BAT appoints finance chief Marroco CEO as Bowles exits

Marroco joined BAT in 1992 and was appointed to the board of the Lucky Strike and Dunhill maker in 2019. He has also served on the the company's management board since 2014.

BAT said a "comprehensive search" for a new group finance director would now start. Currently digital and information division director Javed Iqbal has been appointed on an interim basis.

Bowles, who had focused on sales of BAT’s non-combustible portfolio of e-cigarattes and other devices, said it was "time for a change of leadership to take the business to the next level”.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “It’s never a good look when a company says its chief executive is leaving with immediate effect, and after only four years in the job. This suggests something is not right in the business."

“The fact British American Tobacco has promoted its finance director to the CEO role provides some comfort that the new leader already knows the business inside out. However, it raises a lot of questions as to why the change has happened."

“Unlike many companies in this situation, we haven’t had any major clues for problems behind closed doors for British American Tobacco. There have been no profit warnings or activist investors calling for change. The only high-profile calls from shareholders have been a request by GQG Partners to move its stock listing from London to the US in the hope of getting a higher valuation."

“A lot of investors have turned their back on the sector due to ESG concerns, which explains why shares in stocks like British American Tobacco are relatively cheap and offer high dividend yields. They’re deeply unloved.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com