New products such as glo heated tobacco devices helped bring BAT more customers. Photo credit: Ilektra Korovesi, Creative Commons
Lucky Strike and Camel cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) reported an inflow of new consumers after rolling out new smoking products like vape pens, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco.
New ranges of smoking products have helped bring in a further 3.2 million consumers using BAT’s non-combustible products in the first nine months of the year. This refers to tobacco and nicotine alternatives, which evidence has found are less risky than conventional cigarettes though not risk-free, according to BAT.
BAT now has 21.5 million customers using its new category products, such as Vuse vape pens and glo heated tobacco.
BAT said it is expecting to report revenue growth of between 2-4% for the full year, at constant currency rates, and also told investors that it was on track to meet its target of bringing in £5 billion in revenue and becoming a profitable business by 2025.
It anticipates the global tobacco industry to decline at a slower than expected rate, falling by 2% rather than 3%, as a result of post-Covid recovery in emerging markets.
BAT said that the US, the UK, and France are among the top markets for its vapor products, while heated tobacco products are popular in countries like Japan, Italy, and Hungary.