TIDMBATS
RNS Number : 4098X
British American Tobacco PLC
25 April 2023
British American Tobacco p.l.c.
25 April 2023
BAT reaches agreement with U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and
U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC)
-- Agreement reached with DOJ and OFAC to resolve investigations
into BAT's historical business activities in relation to North
Korea from 2007-2017
-- BAT ceased all business activities related to North Korea by September 2017
-- No impact on Full Year 2023 Group guidance; investigations
previously disclosed and provisions made in 2022 Half Year
Report
BAT today announced that it has reached agreement with DOJ and
OFAC to resolve previously disclosed investigations into suspicions
of sanctions breaches. These concern business activities relating
to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) between
2007 and 2017.
British American Tobacco p.l.c has entered into a deferred
prosecution agreement (DPA) with DOJ and a civil settlement
agreement with OFAC, and an indirect BAT subsidiary in Singapore
has entered into a plea agreement with DOJ. The total amount
payable to the U.S. authorities is $635,241,338 plus interest.
The DOJ resolutions acknowledged BAT's remediation efforts to
date and cooperation.
Under the agreement, BAT cannot make any comment on the
documentation published by the investigating authorities, the
contents therein, or on related factual matters.
As announced in its Half-Year Report of 27 July 2022, BAT
recognised a provision of GBP450 million (US$540 million), in line
with the International Accounting Standards 37 requirements. Its
Full Year 2023 Group guidance is unaffected by this
announcement.
Jack Bowles, BAT's Chief Executive, said: "On behalf of BAT, we
deeply regret the misconduct arising from historical business
activities that led to these settlements, and acknowledge that we
fell short of the highest standards rightly expected of us.
"Adhering to rigorous compliance and ethics standards has been,
and remains, a top priority for BAT. In recent years we have
transformed our compliance and ethics programme, which encompasses
sanctions, anti-bribery, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering.
The significant steps already taken, as well as the continued
refinements to the programme that will be made as part of these
settlements, will leave us even better equipped to lead a
responsible and sustainable business."
ENDS
Enquiries
Media Centre
+44 (0) 20 7845 2888 (24 hours) | @BATplc
Investor Relations
Victoria Buxton: +44 (0)20 7845 2012
John Harney: +44 (0)20 7845 1263
About BAT
BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business with a
purpose to build A Better Tomorrow(TM) by reducing the health
impact of its business through offering a greater choice of
enjoyable and less risky products for adult consumers.
The company continues to be clear that combustible cigarettes
pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is
not to start or to quit. BAT encourages those who would otherwise
continue to smoke to switch completely to
scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives* . In order
to deliver this, BAT is transforming into a truly consumer-centric
multi-category consumer products business.
BAT's ambition is to have 50 million consumers of its
non-combustible products by 2030 and to generate GBP5 billion of
New Categories revenue by 2025. BAT has set stretching ESG targets
including achieving carbon neutrality for Scopes 1 & 2 by 2030
and eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic and making all
plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
BAT employs over 50,000 people. The BAT Group generated revenue
of GBP27.65 billion in 2022 and profit from operations of GBP10.5
billion.
The company's Strategic Portfolio is made up of its global
cigarette brands and a growing range of reduced-risk* New Category
tobacco and nicotine products and traditional non-combustible
tobacco products. These include vapour, tobacco heating products,
modern oral products including tobacco-free nicotine pouches, as
well as traditional oral products such as snus and moist snuff. In
2022, we had 22.5 million consumers of our non-combustible
products, a rise of 4.2 million on full year 2021.
* Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch
from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are
addictive.
Our vapour product Vuse (including Alto, Solo, Ciro and Vibe),
and certain products, including Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel
Snus, which are sold in the U.S., are subject to FDA regulation and
no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these products without
agency clearance.
Forward-looking statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements,
including "forward-looking" statements made within the meaning of
the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words
or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may,"
"would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict,"
"will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy,"
"outlook", "target" and similar expressions. These include
statements regarding our non-combustible product customer target
ambition, New Categories revenue targets, our ESG targets and Full
Year 2023 Group guidance.
All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and
assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other
factors. It is believed that the expectations reflected in this
release are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of
variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those currently anticipated.
Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements
are uncertainties related to the following: the impact of
competition from illicit trade; the impact of adverse domestic or
international legislation and regulation; the inability to develop,
commercialise and deliver the Group's New Categories strategy;
adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of such
outcomes on the Group's financial condition; the impact of
significant increases or structural changes in tobacco, nicotine
and New Categories related taxes; translational and transactional
foreign exchange rate exposure; changes or differences in domestic
or international economic or political conditions; the ability to
maintain credit ratings and to fund the business under the current
capital structure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death
in the workplace; adverse decisions by domestic or international
regulatory bodies; changes in the market position, businesses,
financial condition, results of operations or prospects of the
Group and direct and indirect adverse impacts associated with
Climate Change and the move towards a Circular Economy. Past
performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing
advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The
forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information
available at the date of preparation of this release and BAT
undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
such forward-looking statements.
Additional information concerning these and other factors can be
found in BAT's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC"), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F and
Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge
at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov and BAT's Annual Reports,
which may be obtained free of charge from the BAT website
www.bat.com .
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Policy.
END
AGRFLFILSTIEFIV
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 25, 2023 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT)
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