Tsunami raises British American Tobacco market in Japan

After the tsunami Japan Tobacco (JT) was forced to stop production, which benefited  British American Tobacco (BAT).

According to Michael Prideaux, BAT's director of corporate and regulatory affairs, the company ended the financial year with 11 per cent of the Japanese market; following the tsunami. He added JT would get back most of the market, but hopefully BAT would hold on to some of it.

Thanks to its performance in Japan, BAT was able to increase group revenues by 2 per cent to £7.44 billion in the six months to the end of June, with pre-tax profits 22 per cent higher at £2.79 billion. On constant exchange rates, revenues were up 7 per cent.

Sales volumes were down 1 per cent to 344 billion sticks, but the rate of decline slowed from 1.8 per cent in the first quarter. According to Prideaux, this was due to economies rebounding and the company gaining market share.

A price war in Spain with Imperial Tobacco, had seen BAT profits in the country deteriorate, according to Prideaux, however he claimed, BAT's share was up one percentage point at 12 per cent.

The largest  cigarette maker in Europe, said it expected to reach a profitability goal a year ahead of forecast and aimed to expand margins by as much as 1 percentage point each year.