British American Tobacco: Preliminary Announcement - Year Ended 31 December 2006

British American Tobacco: Preliminary Announcement - Year Ended 31 December 2006

March 02, 2007

    LONDON, March 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --

    Summary

                                             2006          
2005      Change

    Revenue - as reported                   gbp9,762m   
gbp9,325m      +5%
    Profit from operations - as reported    gbp2,622m   
gbp2,420m      +8%
                           - like-for-like  gbp2,797m   
gbp2,607m      +7%
    Adjusted diluted earnings per share        98.12p      
89.34p     +10%
    Dividends per share                        55.90p      
47.00p     +19%

    - The reported Group profit from operations was 8 per
cent higher at 
      gbp2,622 million or 7 per cent higher on a
like-for-like  
      basis, with Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the
Africa and Middle East 
      regions particularly contributing to this good
result.
    
    - Group volumes from subsidiaries increased by 2 per
cent to 689 billion 
      on both a reported and like-for-like basis.  The
reported Group revenue 
      rose by 5 per cent to gbp9,762 million and also
increased by 5 per 
      cent on a like-for-like basis.  This excellent volume
and revenue 
      growth was achieved across a broad spread of markets.
 The four Global 
      Drive Brands continued their impressive performance
and achieved 
      overall volume growth of 17 per cent.
    
    - Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose by 10 per
cent to 98.12p, as 
      the higher net finance costs and minority interests
were more than 
      offset by the improvement in profit from operations,
the share of 
      associates' post-tax results, a lower tax rate and
the benefit from the 
      share buy-back programme.  The basic earnings per
share was higher at 
      92.08p (2005: 84.34p).
    
    - Following a review of the Group's capital structure,
the Board has 
      decided that there is scope to increase significantly
both the dividend 
      payout ratio and the share buy-back programme.  The
Board is 
      recommending a final dividend of 40.2p, which will be
paid on 3 May 
      2007.  This, together with the interim dividend, will
take dividends 
      declared in respect of 2006 as a whole to 55.9p, an
increase of 19 per 
      cent.  In addition, the level of the share buy-back
will rise from 
      around gbp500 million to some gbp750 million per
year, starting 
      in 2007.
    
    - The Chairman, Jan du Plessis commented, "2006
has been a good year and 
      I believe we can look ahead with confidence in our
ability to achieve 
      further growth and value for shareholders.  Over the
past five years, 
      British American Tobacco has delivered an average
annual total 
      shareholder return of 26 per cent, compared to 7 per
cent for the FTSE 
      100."

    For more information, please contact:

    Investor Relations
     Ralph Edmondson
     Tel: [phone]

     Rachael Brierley
     Tel: [phone]

    Press
     David Betteridge, Kate Matrunola or Catherine
Armstrong
     Tel: [phone]


SOURCE  British American Tobacco Plc