British American Tobacco (BATS)

[idpickering]

2021 First Half Pre-Close Trading Update

FY 2021 expectations:

o Upgraded constant currency revenue growth of above 5%, ahead of our 3-5% guidance

o Mid-single digit adjusted diluted constant currency EPS growth

o Strong operating cashflow conversion in excess of 90%

o Leverage reducing to around c.3x Adjusted Net debt4/ Adjusted EBITDA5 by year end

Driven by:

o Accelerating acquisition of non-combustible product consumers1, up +1.4m to 14.9m in Q1, with our New Category products now sold in 74 markets across 53 countries

o Continued acceleration of New Category volume and revenue growth, with market share6 gains across all three New Categories in all key markets

o Further increased New Category investment, weighted to H1, capitalising on our good momentum

o Strong combustibles pricing and robust volume

o Negative geographic mix driven by a continuing recovery in Emerging Markets

o No expected recovery in Global Travel Retail until 2022

o A robust US performance, driven by New Category growth and strong combustible pricing

o Associate income reflecting the impact of the COVID environment in India on ITC, given our share of results are reported one quarter in arrears

o Operating cash conversion weighted to the second half due to the phasing of Excise and MSA payments relative to the prior year

o Translation headwind of c.-8% on adjusted diluted EPS growth, and a transactional headwind of c.-2% on adjusted profit, for both H1 and FY 2021, applying current foreign exchange spot rates7

https://www.investegate.co.uk/british-a ... 00130887B/

[idpickering]

Half-year Report

· Revenue up 8.1%* led by New Category growth and a partial recovery from prior-year COVID-19 impacts

· Combustible revenue up 5.8%* with price/mix of 4.3%, reflecting Emerging Market (EM) recovery

· Cigarette value share up 10 bps, and volume share up 10 bps reflecting strong EM performance

· Further £256m cost savings, driven by Quantum, target increased to £1.5bn (previously £1bn) by 2022

· Adjusted profit from operations up 5.4%* includes a transactional FX impact of 2%

· Adjusted operating margin down 70 bps, driven by increased New Category investment, geographic mix and transactional FX

· Adjusted diluted EPS up 6.1%*

· Operating cashflow conversion of 67%, reflecting phasing of excise payments in the US in 2020

And later;

DIVIDENDS

On 17 February 2021, British American Tobacco p.l.c. (the Company) announced that the Board had declared an interim dividend of 215.6p per ordinary share of 25p for the year ended 31 December 2020, payable in four equal quarterly instalments of 53.9p per ordinary share in May 2021, August 2021, November 2021 and February 2022.

The May 2021 dividend was paid to shareholders on the UK main register and South Africa branch register on 12 May 2021 and to holders of American Depositary Shares (ADSs) on 17 May 2021. The three remaining quarterly dividends will be paid to shareholders registered on either the UK main register or the South Africa branch register, and to holders of ADSs, each on the applicable record dates set out in the table below.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/british-a ... 00086779G/

[Dod101]

Unlike Imperial they seem to be making inroads in the new categories. That is surely good news. In all I am happy to hold them, much less so Imperial.

Dod

[idpickering]

Unlike Imperial they seem to be making inroads in the new categories. That is surely good news. In all I am happy to hold them, much less so Imperial.

Dod

You pretty much encapsulate why I dropped Imperial some time ago, and now only hold BATS in the sector in my HYP.

Ian.

[88V8]

As an oblique window on the rise of vaping, whilst seeking a battery for our Cree (torch) I stumbled across this site https://www.18650.uk/ devoted to the retailing of batteries primarily used for vaping.
The activity does seem to have some traction.

V8

[idpickering]

Dividend Finalisation Information

https://www.investegate.co.uk/british-a ... 00082017M/

[idpickering]

BATS Vuse gets FDA nod.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compani ... uxbndlbing

[idpickering]

2021 Second Half Pre-Close Trading Update

Performance highlights are expected to include:

Accelerating our Transformation:

o Strong acquisition of consumers of non-combustible products1, up 3.6m Sept YTD to 17.1m

o Continued strong New Category volume and revenue growth

o Strengthened Vuse global value share leadership in Vapour5

o glo delivering strong consumer acquisition, driving continued THP category volume share gains across all key markets

o Further New Category investment, building strong global brands and capitalising on our momentum

o Leveraging our increased scale, New Categories will contribute to profit growth for the first time as their losses start to reduce

Delivering financial performance:

o Revenue growth at constant currency above 5%, benefitting from strong New Category revenue growth

o Robust combustibles revenue growth with continued strong pricing, partially offset by geographic mix driven by volume recovery in key lower margin Emerging Markets post COVID and lower US volume

o FY global tobacco industry volume now expected to be broadly flat (previously c.-1.5%) with the improvement driven by Indonesia. FY US industry volume expectations maintained at around -5.5%

o A strong US performance, driven by New Category revenue growth and combustible pricing

o Expected £1bn savings from Quantum delivered one year ahead of plan, well on track to deliver on our revised £1.5bn target by end of 2022, set at our H1 2021 results

o Maintaining mid single figure constant currency adjusted diluted EPS growth guidance for 2021, with our strong operational performance allowing us to absorb:

o A c.£260m profit impact6 from excise changes and competitive pricing in Australia and New Zealand, an increase from the £170m excise impact in Australia stated at H1 2021

o A continued transactional FX headwind of c.-2% on adjusted profit growth for FY 2021

o Strong FY operating cash conversion well in excess of 90% of adjusted profit from operations

o Leverage reducing to c.3x adjusted net debt2/ adjusted EBITDA3 by year end.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/british-a ... 00027393U/

[idpickering]

PRESS RELEASE / PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Revenue up 6.9%* led by pricing and New Category
growth
• Combustible revenue up 4.0%* with price/mix of
4.3%, reflecting Emerging Market (EM) performance
and COVID-19 recovery
• Cigarette value share up 10 bps
• Further £595m cost savings, driven by Quantum
• Adjusted profit from operations up 5.2%* includes a
negative transactional FX impact of 1.7%
• Adjusted operating margin down 70 bps
• Adjusted diluted EPS up 6.6%*

The Board has declared an interim dividend of 217.8p per ordinary share of 25p for the year ended 31 December 2021, payable
in four equal quarterly instalments of 54.45p per ordinary share in May 2022, August 2022, November 2022 and February 2023.
This represents an increase of 1.0% on 2020 (2020: 215.6p per share), and a pay-out ratio, on 2021 adjusted diluted earnings per
share, of 66.2%.

The quarterly dividends will be paid to shareholders registered on the UK main register record date below;

Div record date 25 Mar, paid 4 May 22

https://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9 ... cement.pdf

RNS here; https://www.investegate.co.uk/british-a ... 00033647B/

[idpickering]

Further to the above but issued seperately, this;

Share Buyback Programme

British American Tobacco p.l.c. (the "Company") has today announced a programme to buyback up to £2 billion of BAT ordinary shares (the "Programme"), alongside its Full Year 2021 results. The Programme will commence on 14 February 2022 and will end no later than 31 December 2022.

The purpose of the Programme is to reduce the issued share capital of the Company. The purchased shares will be held in Treasury. The Company has entered into an agreement with UBS AG ("UBS") to enable the purchase of Ordinary Shares for the initial stage of the Programme.

The number of ordinary shares permitted to be purchased by the Company, pursuant to the authority granted by the shareholders at the annual general meeting of the Company on 28 April 2021 (the "2021 AGM"), is 229,400,000 ordinary shares. Per our AGM authority, the Programme will be carried out on Recognised Investment Exchanges.

Any purchases of ordinary shares by the Company in relation to this announcement will be conducted in accordance with the Company's general authority to repurchase shares granted by its shareholders at the Company's 2021 AGM and any further approvals to repurchase shares as may be granted by its shareholders from time to time, the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended) and Chapter 12 of the Listing Rules and will be discontinued in the event the Company ceases to have the necessary general authority to repurchase ordinary shares.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/british-a ... 01023599B/

[vand]

I like the buyback. Results are directly in line with what one would expect from such a well run operation.

[Dod101]

I like the buyback. Results are directly in line with what one would expect from such a well run operation.

Some including me will think that the dividend might have been a little more generous. I too am happy with the buyback although the share price is at its highest for quite some time.

Dod

[vand]

I believe that the company has a long term policy to pay out 65% in dividends, though last couple of years its been much higher than that so I don't know if this is a new policy, and any excess is diverted into buybacks.

It seems a sensible policy to me, if so. You want income but you want a bit of capital growth, too.

[monabri]

Dates for the diary..

source (*) : https://www.dividenddata.co.uk/dividend ... ?epic=BATS




(*) Dividend Data had updated the table by 8:30am this morning.

[monabri]

BATS results seem to have gone down well, +2.2% on the day at a price of £33.40.

(totally as an aside, Airtel Africa vying for top FTSE100 riser today with Unilever...."Airtel Africa"...a FTSE100 member with a higher mkt cap than RMG, BLND, PSON,ITV,SMDS - I've not come across AAF !).

[Dod101]

I believe that the company has a long term policy to pay out 65% in dividends, though last couple of years its been much higher than that so I don't know if this is a new policy, and any excess is diverted into buybacks.

It seems a sensible policy to me, if so. You want income but you want a bit of capital growth, too.

Indeed. It would have been better to have done the buyback in the last 18 months or so when they were below £30 but that is of course hindsight.

Dod

[csearle]

...or done even better by just giving us the money to invest where we please. C.

[MrFoolish]

British American Tobacco has said it is suspending its operations in Ukraine to ensure the "safety and wellbeing" of its staff, but its work in Russia will continue.

It said it "always complies with relevant regulation and legislation wherever we operate, and we are aligned with all international sanctions".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60571133

Those of you who are shareholders in BATS (and thus partial owners) may wish to ponder on whether you find this acceptable - and whether a letter to the board might be appropriate.

[csearle]

British American Tobacco has said it is suspending its operations in Ukraine to ensure the "safety and wellbeing" of its staff, but its work in Russia will continue.

It said it "always complies with relevant regulation and legislation wherever we operate, and we are aligned with all international sanctions".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60571133

Those of you who are shareholders in BATS (and thus partial owners) may wish to ponder on whether you find this acceptable - and whether a letter to the board might be appropriate.

What would most effective way of expressing one's dissatisfaction do you consider? C.

[absolutezero]

British American Tobacco has said it is suspending its operations in Ukraine to ensure the "safety and wellbeing" of its staff, but its work in Russia will continue.

It said it "always complies with relevant regulation and legislation wherever we operate, and we are aligned with all international sanctions".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60571133

Those of you who are shareholders in BATS (and thus partial owners) may wish to ponder on whether you find this acceptable - and whether a letter to the board might be appropriate.

What would most effective way of expressing one's dissatisfaction do you consider? C.

Presumably, sell.
But the market doesn't care - and neither does the person/machine on the buying side of your sale so it's all a bit of a pointless virtue signal really.