BAT takes hit of almost £1bn from Russia exit

British American Tobacco said on Wednesday it had £957m hit from the transfer of its Russian business after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February.

The company on Wednesday said profit from operations fell by a quarter to £3.68bn for the six months to June 30. Revenue rose 5.7% to £12.8bn.

There was also a charge of £450m related to the investigation by the US Department of Justice into of alleged sanctions breaches.

BAT, which makes Luck Strike and Dunhill cigarettes, in June said it was in advanced talks with SNS Group of Companies, its distributor in Russia, after tge Kremlin suggested it could nationalise assets of foreign firms that left the country.

"While we are not immune to the current macro environment, we are confident in our full-year guidance, irrespective of the timing of the transfer of our Russian business," the company said.

BAT expects global tobacco industry volume to be down about 3%, partly hit by the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti at Sharecast.com