Proactive Investors - British American Tobacco PLC (LON:BATS) saw its shares jump over 6.5% to 2,475p on Thursday after it reported modest progress in underlying profitability.
This was largely driven by an uptick in sales for new categories such as e-cigarettes, vapes and nicotine vapes.
The FTSE 100-listed company said adjusted sales in 2023 rose 1.6% to £27.28 billion, supported by growth in the New Categories business of 15.6% and resilient pricing.
BAT posted a reported loss from operations of £15.75 billion, impacted by a £27.6 billion non-cash impairment charge mainly related to its US business.
Excluding this, the firm reported operating profit growth of 3.1% to £12.47 billion.
Underlying diluted EPS rose 4.0% to 375.6p while the dividend was increased 2.0% to 235.52p.
Total combustibles organic revenue grew 0.6%, with an organic price/mix of plus 6.1% offset by lower volume and geographic mix mainly due to macro-economic pressures in the US impacting the premium segment
Chief executive Tadeu Marroco said: “New Categories delivered continued volume-led revenue growth and increased profitability, driven by Vuse and Velo.
“As a result, our New Categories portfolio has turned profitable two years ahead of our original target.
“In combustibles, our commercial plans in the US are enabling early signs of portfolio recovery,” he added.