BAT Bangladesh shareholders to get 30% of total profits

British American Tobacco (BAT) Bangladesh, the maker of Benson and many other cigarette brands, has reported a net profit of Tk 1,788 crore for the year 2023.

Meanwhile, the listed multinational company announced that it would give 100 per cent cash dividend for the year, the lowest in over a decade.

As per the board’s decision on Thursday, the company will pay Tk 540 crore to its shareholders for the year, which is the cash dividend declared and represents only 30 per cent of the total profits.

Last year its earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 33.11, compared to Tk 33.10 a year earlier (2022).

The cigarette maker will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on March 28 and the record date for entitlement of the dividend is on March 3.

The company's consolidated net operating cash flow, a measure of a company's ability to generate cash from its operations, dropped sharply by 63 per cent year-on-year to Tk 18.90 per share in 2023.

The net asset value, which refers to the excess of total assets over total liabilities, reached Tk 99.33 per share for 2023, up from Tk 76.27 in the previous year.

BAT Bangladesh paid a total of 200 per cent cash dividend for the year 2022, which was the lowest since 2015.

The country’s tobacco-industry market leader’s net profit was Tk 1,787 crore in 2022 against Tk 1,497 crore in 2021. Its 2022 profit was up 37.47 per cent from the profit outlay of Tk 1,089 crore in 2020.

It disbursed a 275 per cent cash dividend in 2021, 600 per cent in 2020, 400 per cent in 2019, 500 per cent in 2018, 600 per cent in 2017, 600 per cent in 2016, and 550 per cent in 2015.

BAT shares remained stuck at the floor price of Tk 518.7 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange trading board since September 7 last year.

BAT Bangladesh manufactures a wide array of tobacco products, namely Benson & Hedges, John Player Gold Leaf, Capstan, Star, Royals, Lucky Strike, Derby, Pilot, Flag, and Hollywood.

It got listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 1977.

Headquartered in Dhaka, the company has cigarette factories in Dhaka and Savar. Besides, it operates a green leaf threshing plant in Kushtia and a green leaf re-drying plant in Manikganj.