British American Tobacco (BAT) has reported better-than-expected revenue for the first half of its financial year, with the tobacco firm seeing increased customers for its e-cigarette products.
Total adjusted revenue came in at £12.18 billion (€14.32 billion) for the six months ended June 30, a 8.1% increase, and ahead of the £12.02 billion (€14.13 billion) analysts had expected, according to a company-supplied estimate.
The company also kept its full-year forecast for over 5% sales growth in constant currency terms.
The London-listed company said it added 2.6 million more customers in the first half, bringing its total user base of non-combustible products to 16.1 million, a new record.
'Exciting Period Of Growth'
“This has been an exciting period of growth in New Categories, with New Category constant currency revenue up by 50% in the first half," commented Jack Bowles, chief executive.
"We added 2.6 million consumers, our highest ever increase, to our non-combustible product consumer base, to reach 16.1 million. This demonstrates our accelerating transformation driven by our multi-category portfolio, with continued key market share gains in all three New Categories."
Adjusted earnings per share for the first half came in at 154.2 pence, ahead of the 151.5 pence average estimate.
Full-Year Expectations
The Vuse e-cigarettes and glo tobacco heating products maker, which recently managed to put a corruption probe behind it, also stuck to growth expectations for constant currency adjusted earnings per share in the mid-single digit range for the full-year.
Bowles added that the company's focus on new categories and business sustainability "puts ESG at the core of our strategy", adding that the firm is "well on track" to meet its targets of £5 billion in new category revenue by the mid part of the decade, and 50 million non-combustible product consumers by 2030.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
