British American Tobacco logged in its highest profits yet in 2020 as the demand for cigarettes during the outbreak of Covid-19, which mainly affects the respiratory system, has proved resilient.
Last year, the company, whose brands include a mix of high- and low-end brands like Benson & Hedges, John Player, Derby, Hollywood and Pilot, posted a profit of about Tk 1,088.6 crore, up 36.9 per cent year-on-year.
Subsequently, its board announced a 600 per cent cash dividend and stock dividend of 1:2 for the year, up from 400 per cent cash dividend announced for 2019. BATBC’s financial year runs from January to December.
The Bangladesh subsidiary of the British multinational tobacco company’s performance is in line with its parent’s.
Recently, the £66 billion company revised upwards its annual revenue growth: it now expects revenue to grow at the upper end of the 1 to 3 per cent range it has forecast, after the pandemic delivered a smaller-than-expected blow to the industry. The hit to revenues from the crisis would be roughly 2.5 per cent, down from an earlier estimate of 3 per cent.
In 2020, shares of BATBC, which is amongst the top five companies on the bourse in terms of market capitalisation, gained 20 per cent. On Wednesday, they closed at Tk 1,509.7, up 1.1 per cent from the previous day.
BATBC did not respond to request for comment at the time of filing the report.
