British American Tobacco Bulgaria - BAT’s purpose and strategy
Our purpose is to create A Better Tomorrow™ with a vision to Build a Smokeless world – one where smokers have migrated from cigarettes to smokeless alternatives.
Our strategic aim is to actively migrate smokers from cigarettes to smokeless products and Build a Smokeless World. We are committed to delivering long-term multi-stakeholder value and aim to become a predominantly smokeless business by 2035.
Our journey so far
BAT was founded in 1902 and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1912. A constituent of the FTSE 100 since its creation in 1984, we have evolved, becoming the only truly global company in our sector.
Today, that evolution continues. We know combustible products pose serious health risks. The only way to avoid those risks is to not start or to quit smoking. That’s why we are changing: creating new products, backed by science, that provide adult smokers with smokeless alternatives.
Our Strategy
To deliver on our vision of Building a Smokeless World, our aim is to become a predominantly smokeless business – with 50% of our revenue in Non-Combustible products by 2035. We will do so by actively encouraging adult smokers to switch to smokeless alternatives – in essence, to ‘Switch to Better.’
To enable this, our strategy is built around the three pillars of priorities:
Delivering Quality Growth emphasises the transition to a more balanced focus on top-line and bottom-line delivery, centred around our brands and innovation, and continuing to seek long-term opportunities Beyond Nicotine.
The key building blocks of the Quality Growth pillar are:
- Inspiring New Category Innovations & Brands
- Managed Combustibles Transition
- Beyond Nicotine Foundations
Our commitments under Quality Growth:
- Progressing toward quality, margin-accretive growth in smokeless products
- FMC volume decline but expecting continuing value delivery
- Sensibly investing for the future Beyond Nicotine
Building a Sustainable Future is about seeking to actively migrate adult smokers, who would otherwise continue to smoke, from cigarettes to smokeless alternatives responsibly and with integrity.
Science will be a primary driver of our efforts, supported by more active external engagement with regulators and other key stakeholders, while embedding sustainability across our organisation.
The key building blocks of the Sustainable Future pillar are:
- Tobacco Harm Reduction Acceptance
- Shaping the Landscape
- Leading in Sustainability and Integrity
Our commitments under Sustainable Future:
- Building a Smokeless World
- Investing in the products, science and engagement to make A Better Tomorrow™ a reality
- Conducting our business sustainably and with integrity
The Dynamic Business pillar is about building a future-fit, data-driven organisation and ensuring we are efficient and effective in all of our operations.
We believe we can create the financial flexibility to invest in our people, our products and provide returns to our investors.
The key building blocks of the Dynamic Business pillar are:
- Exciting, Winning Company
- Operational Excellence
- Capital Effectiveness
Our commitments under Dynamic Business:
- Creating a diverse, inclusive and people-oriented place to work
- Being data-driven and delivering operational excellence/cost management
- Focused on investors returns
We’re making progress
Our ambition is to have 50 million consumers of our Smokeless Products by 2030 and to accelerate the growth of our Smokeless Products, reaching at least 50% of our revenues 2035.
We have already made good progress towards these targets: we now have 23.9 million consumers of Smokeless Products. Revenue from these products accounts for 16.5% of Group revenue, as at 31 December 2023.