British American Tobacco (BAT) announced that revenue from its new product categories increased by 50 per cent in the first half of the year, driven by a strong growth in customer numbers.

In its half-year report to 30 June, BAT reported adjusted revenues of GBP 12.18 billion, up 8.1 per cent year-on-year, while profits from operations jumped 5.4 per cent to GBP 5.2 billion. Revenues were lifted by a 50 per cent jump in the new categories division to GBP 883 million in the period. New categories include BAT’s glo tobacco heating brand as well as its Vuse and Vype vapour products and Velo modern oral products. BAT said it added 2.6 million more customers in the first half, bringing its total user base of non-combustible products to 16.1 million.
“This has been an exciting period of growth in New Categories, with New Category constant currency revenue up by 50 pr cent in the first half. We added 2.6m consumers, our highest ever increase, to our non-combustible product consumer base, to reach 16.1m. This demonstrates our accelerating transformation driven by our multi-category portfolio, with continued key market share gains in all three New Categories.
“We are building strong, global brands of the future with Vuse, Velo and glo. These are underpinned by industry leading multi-category consumer insights and science, with increasing digitalisation. We have invested a further incremental GBP 346m in the first half, funded by continued value growth from combustibles and expect to reach our GBP 1bn Quantum savings target 12 months early. We have now increased our savings target to GBP 1.5bn by 2022.
“Our rapid growth in New Categories is driving significant scale benefits and 2021 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in our journey towards A Better Tomorrow,” said Chief Executive Jack Bowles.