BAT in transition

In its second-half pre-close trading update for 2018, British American Tobacco said that it was expecting a full-year industry volume decline of about 3.5 percent.
But it said that its market share during the year to date was up by 0.4 of a percentage point on that of the 2017 financial year, driven by its Strategic Brands, whose share was up by 1.8 percentage points.
Tobacco-heating and vapor products were said to be on track to record a full-year reported-revenue of £900 million.
The tobacco-heating product glo was said to be available on 16 markets ‘globally’. It was continuing to grow on the Japanese market, where it had now captured a 4.6 percent share.
The Epen3 was said to be performing well with new market launches including those in France and New Zealand.
Oral tobacco products were expected to deliver ‘strong constant currency revenue growth on a representative basis’.
Meanwhile, the US industry cigarette-volume decline was said to remain in line with historic ranges.
It was down 4.4 percent during the year to date and BAT said it continued to expect an industry decline of about 4.0-4.5 percent for the full year 2018
The company said it continued to enjoy value share growth, up 0.2 of a percentage point during the year to date, with NAS (Natural American Spirit), Camel and Newport all growing share.
The electronic cigarette Vuse’s volume was up by more than 30 percent during the year to date, despite the Vuse Vibe recall. Vuse Alto’s national roll-out had reached about 55,000 stores after 13 weeks.