Tobacco giant British American Tobacco released its first-half financial report today. The financial report shows that the overall sales in the first half of the year was nearly 13 billion pounds, and e-cigarette revenue increased by nearly 50% to 590 million pounds.

Jack Bowles, chief executive of British American Tobacco, said: "I'm proud that our continued momentum in new categories is driving an even faster transformation, with revenue up 45% in the first half of 2022 and 51% in fiscal 2021, and we are delivering strong operational performance. and business transformation.

"I'm particularly proud that the number of consumers using our non-combustible brand has surpassed the milestone of 20 million in the first half of the year. Our A Better Tomorrow mission, in partnership with our well-established multi-category strategy, continues to drive growth."

“Our revenue performance is underpinned by our three strong global new category brands, with non-combustibles now accounting for 14.6% of revenue. Revenue growth has outpaced volume growth in all three new categories. We are confident of reaching $5 billion by 2025 New category revenue and profitability in sterling.”

“Furthermore, the contribution of new categories increased by more than 50% in the first half of the year, reducing losses by £281 million during the period, while our investment in transformation continued to increase, with investment in new categories totalling £1.1 billion in the first half of the year.”

"The second half of the year is definitely going to be exciting from an innovation standpoint. We're launching a new glo system proposition, the hyper X2, as well as a new line of consumables in the THP category, and we're enjoying strong growth. Also, we'll continue to consolidate Our international leadership in Vapour, expanding our portfolio with the launch of our new single-use vapor platform, Vuse Go. This will be scaled up and rolled out to many new markets following our successful pilot in the UK in the first half of 2022 ”

“Our combustibles business continues to add value share through solid pricing. In addition, we saved £1.5bn of Quantum six months ahead of schedule and our progress continues. We now expect to exceed £1.5bn by the end of the year ”

“We have a strong and resilient U.S. portfolio with a growing share of value in combustibles and steam. We continue to increase our premium share in combustibles, and to date we have not seen our combustibles portfolio downside trading has accelerated.”

"Of course, we are not immune to mounting macroeconomic pressures, exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. However, thanks to our strong brand, operational agility and continued strong cash generation, we are well positioned to navigate the current volatile environment."

"I am delighted that, thanks to the hard work and commitment of BAT employees around the world, we have achieved our operational performance and business transformation in a challenging environment."

"With a strong start to the year, I am confident that we can achieve our full-year guidance. While we know there is more work to be done, these results show that we are making tremendous progress in making our transition to a better tomorrow faster. "

British American Tobacco's profits fell by a quarter after it decided to withdraw from the Russian market.

British American Tobacco's operating profit fell to £3.68bn in the first six months of the year, despite a 45% rise in total revenue due to strong demand for non-combustible new tobacco products.

The drop in revenue was mainly due to a £957m impairment charge on the planned transfer of BAT's business in Russia, where it controls about 25% of the tobacco market.

Investigations into alleged sanctions breaches by the US Department of Justice and the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control have resulted in a further £450m in costs.

Earnings were further impacted by British American Tobacco's Quantum restructuring plan, which included an exit from the Egyptian market and a planned closure of a factory in Singapore.

However, the FTSE 100 company said Quantum achieved annualised savings of £1.5bn six months ahead of schedule, with further savings on track by the end of 2022.

British American Tobacco also continues to expect full-year revenue growth of 2% to 4% and is confident of its target of being profitable and generating £5bn from its new category portfolio by 2025.

Revenue from the group's three non-combustible new tobacco product brands Velo, Vuse and Glo rose 45.4% to £1.28bn in the first half of the year.

Vuse saw the biggest increase in sales, soaring 55.2% to £617m, as huge demand for its Alto e-cigarettes helped the brand become the market leader in 34 US states.

In addition to this, BAT's tobacco heating products revenue increased by 38.6% due to higher volumes and volume share in Europe and the growing popularity of the Glo Hyper device.

More than 20 million people now use at least one of the company's non-combustible brands, which now provide 14.6% of its total revenue, although BAT says it is still losing £222 million in the sector.

In the second half of 2022, the company will expand its product range with the launch of the Glo Hyper X2, and expand its Vuse Go platform to more markets following trials in the UK.

However, while BAT is trying to increase its trade share in the new category, Bowles said the company has not seen an "acceleration of markdown deals" for its combustibles products.

Sales of traditional cigarette brands including Dunhill, Rothman and Pommel rose by around £250m as higher prices offset lower volumes from the sale of the Iran business, the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine and lower production in the US and Turkey.

Steve Clayton, fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Tobacco will always be a controversial industry, but BAT is moving towards a future where its products are less harmful.

"At the same time, the group's ability to generate reliable cash flow and dividends remains unimpeded, and as debt is reduced, the group's financial attractiveness is improving."

British American Tobacco shares were up 0.4% at 3,485.5p late on Wednesday morning, meaning its value has risen by more than 25% over the past year