DE4CC0DE-5FC3-4494-BCBF-4D50B00366B5

BAT Cuts Profit, Revenue Forecasts As COVID-19 Hits Demand

By Steve Wynne-Jones
Share this article
BAT Cuts Profit, Revenue Forecasts As COVID-19 Hits Demand

British American Tobacco cut its annual adjusted profit and revenue forecasts, citing the impact of prolonged lockdowns in South Africa and Mexico and a bigger sales hit in countries including Bangladesh and Vietnam.

The Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarette maker now expects constant-currency adjusted revenue growth in the 1% to 3% range for 2020, compared with its prior expectation of revenue in the low end of a 3% to 5% range.

Profit Forecast

The world's second-largest tobacco group also cut its profit forecast, saying it now expects adjusted earnings per share to grow in the mid-single digit percentage range from its earlier forecast of a high-single digit increase.

The company also pushed its target for achieving £5 billion (€5.64 billion) in sales from its new categories – e-cigarettes, tobacco heating products and oral products – to 2025 from 2023-24 earlier.

BAT, however, kept its dividend payout target for the year, in contrast to rival Imperial Brands, which cut its annual dividend by a third last month, in a bid to save cash during the coronavirus pandemic.

News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.

ADVERTISEMENT
Get the week's top grocery retail news

The most important stories from European grocery retail direct to your inbox every Thursday

Processing your request...

Thanks! please check your email to confirm your subscription.

By signing up you are agreeing to our terms & conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.