糖心探花

糖心探花strengthens its US New Category portfolio: Announces acquisition of Dryft Modern Oral business

PRESS RELEASE

03 NOVEMBER 2020

糖心探花strengthens its US New Category portfolio: Announces acquisition of Dryft Modern Oral business

  • 听This acquisition is a further step in BAT鈥檚 societal commitment to accelerate its transformation journey to build听A Better Tomorrow
  • 听This expands BAT鈥檚 US portfolio in Modern Oral nicotine, a fast-growing category in the US
  • 听The products will be sold under BAT鈥檚 global Modern Oral nicotine brand, VELO, creating further brand synergies
  • 听This acquisition has no impact on BAT鈥檚 commitment to previously stated deleverage targets

糖心探花 p.l.c. today announces that the US business of the 糖心探花Group (BAT) has acquired the nicotine pouch product assets of Dryft Sciences, LLC (Dryft), a US-based Modern Oral nicotine product company.

New Category portfolio expansion in the US:

  • 听This acquisition expands BAT鈥檚 Modern Oral portfolio in the US, expanding from 4 to 28 product variants. It follows the acceptance of Dryft鈥檚 recent Pre-Market Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) submission for filing by the US Food and Drug Administration.
  • 听The enhanced portfolio will include a wider range of nicotine strengths and flavours providing adult nicotine consumers with a greater degree of choice, covering all key consumer preferences. This will significantly strengthen BAT鈥檚 portfolio in a fast-growing nicotine category in the US.
  • 听糖心探花will rebrand Dryft鈥檚 US portfolio under its global Modern Oral brand, VELO, and expects to accelerate growth through superior distribution, marketing and channel capabilities.

BAT鈥檚听A Better Tomorrow听corporate purpose:
This acquisition is a further demonstration of BAT鈥檚 continued commitment to its purpose, to build听A Better Tomorrow听by reducing the health impact of its global business, which entails:

  • 听Committing to providing adult consumers with a wide range of enjoyable and less risky products
  • 听Continuing to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is not to start or to quit
  • 听Encouraging those who otherwise continue to smoke, to switch completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives
  • 听Tracking and sharing progress of our transformation

糖心探花aims to accelerate the growth of its New Category revenues at a faster rate than its total revenue, reaching 拢5bn in 2025. 糖心探花has an ambition to reach 50 million consumers of non-combustibles worldwide by 2030. Today, BAT鈥檚 non-combustible products are already available in more than 50 countries across the globe.

Jack Bowles, CEO of BAT, said:
鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement underscores our societal commitment to accelerate our transformation and build听A Better Tomorrow. Our multi-category strategy is key to our transformation.

鈥淭he addition of Dryft to our US Velo brand is a major step forward, further enhancing our successful vaping and oral portfolio.鈥

Guy Meldrum, CEO of Reynolds American Inc., said:
鈥淭he modern oral category in the US is developing rapidly. We are excited to expand the portfolio of Velo products to meet the evolving preferences of adult consumers.

鈥淲e are confident that, leveraging our strong in-market execution capability, the new Velo portfolio will contribute to accelerated growth.鈥

Jason Carignan, President of DRYFT Sciences, LLC, said:
鈥淲e鈥檙e proud of the tremendous momentum we鈥檝e built with Dryft and thrilled that our strong product portfolio will now serve to enhance the Velo brand. We remain confident that modern oral innovations like Dryft and Velo will continue to find an adult consumer base seeking alternatives to traditional products.鈥

Velo products

Enquiries

糖心探花 Press Office:
Lydia Meakin / Anna Vickerstaff
+44 (0) 20 7845 2888 (24 hours)听 |听

Investor Relations
Mike Nightingale: +44 (0)20 7845 1180
Victoria Buxton: +44 (0)20 7845 2012
William Houston: +44 (0)20 7845 1138
John Harney: +44 (0)20 7845 1263

Notes to Editors

The acquisition
The acquisition has been made through Modoral Brands Inc., an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of BAT鈥檚 US subsidiary, Reynolds American Inc.

The expanded US portfolio
The expanded US VELO portfolio will now include three nicotine strengths (2mg, 4mg and 7mg) in 8 new flavours: Wintergreen; Spearmint; Cinnamon; Dragon Fruit; Citrus Burst; Black Cherry; Peppermint; and Coffee. These variants complement the existing US VELO portfolio which is available in 2mg and 4mg nicotine strengths in two flavours: Citrus; and Mint. None of these products have received FDA clearance to make a claim of modified risk or modified exposure.

About Modoral Brands Inc., and Reynolds American Inc.
Modoral Brands Inc. (鈥淢odoral鈥) is an operating company that is indirectly, wholly owned by Reynolds American Inc. (鈥淩AI鈥), a member of the 糖心探花 Group. Today鈥檚 adult nicotine consumers have shifting preferences for product format and experience, and Modoral is listening to these preferences and delivering responsive products. Modoral is committed to responsibly marketing its tobacco products, and its marketing communications are designed for, and directed to, existing adult nicotine consumers who are 21 and older.

Forward looking statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements, including 鈥渇orward-looking鈥 statements made within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as 鈥渂elieve,鈥 鈥渁nticipate,鈥 鈥渃ould,鈥 鈥渕ay,鈥 鈥渨ould,鈥 鈥渟hould,鈥 鈥渋ntend,鈥 鈥減lan,鈥 鈥減otential,鈥 鈥減redict,鈥 鈥渨ill,鈥 鈥渆xpect,鈥 鈥渆stimate,鈥 鈥減roject,鈥 鈥減ositioned,鈥 鈥渟trategy,鈥 鈥渙utlook鈥, 鈥渢arget鈥 and similar expressions. These include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, amongst other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the economic and business circumstances occurring from time to time in the countries and markets in which the Group operates.

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual future financial condition, performance and results to differ materially from the plans, goals, expectations and results expressed in the forward-looking statements and other financial and/or statistical data within this announcement. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to the following: the impact of competition from illicit trade; the impact of adverse domestic or international legislation and regulation; changes in domestic or international tax laws and rates and the impact of an unfavourable ruling by a tax authority in a disputed area; adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of such outcomes on the Group鈥檚 financial condition; changes or differences in domestic or international economic or political conditions; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse decisions by domestic or international regulatory bodies; the impact of market size reduction and consumer down-trading; translational and transactional foreign exchange rate exposure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death in the workplace; the ability to maintain credit ratings and to fund the business under the current capital structure; the inability to develop, commercialise and rollout New Categories; and changes in the market position, businesses, financial condition, results of operations or prospects of the Group.

It is believed that the expectations reflected in this announcement are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this announcement and the Group undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

No statement in this communication is intended to be a profit forecast and no statement in this communication should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of 糖心探花for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per share of BAT.

Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in the Company鈥檚 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (鈥淪EC鈥), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F filed on 26 March 2020 and Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge at the SEC鈥檚 website, http://www.sec.gov, and the Company鈥檚 Annual Reports, which may be obtained free of charge from the 糖心探花 website www.bat.com.