Cigarettes | Marlboro $12.40, Camel - $11.80 | Discount Cigarettes Online
|
Search News
Net income climbed to 600 million pounds ($1.2 billion), or 29.52 pence a share, from 446 million pounds, or 21.56 pence, a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a statement. That beat the 556 million-pound median estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. BAT raised prices in countries from Brazil to Vietnam during the quarter and drew Russians to higher-priced brands such as Kent and Dunhill. A pack of Pall Mall cost 19 percent more in Spain as of August than a year earlier. Companies have more leverage to boost prices because there are fewer left after takeovers such as Japan Tobacco Inc.'s purchase of Gallaher Group Plc in April. ``We've got an improving pricing outlook across Europe,'' said Erik Bloomquist, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London with an ``outperform'' recommendation on the stock. ``BAT has a great business in Russia, and that came through today.'' Third-quarter sales increased 5.9 percent to 2.59 billion pounds. Chief Executive Officer Paul Adams said in May higher prices would fuel revenue gains this year as growth in the number of cigarettes sold weakens. Marketing Budget BAT maintained its forecast for slower growth in operating profit in the current quarter because of higher marketing spending and price and tax increases in Brazil. Nine-month operating profit rose 14 percent excluding exchange rates and one-time items. Currency movements will reduce annual profit by a smaller amount than predicted previously, spokesman Michael Prideaux said in an interview. Exchange rates will cut 130 million pounds from this year's earnings, 20 million pounds less than the prior forecast, he said, and the effect will be ``broadly neutral'' in the current quarter. Growth in annual cigarette shipments will be closer to zero than 1 percent, according to Prideaux. He forecast a gain of as much as 0.5 percent in the current quarter. The number of cigarettes sold under the company's four main brands rose at an ``exceptionally strong'' 18 percent pace in the third quarter. BAT shares rose 8 pence, or 0.4 percent, to 1,838 pence at 9 a.m. in London. They have gained 29 percent in the past year, beating the 19 percent advance by Altria Group Inc., the New York-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes. German Prices Altria, the world's largest publicly traded cigarette maker, said Oct. 17 third-quarter profit rose 19 percent and increased its full-year earnings forecast. The company in August was charging 4 euros a pack for Marlboro in Germany, western Europe's largest tobacco market, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, according to figures compiled by rival Altadis SA. Reynolds American Inc., which is 42 percent-owned by BAT, on Oct. 25 reported a 16 percent gain in third-quarter profit and also boosted its annual outlook. In last year's third quarter, BAT's profit was hurt by 116 million pounds of costs for closing factories and reducing production capacity in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Canada. Tobacco consumption in western Europe has been falling about 1 percent to 2 percent a year because of higher taxes, prohibitions on advertising and smoking bans. That has spurred BAT and rivals based in the region to expand elsewhere. Next year's volume growth should return to BAT's normal range of 1 percent to 1.5 percent, Adams said in July. England and France started restrictions on smoking in indoor public places such as bars this year. Most European Union countries enacted bans on tobacco advertising by 2005. The company has a goal of increasing earnings per share excluding one-time items by almost 10 percent on average over coming years. BAT also aims for about 6 percent average operating growth per year and 3 percent to 3.5 percent average growth in sales excluding currency movements. © Copyright 2006 by CigarettesOn.Com |
| Our
Partners CigarettesBox.Com Discount Cigarettes Cigarettes For USA, |
|
||||
