Summary
- Revenue down 1.3%, up 3.1% on an organic basis (at constant rates), driven by New Categories organic revenue up 21.0% (at constant rates) and resilient pricing
- Strong volume led New Category revenue growth - driven by Vuse and Velo, with revenue from Non-Combustibles now 16.5% of Group revenue, up 170 bps vs FY22
- New Categories achieved profitability in 2023 (at a category contribution level), two years ahead of original target and contributing a £398 million increase to Group profit, at constant rates of exchange
- Global settlement with Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) that resolves all ongoing patent infringement litigation between the parties related to our Heated Products (HP) and Vapour products
- Total Combustibles organic revenue up 0.6% (at constant rates), with organic price/mix of +6.1% offset by lower volume and geographic mix mainly due to macro-economic pressures in the U.S. impacting the premium segment
- Strong performances from AME and APMEA, demonstrating the benefit our global footprint and multi-category strategy
- Reported loss from operations of £15,751m (with reported operating margin down 95.8 ppts to -57.7%) - impacted by a £27.6 billion non-cash impairment charge mainly related to our U.S. business (£27.3 billion)
- Adjusted organic profit from operations up 3.9% at constant rates, adjusted organic operating margin up 40 bps to 45.6%
- Reported diluted EPS at -646.6p; adjusted organic diluted EPS up 5.2% at constant rates
- Operating cash flow conversion 100% - organic adjusted net debt / adjusted EBITDA down to 2.6x
- Dividend growth of 2.0% to 235.52p, in line with our progressive dividend increase approach
- Continued ESG progress - 2023 MSCI rating upgraded to A (2022: BBB), achieved targets for water withdrawn and waste generated two years early
Dividends
The Board has declared an interim dividend of 235.5p per ordinary share of 25p for the year ended 31 December 2023, payable in four equal quarterly instalments of 58.8795p per ordinary share in May 2024, August 2024, November 2024 and February 2025. This represents an increase of 2.0% on 2022 (2022: 230.9p per share), and a pay-out ratio, on 2023 adjusted diluted earnings per share, of 62.7%.
The quarterly dividends will be paid to shareholders registered on either the UK main register or the South Africa branch register and to holders of American Depositary Shares (ADSs), each on the applicable record dates set out under the heading
Ex div 21 Mar 24, paid 02 May 24.
https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcem ... ts/8027584
Also posted on Company News here; viewtopic.php?p=645495#p645495
I hold these in my HYP, and know others here do too.
Ian.