British American Tobacco : Preliminary announcement - year ended 31 December 2016

AN EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD PERFORMANCE

Key financials

Full year highlights

• The Group's cigarette market share in its Key Markets continued to grow very strongly, up 50 basis points (bps). This was driven by another excellent performance by our Global Drive Brand (GDB) portfolio with volume up 7.5% and market share increasing 100 bps.
• Group cigarette volume grew 0.2% to 665 billion, with a 0.8% decline on an organic basis outperforming the industry, which was estimated to decline by around 3.0%. Total tobacco volume was 0.1% higher than 2015.
• Group revenue was up 12.6% at current rates, partly reflecting the translational tailwind as a result of the relative weakness of sterling. Revenue grew 6.9% at constant rates and was 5.3% up on an organic basis.
• Adjusted Group profit from operations increased 9.8% at current rates, or by 4.1% at constant rates of exchange. Excluding the adverse impact of exchange movements on a transactional level, adjusted Group profit at constant rates, would have increased by approximately 10%.
• Profit from operations, at current rates of exchange, was 2.2% higher at £4,655 million.
• Without the adverse transactional impact of foreign exchange and the impact from acquisitions, operating margin would have improved by around 160 bps. On a reported basis, it fell 90 bps to 37.2%.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share, at current rates, was up 18.8% at 247.5p. At constant rates of exchange, it increased 10.4% despite the transactional headwinds from foreign exchange.
• Basic earnings per share was up 8.4% at 250.2p (2015: 230.9p), resulting from the improved operating performance and foreign exchange tailwind.
• The Group's vapour business grew to become the world's largest, outside of the US, and we successfully launched our Tobacco Heating Product, glo™, in Japan.
• On 17 January 2017, the Group announced the agreed terms of a recommended offer for the acquisition of the remaining 57.8% of Reynolds American Inc. (Reynolds American) not already owned by the Group. We expect the transaction to close in Q3 2017, subject to obtaining the relevant approvals.
• The Board has recommended a final dividend of 118.1p, to be paid on 4 May 2017. This will take the 2016 total dividend to 169.4p per share, an increase of 10.0%.

Richard Burrows, Chairman, commenting on the year ended 31 December 2016

'The Group delivered exceptional earnings, volume and market share growth in 2016, despite challenging trading conditions persisting in many of our Key Markets. Our results this year demonstrate our ability to continue delivering excellent shareholder returns while investing in the future strength of the business. The 10% increase in our total dividend for 2016 to 169.4p reflects our confidence in our strategy, our people and in generating growth for our shareholders in 2017 and beyond.'

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2016 - full announcement (984 kb)