The multinational cigarette company- British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Limited- has posted a 32 percent jump in its cigarette sticks sales in the first quarter of the current financial year. During that period, the company sold 1,671.2 crore sticks across the country, which was 1,263.1 crore at the same time in the previous year. An official of the company said, “It is the record growth in sales of cigarettes in the last decade.” “It means that the number of smokers in the country are increasing significantly despite health risk,” he added. In the first quarter’s unaudited financial statement – which was disclosed on Tuesday evening – the company reported cigarette sales of Tk8,631.89 crore, which increased by 33 percent from the same period of the previous year. During that period, the company paid the government Tk6,822.04 crore as VAT and supplementary duty. After paying all kinds of taxes, net sales of the company stood at Tk1,809.85 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year. At the same time, the company’s net profit increased by 47 percent compared to that in the first quarter of the previous year and stood at Tk303.68 crore. Its earnings per share were Tk16.87. Meanwhile, the company has started cigarette export in the first quarter. They exported 68.5 lakh sticks worth Tk73.64 lakh during the period. However, export of tobacco leaf has dropped by 20 percent due to a decrease in price. The British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Limited gave 400 percent cash dividend to its shareholders in the last financial year. The company entered the stock market in 1977 and its paid up capital is Tk180 crore. The closing price of British American Tobacco’s shares was Tk907.6 on Tuesday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. Its highest price reached Tk1,375 per share within the last year. Sponsor directors hold 72.91 percent shares of the company while government, institutional, foreign and general investors have 0.64 percent, 10.15 percent, 13.74 and 2.56 percent of the company’s shares respectively.
