British American Tobacco Backs 2023 Guidance, Existing Strategy

By Joe Hoppe

British American Tobacco on Tuesday reiterated 2023 guidance for revenue and earnings growth, and backed its existing strategy.

The FTSE 100 tobacco group maintained full-year constant-currency guidance of revenue growth at 3%-5%, and mid-single-digit adjusted diluted earnings-per-share growth, with operating cash conversion of more than 90%.

Revenue performance is expected to be weighted toward the second half, with reported growth affected by the timing of the transfer of the Russian and Belarusian businesses, expected to close in 2023.

Foreign-exchange rates are expected to translate into an adjusted EPS tailwind of 4% for the first half and 1% for the full year.

Chief Executive Tadeu Marroco backed the company's existing strategy and said he was confident in its execution.

In the New Category division, the company expects strong revenue growth, with further improvements in category contribution along with incremental investment.

"We are also making good progress towards de-leveraging our balance sheet, supporting our ambition to sustainably return excess cash to shareholders," Marroco said.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 06, 2023 02:29 ET (06:29 GMT)

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