(Reuters) – British American Tobacco on Wednesday reported better-than-expected revenue for the first half of the year as the Lucky Strike cigarette maker added a record number of new customers for its vaping products.
Total adjusted revenue came in at 12.18 billion pounds ($16.90 billion) for the six months ended June 30, ahead of the 12.02 billion pounds analysts had expected, according to a company-supplied estimate.
The company also kept its full-year forecast for over 5% sales growth in constant currency terms.
The London-listed company said it added 2.6 million more customers in the first half, bringing its total user base of non-combustible products to 16.1 million, a new record.
Adjusted earnings per share for the first half came in at 154.2 pence, ahead of the 151.5 pence average estimate.
The Vuse e-cigarettes and glo tobacco heating products maker also stuck to growth expectation for constant currency adjusted earnings per share in the mid-single digit range for the full-year.
($1 = 0.7209 pounds)
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
