Business
2022 Second Half Pre-Close Trading Update
2022 Second Half Pre-Close Trading Update.
About this update from British American Tobacco P.l.c.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n 8 December 2022\n \n \n \n \n BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO p.l.c.\n \n \n \n \n 2022 Second Half Pre-Close Trading Update\n \n \n \n \n closed period commencing 1 January 2023\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n DELIVERING AND TRANSFORMING FAST\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Jack Bowles, Chief Executive:\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \"We continue to accelerate our A Better Tomorrow TM transformation, at pace. We are confident in delivering our 2022 guidance, demonstrating once again the strength and resilience of our business. I am proud of our people and their focus on the delivery of our three strategic priorities.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Our New Category business continues to drive strong volume, revenue and market share growth and has become a significant contributor to group performance.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Our exciting new product launches and innovations, supported by further geographic expansion, have enabled the addition of another 3.2mn consumers within our non-combustible franchise1 in the first nine months, reaching 21.5mn.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n We are investing in New Categories, driving sustainable growth, while making excellent progress in reducing operating losses. We expect growing contribution across all New Categories, and all Regions in 2022. We are confident in delivering our targets of £5bn revenue, and profitability by 2025.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In our combustibles business, we expect our targeted portfolio of brands across price tiers to deliver a robust performance across APME, AMSSA and Europe, driven by resilient volumes.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the US, industry volumes remain under pressure due to ongoing macro-economic factors and post-Covid normalisation of consumption patterns. In order to offset early signs of accelerated downtrading in the industry in the second half of the year, we have recently activated commercial plans across specific brands, channels and states.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 our marketing investments. Our three year Quantum programme is expected to deliver in excess of £...