LONDON (dpa-AFX) - British American Tobacco plc (BATS.L) announced, although trading conditions remain challenging, the Group remains on track for another good year of earnings growth, excluding the impact of currency translation.
'Looking forward into 2018, foreign currency exchange rates are a headwind for the business this year. If rates were to stay at current levels, the Group would face a translational foreign exchange headwind of 7% on organic operating profit and 8% on earnings per share. As previously announced, mainly due to volume shipment phasing and pricing in certain markets, including the GCC and Russia, profit growth is expected to be skewed to the second half. Given the success of the Next Generation Product portfolio, the Group has decided to further increase investment plans behind Next Generation Products during 2018, with a significant number of roll-outs and launches planned towards the end of third quarter,' Richard Burrows, Chairman, stated.
The Group announced, by the end of 2018, the Group's objective is to more than double its revenue from Next Generation Products to substantially more than 1 billion pounds.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX