London, March 3, 2026, 09:07 GMT — Regular session
- BAT shares were little changed in early London trade, holding near recent highs.
- The company disclosed a new tranche of share repurchases under its ongoing buyback.
- Investors are watching the March 26 ex-dividend date and ongoing updates on U.S. vaping regulation.
British American Tobacco shares were little changed early on Tuesday after the company disclosed another share repurchase under its buyback programme. The stock was down 2 pence, or 0.04%, at 4,616 pence by 0907 GMT, after trading between 4,590 and 4,654 pence and sitting just under a 52-week high of 4,673. 1
The steady tape matters because BAT’s buyback and quarterly dividend remain the two numbers most investors can pin down day-to-day. Buybacks trim the share count, which can lift per-share measures even when the business is growing slowly.
BAT said it bought back 92,891 ordinary shares on March 2, paying between 4,613 pence and 4,669 pence. The volume-weighted average price — a metric that weights each trade price by the number of shares in that trade — was 4,639.8420 pence, it said, adding it intends to cancel the shares. 2
A separate disclosure on Monday put BAT’s voting share count at 2,174,922,198 as of Feb. 27, and said the company held 132,976,327 shares in treasury. Treasury shares are stock a company has bought back and holds; they typically carry no voting rights and can be cancelled later. 3
The repurchases sit inside a programme BAT said would run from Feb. 12 through April 22, with Banco Santander executing trades independently within preset limits. The purpose is to reduce share capital, with repurchased shares to be cancelled, the company said. 4
The bigger debate is still about growth in “new categories” such as nicotine pouches and vaping, where BAT is chasing volume while regulators tighten the screws. In February, CEO Tadeu Marroco said he was “extremely encouraged” by Velo’s U.S. performance, while interim finance chief Javed Iqbal said an AI-led productivity plan “will have an impact on the size of the organisation.” 5
But the downside case is familiar: unregulated vape sales keep pressure on pricing, enforcement stays slow, and legal or regulatory calls land the wrong way. BAT has said it expects a full U.S. International Trade Commission determination in March in one case linked to blocking imports of certain disposable vapes, a timeline traders still flag for headline risk. 6
For income-focused holders, the next hard date is the dividend. BAT said it declared an interim dividend of 245.04p per share for 2025, paid in four quarterly instalments of 61.26p; the shares are due to trade ex-dividend on March 26, with the first 2026 payment scheduled for May 7. 7
What’s next is straightforward: March 26 for the ex-dividend cut-off, then the next buyback disclosures and any clarity on the ITC’s March decision window.
