BAT H1 Trading In Line With View; Revenue To Benefit From Good Pricing

(RTTNews) - British American Tobacco plc (BATS.L, BTI), in its first-half pre-close trading update, announced Wednesday that its business continues to perform very well and trading is in line with expectations.

The company noted that first-half revenue is expected to benefit from good pricing. Meanwhile, first-half volumes are lapping a strong prior year comparator and will be impacted by the phasing of shipments in a number of key markets, including Pakistan.

The company further said that first-half earnings per share are expected to benefit from a significant currency translation tailwind of around 14%.

The company expects continued market share growth, driven by the Global Drive Brands.

Trading in key markets continues to reflect the previously discussed trends with Canada, Romania, Bangladesh and Ukraine performing well and conditions remaining challenging in Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia, France and the UK.

As previously stated, profit growth is expected to be weighted to the second half of the year, mainly due to the timing of volume shipments, as well as the phasing of NGP investments and marketing spend.

For the full year, volume is expected to outperform the industry, which is anticipate to be down around 4%.