British American Tobacco revenues take an FX drag

British American Tobacco, the owner of the Pall Mall and Lucky Strike cigarette brands, has reported increased revenues and volumes but cautions that currency effects are affecting results.

In the first three months of 2012, organic revenues grew by 6% on a constant currency basis: "driven by volume growth, improving mix and continued good pricing". The trouble for BAT is that foreign exchange (FX) movements have made life rather difficult, with revenues up just 4% after taking account of current exchange rates.

Group volumes from subsidiaries were 166bn, up 1.3% including the acquisition of Colombian firm Protabaco in October 2011.

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Organic volumes increased by 0.7% principally driven by growth in Brazil, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Denmark, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Italy and South Korea saw lower volumes which dented the figures somewhat.

Across the four main "global drive" brands, Kent was up 7%, Dunhill was flat, Lucky Strike gained 26%, while Pall Mall was 4% ahead of the same period of 2011.

BS