BAT reported revenue of £12.18 billion ($16.89 billion) for the six months that ended June 30, down 0.8 percent (up 8.1 percent on an adjusted basis) from the comparable 2020 period. Revenue from new categories increased by more than 50 percent to £883 million. Profit from operations totaled £4.91 billion, down 3.7 percent (up 5.4 percent on an adjusted basis) from the comparable six months a year earlier.
“This has been an exciting period of growth in new categories, with new category constant currency revenue up by 50 percent in the first half,” said BAT CEO Jack Bowles in a statement. “We added 2.6 million consumers—our highest ever increase—to our noncombustible product consumer base to reach 16.1 million. This demonstrates our accelerating transformation driven by our multi-category portfolio, with continued key market share gains in all three new categories.
“We are building strong, global brands of the future with Vuse, Velo and Glo. These are underpinned by industry-leading multi-category consumer insights and science with increasing digitalization. We have invested a further incremental £346 million in the first half, funded by continued value growth from combustibles and expect to reach our £1 billion Quantum savings target 12 months early. We have now increased our savings target to £1.5 billion by 2022.
“Our rapid growth in new categories is driving significant scale benefits and 2021 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in our journey toward ‘A Better Tomorrow.’”