British American Tobacco expects profit growth

British American Tobacco the second largest tobacco company in the world, are expecting a good year of profit growth despite tight regulations in the US.

Speaking at the annual general meeting on Thursday, chairman Richard Burrows said, “another year of high single figure adjusted constant currency earnings growth” for 2019 and they are proposing to increase its dividend by 4%.

“While our business is continuing to perform very well, we are very conscious that investor sentiment over the last year has been negatively impacted by concerns over possible regulation in the U.S. and competitor dynamics in new categories resulting in a sharp fall in our share price.”

He added, “I am, however, confident that the business is in good shape and that the causes of these concerns in fact present significant opportunities for future growth.”

Last month British American Tobacco lost an appeal in a long running court case and took a £436m hit, as disgruntled smokers bought a case against them.