Alison Cooper looks like being the next woman executive to take on a big FTSE 100 role. Ms Cooper was named yesterday as the first chief operating officer of Imperial Tobacco, Britain’s No 1 cigarette manufacturer. The role is traditionally seen as a stepping stone to the post of chief executive within big companies.

Officially, there is no vacancy yet at Imps, whose brands include Lambert & Butler, Regal, Superkings, Rizla cigarette paper and Golden Virginia rolling tobacco — but Gareth Davis, its highly respected chief executive, who turns 59 in May, has always indicated that he would like to step down at about 60. Ms Cooper’s appointment suggests strongly that she is being groomed for this role.

Mr Davis, who in a decade of acquisitions took Imps from one of the global tobacco industry’s middle-ranking players to the world’s fourth-biggest, will be a tough act to follow, but there is plenty to suggest that Ms Cooper — who turns 43 next week — will be up to the job. She has been at the heart of the expansion under Mr Davis and worked alongside him in identifying acquisitions and helping to bed them into the Bristol-based company.

Ms Cooper, the corporate development director of Imps, joined the company in 1999 from PricewaterhouseCoopers, having worked with Mr Davis and his team for several years. She went on to become group financial controller in 2001, taking responsibility for financial management and control of Imps. She also played a crucial role in helping to integrate Reemtsma, the German tobacco group bought by Imps for £3 billion in May 2002, becoming director of finance and planning the following year.

Ms Cooper, who is married with two daughters, became sales and marketing regional director for Western Europe in 2005 and, two years later, joined the Imps board in her present role. This has involved her taking responsibility for strategic planning, business development and corporate affairs. She was also a member of the team that worked on the acquisition of Altadis, the Franco-Spanish maker of Gitanes and Gauloises cigarettes, for which Imps paid £9 billion two years ago.

In her new job she will retain her previous duties as well as taking responsibility for all sales and marketing, manufacturing and cigar activities. Imps also confirmed yesterday that trading for the current financial year was in line with expectations.