1 billion (5 billion pound) acquisition of certain U.S. brands in the second half of this year, pending U.S. antitrust approval of a related deal between Reynolds American (>> Reynolds American, Inc.) and Lorillard (>> Lorillard Inc.). It expects that approval this spring.

Imperial may be open to tweaking the terms of the deal if required, though Chief Executive Alison Cooper does not think it will be necessary.

"We have an agreed deal that we've already put in place with Reynolds ...(we) still expect completion this spring," she told reporters.

"Clearly around the edges there may be things that we'd look at but I really don't expect any material change," she said.

In Imperial's home market, the United Kingdom, Cooper said the company was still considering whether to bring a lawsuit against the government over a law requiring "plain packaging" of cigarettes.

Regarding this week's national election in Britain, Cooper declined to say which party she preferred. Another Imperial executive said the company was likely to raise prices if the Labour party succeeded in pushing through a new tobacco levy.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Jason Neely/ Ruth Pitchford)

By Martinne Geller