BAT on track to meet full-year forecasts

Updating on trading, the blue chip said its new category unit had continued driven "strong volume, revenue and market share growth" during the second half, and was now a "significant" contributor to group performance.

Its flagship brand Vuse saw its global value share rise 2.2 percentage points year-on-year, to 35.7% in key vapour markets, including retaining it market-leading position in the US. Glo, BAT's tobacco heating product, increased volume share in Europe by 4 percentage points at 20.4%.

In in traditional combustibles unit, meanwhile, group cigarette value share was flat, with gains in the US and the Asia Pacific-Middle East regions offset by declines in Europe and the Americas-Sub Saharan Africa market. BAT’s cigarette brands include Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Camel in the US.

Jack Bowles, chief executive, said: "We are confident in delivering our 2022 guidance, demonstrating one again the strength and resilience of our business.

"Our exciting new product launches and innovations, supported by further geographic expansion, have enabled the addition of another 3.2m consumers within our non-combustible franchise in the first nine months, reaching 21.5m."

BAT is forecasting full-year group revenues between 2% and 4% higher at constant currency rates, with mid-single figure adjusted diluted earnings per share growth.

Bowles added: "We expect to deliver strong adjusted operating margin improvement, despite increasing inflation in our supply chain. This has been made possible through robust pricing, the scale of our brands and increasingly focusing on our marketing investments."