Key Facts
A global group of individuals
Bring Your Difference
At British American Tobacco , we turn challenges into opportunities, lead from the front and hire people who think for themselves. It’s why globally we’re one of the world’s best performing companies, with a strong track record and a bright future. We’re looking for people who want a chance to shine, to grow, to develop, to make an early impact, to make the most of their talents and to express their individuality. People like you.
By empowering teams, we create fresh ideas and different experiences, keeping us sharp, innovative and ahead of the game. We’ve learnt that when we combine our unique individual talents, we stay strong.
Bring your difference and be part of something remarkable.
British American Tobacco is the world’s most international tobacco group, with our brands selling in over 180 markets and a consistent strategy for creating and delivering shareholder value.
- 180+Markets where our brands are sold
- 715 billion Annual group cigarette volumes
- 1 in 8 Of the world’s one billion adult smokers choose our brands
- £2.7 billion Profit after tax
- 7 Years running as the only tobacco business in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes
- £27.2 million Spent on Environment, Health and Safety
- 50+ Markets where we are the leader
- 13% Our share of the global tobacco market
- 56,000+ Employees
- £21+ billion Taxes generated for governments worldwide
- £105 million Spent on research and development
- £18.4 million Charitable and community expenditure
1. Operating Globally
Our business was founded in 1902, and despite our name, we were ‘born international’ with roots in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
We make the cigarette brands chosen by one in eight of the world’s one billion adult smokers and hold robust market positions in each of our regions, with leadership in more than 50 markets. We have sustained a significant global presence for over 100 years.
We are the only international tobacco group with a significant interest in tobacco leaf growing, working with thousands of farmers across the globe. In 2008, our companies bought some 390,000 tonnes of tobacco leaf, grown by more than 300,000 farmers, with about 80 per cent of it by volume produced by suppliers in emerging economies.
2. Our industry
The tobacco industry plays a large part in the economies of over 150 countries and creates employment for an estimated 100 million people. Taxes from tobacco are also a significant revenue stream for almost every government in the world. In 2008, our companies alone enabled governments to collect almost L22 billion in taxes, more than eight times the Group’s total profit after tax.
The tobacco industry globally produces over 5,500 billion cigarettes a year. 40 per cent of worldwide consumption is accounted for by China, the largest single market, where each year 350 million smokers consume 2,200 billion cigarettes produced by the state-owned tobacco industry. Outside China, the four largest publicly listed international tobacco companies account for around 46 per cent of the global market. Our estimates of market shares for 2008 are:
- 16% Philip Morris International
- 13% British American Tobacco (excluding associate companies)
- 11% Japan Tobacco
3. Competitive landscape
There has been significant recent consolidation in the industry, with Japan Tobacco’s acquisition of Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco’s takeover of Altadis. In 2008, we acquired the cigarette business assets of Tekel, the Turkish state-owned tobacco company, and the cigarette and snus businesses of Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni.
*Others include Philip Morris USA and our associate companies ITC in India and Reynolds American in the USA.
4. Increasing regulation
Tobacco regulation has increased in many countries in recent years, including such measures as more prominent health warnings on packs and restrictions or bans on advertising and public place smoking. The scope of regulation is expected to widen further as countries implement the provisions of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). We agree that the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of tobacco products should be appropriately regulated. We support effective, evidence-based regulation that can help to reduce the impact of tobacco consumption on public health.
Like other businesses, we seek to be included in the debates that shape the regulatory environment in which we operate. However guidelines recently adopted under the WHO FCTC suggest that governments should minimise contact with the tobacco industry.
We firmly believe that well run and responsible companies such as ours should not be marginalised or excluded. We believe that we should be able, like other interested parties, to contribute to the development of public policies that directly affect our business and its stakeholders, and we are more than willing to do so constructively and transparently.
Balanced and workable tobacco regulation needs closer cooperation between governments and the industry, and we have much experience to offer in helping to block tobacco sales to children, fight illicit trade, set standards for appropriate marketing and research potentially lower risk products – as well as supporting jobs and paying valuable taxes, especially in tough economic times.
