Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Profits are up but investors seem disappointed.



Tobacco has been a popular defensive play during the recession but could it be time to kick the BATS habit?
While full-year figures from the cigarette maker were largely in line with analysts' expectations, they were hardly smoking hot. Sales volumes were down and the shares dipped by just over 2% in the morning's trade.
Group revenues for 2010 rose by 5% to £14.8 billion and profits increased to £4.4 billion (from £4.1 billion in 2009), bolstered by the acquisition of Bentoel in Indonesia and favourable currency fluctuations. Stripping out this currency benefit worth £239 million, organic revenue increased by 3%.
Smoke gets in your eyes
However, during the year, cigarette volumes fell by 2 per cent to 708 billion compared to 2009.
British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) is being hit by a toxic combination of excise hikes and growing unemployment in a number of its markets which have boosted sales of black market cigarettes. Where consumers have less disposable income, management says they are more likely to buy illegal products to save money.
The market in illicit tobacco is a particular headache for BATS in Romania. Incoming chief executive Nicandro Durante, currently chief operating officer who takes over from Paul Adams next month, calls the black market trade 'a growing threat'.
What's more, while BATS supports the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Mr Durante fears that certain measures, such as hikes in excise duty and plain packaging, could 'play into the hands of organised crime'.
Growth across BATS' five regions -- soon to be cut to four -- was mixed.
A strong performance was seen in Africa and the Middle East, where profits rose by £134 million to £858 million, the Americas, where profits were up by £196 million to £1.4 billion, Asia Pacific and even Western Europe. However, profits in Eastern Europe fell by £51 million to £358 million due to falling volumes and adverse currency.
Volumes were also down in South Africa where further black market activity was seen, although profits were offset by higher pricing. In terms of the brands, Lucky Strike grew volumes by 2%, Pall Mall by 8% and Dunhill by 18%, although both Pall Mall and Lucky Strike also experienced declines in some of their main markets.

1 comment:

  1. Are you paying more than $5 / pack of cigs? I'm buying all my cigs from Duty Free Depot and this saves me over 50% on cigarettes.

    ReplyDelete