Delivering Growth Through Total Tobacco Portfolio
- EU and Non-EU market gains with excellent performance in emerging markets
- Overall volumes of key strategic brands up 4 per cent
- Fine cut tobacco volumes up 4 per cent
- Non-EU luxury Cuban cigar volumes up 4 per cent
- Snus volumes up 30 per cent
Ongoing Cost Optimisation
- Tobacco operating margin above 42 per cent
- Ongoing efficiency focus; productivity up by 3 per cent
Maximising Cash Returns: Dividend Growth, Cash Conversion and Share Buyback
- Dividend per share up 13% to 95.1p, increasing our payout ratio to 50.6%
- Strong cash conversion rate of 88 per cent
- £181 million share buyback completed to date
Alison Cooper, Chief Executive, said:
"This good performance reflects the strength of our total tobacco portfolio and our ability to use this unique asset to drive sales and profit growth across our international footprint. I'm particularly pleased with the overall growth in our key strategic brands Davidoff, Gauloises Blondes, West and JPS.
"We mitigated the impact of difficult conditions in Spain with gains elsewhere in the EU and excellent growth in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Our focus on capitalising on consumer growth segments continues to be supported by disciplined portfolio and capacity investments.
"The strength of our performance has enabled us to grow earnings per share by 5 per cent and reward our shareholders with a very strong 13 per cent dividend increase.
"I'm focused on maintaining our sales momentum and see significant growth opportunities ahead. Our commitment to sales excellence combined with effective cost and cash management will enable us to continue maximising returns to our shareholders."
