British American Tobacco’s cigarette sales drop by 12%

The multinational cigarette company British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Ltd has reported a 12 percent decrease in its cigarette sticks sales in the second quarter of the current calendar year.

According to the company's statement, cigarette sales dropped for 66 days in the second quarter during the general holidays to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

During that period, the company sold 1,189.7 crore sticks across the country, down from 1,353.6 crore at the same time in the previous year.

In the second quarter's unaudited financial statement – which was disclosed on Wednesday evening – the company reported cigarette sales of Tk6,184.92 crore, which decreased by 11 percent from that in the same period of the previous year.

In the second quarter of this year, the company paid the government Tk4,924.29 crore as VAT and supplementary duty.

After paying all kinds of taxes, net sales of the company stood at Tk1,260.63 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year.

However, at the same time, the company's net profit increased by 69 percent compared to that in the second quarter of the previous year and stood at Tk296.65 crore despite decreased sales revenue. Its earnings per share were Tk16.48.

An official of the company said the net profit increased significantly because the company has reduced operating cost by 84 percent and cost of goods sold by 27 percent.

The company has achieved such growth in profit for deferral of major initiatives to the second half of 2020 due to Covid-19 along with lower interest expenses, according to the financial statement.

In the first half of the current year, the total revenue of the company stood at Tk14,816 crore and its earnings per share was Tk33.35.

Meanwhile, the company has exported 11.76 crore sticks worth Tk10.70 crore during the first half, which were 658 percent and 560 percent higher respectively than in previous year at the same time.

However, export of tobacco leaf has dropped by 12 percent due to a decrease in price.

The British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Ltd gave 400 percent cash dividend to its shareholders in the last financial year. 

The company entered the stock market in 1977 and its paid up capital is Tk180 crore.

The closing price of the British American Tobacco's shares was Tk907.6 on Tuesday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. Its highest price reached Tk1,375 per share within the last year. 

Sponsor directors hold 72.91 percent shares of the company while government, institutional, foreign and general investors have 0.64 percent, 10.15 percent, 13.74 and 2.56 percent of the company's shares respectively.