From Morningstar: 2024-07-25 05:34:00

British American Tobacco (BAT) reported a 5.7% rise in pretax profit to £5.60 billion for the first half of 2024, with share of post-tax results of associates and joint ventures surging to £1.65 billion. Despite this, revenue fell 8.2% to £12.34 billion, driven by the sale of businesses in Russia and Belarus.

Revenue from new categories was down 0.4% to £1.65 billion, but BAT expects improvement in revenue and profitability across these categories for the full year. Combustibles in Africa & Middle East, and Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa showed solid volume share growth offset by US performance.

BAT declared an interim dividend of 235.52 pence, up 2.0% from the previous period. The company has agreed to buy back shares from Goldman Sachs International and repurchased shares from UBS. BAT welcomed FDA marketing authorization for its Vuse Alto device.

Despite challenges, BAT expects a second-half acceleration driven by product innovations, US commercial actions, and inventory movements. Global tobacco industry volume is forecasted to fall 2% in 2024, with a mixed outlook for various markets. Guidance for the year includes low-single figure organic constant currency revenue growth and profit increase.



Read more at Morningstar: British American Tobacco: Results on Track, Interim…