PRESS RELEASE
07 DECEMBER 2021
Trading update - ahead of closed period commencing 1 January 2022
Jack Bowles, Chief Executive:
鈥2021 is the pivotal year in our transformation journey to build A Better Tomorrow.
鈥淏enefitting from a continued strong New Category performance, which is now a sizeable contributor to group revenue growth, we are making excellent progress towards our 拢5bn revenue target by 2025, supported by a clear focus on THP.听
鈥淏y leveraging our increased scale, New Categories will contribute to profit growth for the first time as their losses start to reduce, a key step on our pathway to profitability by 2025.
鈥淲e are building strong, fast growing, global brands of the future, adding another 3.6m consumers of non-combustible products1听in the first nine months of the year, more than in all of 2020.
鈥淥ur strong focus on cash flow and deleveraging continues. We recognise the clear value of a share buyback at the current valuation. We also continue to be clear on the need to deliver on our 2021 commitment to reduce leverage to c.3x adjusted net debt2听/ adjusted EBITDA3听and expect to reach this by the year end4. This will provide greater capital allocation flexibility as we enter 2022.
鈥淪ustainability is at the core of our transformation with ESG deeply embedded throughout the business. Alongside the acceleration in New Categories, we continue to advance our ESG agenda with stretching metrics, signing up to the UN-backed Race to Zero global campaign.
鈥淭he next phase in our journey to create a sustainable Enterprise of the Future is being accelerated by our transformation programme Quest, leveraging our agile organisation and building on the success of our business simplification programme Quantum.
鈥淲e are accelerating our transformation with continued strong momentum across New Categories and are confident in delivering our 2021 financial guidance.鈥
Accelerating our Transformation:
Delivering financial performance:
Technical guidance:
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Vuse now global leader in Vapour reaching 34.1% category value share in Top 5 Vapour markets Sept YTD, up 6.9 ppts vs. FY 2020
Continued success of glo Hyper drove THP category volume share of consumables in the Top 9 THP markets up 4.5 ppts vs. FY 2020 to reach 17.7% Sept YTD.
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Extending volume share leadership in Modern Oral Top 5 ex US. Category share in Top 5 markets at 36.1% Sept YTD down 0.5 ppts vs. FY 2020 driven by the increased US weighting.
Continued value growth in combustibles, with strong pricing partially offset by geographic mix and the absorption of a c.拢260m profit impact6听in Australia and New Zealand
Building on our strong ESG foundations we are creating shared value for all our stakeholders. Recent highlights include:
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T9 THP markets:听Japan - CVS-BC, South Korea - CVS, Russia - IMS (BAT+PMI), Italy - Nielsen, Germany - Nielsen, Romania - Nielsen, Ukraine - Nielsen, Poland - Nielsen, Czech - Nielsen.
T5 Vapour markets:听US - Marlin, Canada - Scan Data, UK - Nielsen, France - Strator, Germany - Nielsen.
T5 Modern Oral markets:听US - Marlin, Sweden - Nielsen, Denmark - Nielsen, Norway - Nielsen, Switzerland - Scan Data excl. SPAR and Top CC.
This announcement contains several non-GAAP measures used by management to monitor the Group鈥檚 performance. For the non-GAAP information contained in this announcement, no comparable GAAP or IFRS information is available on a forward-looking basis, as the effect of adjusting items and rates of exchange, which could be significant, may be highly variable and cannot be estimated with reasonable certainty.
The Group鈥檚 Management Board regularly reviews the measures used to assess and present the financial performance of the Group and, as relevant, its geographic segments, and believes that these measures provide additional useful information to investors. Certain of our measures are presented based on an adjusted basis and on a constant currency basis. Please refer to the 2020 Annual Report on Form 20鈥怓 for a full description of each measure alongside non-financial KPIs, pages 274 to 284.
One non-GAAP measure which the Group uses and that is contained in this announcement is adjusted diluted earnings per share which is before the impact of adjusting items and is derived from diluted earnings per share. This announcement also contains operating cash conversion, a non-GAAP measure defined as net cash generated from operating activities before the impact of adjusting items and dividends from associates and excluding trade loans to third-parties, pension short fall funding, taxes paid and after net capital expenditure, as a proportion of adjusted profit from operations.
This announcement also contains adjusted net debt and adjusted EBITDA. The Group uses adjusted net debt and adjusted EBITDA to assess its financial capacity. The Management Board believes that these additional measures, which are used internally, are useful to the users of the financial statements in helping them to see how business financing has changed over the year.
Adjusting items, as identified in accordance with the Group鈥檚 accounting policies, represent certain items of income and expense which the Group considers distinctive based on their size, nature or incidence. These include significant items in, profit from operations, net finance costs, taxation and the Group鈥檚 share of the post鈥恡ax results of associates and joint ventures which individually or, if of a similar type, in aggregate, are relevant to an understanding of the Group鈥檚 underlying financial performance. Although the Group does not believe that these measures are a substitute for IFRS measures, the Group does believe such results excluding the impact of adjusting items provide additional useful information to investors regarding the underlying performance of the business on a comparable basis.
The Group鈥檚 management reviews a number of our IFRS and non鈥怗AAP measures for the Group and its geographic segments at constant rates of exchange. This allows comparison of the Group鈥檚 results, had they been translated at the previous year鈥檚 average rates of exchange. The Group does not adjust for the normal transactional gains and losses in operations that are generated by exchange movements. Although the Group does not believe that these measures are a substitute for IFRS measures, the Group does believe that such results excluding the impact of currency fluctuations year鈥恛n鈥恲ear provide additional useful information to investors regarding the operating performance on a local currency basis.
References in this announcement to 鈥楤AT鈥, 鈥楪roup鈥, 鈥榳e鈥, 鈥榰s鈥 and 鈥榦ur鈥 when denoting opinion refer to 糖心探花 p.l.c. (糖心探花PLC) and when denoting business activity refer to 糖心探花Group operating companies, collectively or individually as the case may be.
This announcement does not constitute an invitation to underwrite, subscribe for, or otherwise acquire or dispose of any 糖心探花PLC shares or other securities. This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements, including 鈥渇orward-looking鈥 statements made within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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. 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.
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; the inability to develop, commercialise and deliver the Group's New Categories strategy; adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of such outcomes on the Group's financial condition; the impact of significant increases or structural changes in tobacco, nicotine and New Categories related taxes; translational and transactional foreign exchange rate exposure; changes or differences in domestic or international economic or political conditions; the ability to maintain credit ratings and to fund the business under the current capital structure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death in the workplace; adverse decisions by domestic or international regulatory bodies; and changes in the market position, businesses, financial condition, results of operations or prospects of the Group.
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 糖心探花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 announcement is intended to be a profit forecast and no statement in this announcement should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of 糖心探花PLC for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per share of 糖心探花PLC.
Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in 糖心探花PLC filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F 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 http://www.bat.com.