- ‘New category’ products still making a loss
- Cigarette sales rebound in emerging markets
British American Tobacco (BATS) is changing direction - or at least giving that impression. In its full year results, the cigarette giant declared that ESG is now “at the heart of its strategy” and that it is successfully reducing the “health impact” of its business.
Its numbers are less convincing. Traditional cigarettes still dominate BATS' accounts, and emerging markets have driven up combustible revenue by 4 per cent at constant currency rates. South Africa - which temporarily banned tobacco sales during the pandemic - has seen particularly strong cigarette volume growth, together with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam. In contrast, in 2021 just 12 per cent of group sales came from 'non-combustibles', such as vapes, tobacco heating sticks and nicotine patches, though that's up by 4 percentage points since 2017.