LONDON, July 1, 2026, 19:14 BST
- British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) shares dropped 3.01% to finish at 4,536p. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.18%.
- Shares dropped as BAT announced plans to cut and outsource around 9,000 jobs, aiming for £600 million in annual savings by 2028.
- BAT dropped under the average price paid in last week’s buybacks, but at Wednesday’s close, a £1.3 billion buyback planned for 2026 would retire about 1.32% of voting shares.
- Philip Morris International Inc. NYSE:PM picked up U.S. FDA modified-risk status for 20 Zyn nicotine pouches, Reuters reported. That ups the ante in the nicotine pouch market where BAT has Velo.
British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) dropped 3.01% to 4,536p on Wednesday. That was a steeper loss than the FTSE 100, which slipped 0.18%. The stock has now fallen for three straight sessions since Friday’s close. Shares traded 14.83% under their May 19 52-week high, MarketWatch data showed.
Trading volume was light. Around 2.57 million shares traded, just 0.78 times the 20-session average, according to MarketScreener. The sharp drop came on smaller volume, so this looked like a quick reset in outlook rather than a large-scale move out.
BAT finished the day with a market value of around £101 billion after shares dropped. The move erased about £3.1 billion from BAT’s equity, based on its stated market cap and price swing. That loss is about five times bigger than the £600 million in yearly savings BAT is targeting from its planned restructuring by 2028.
British American Tobacco plans to cut around 5,500 jobs and shift about 3,500 positions to outside firms, including Accenture PLC NYSE:ACN, the group said Monday. The layoffs will not affect the U.S., which is BAT’s biggest market. CEO Tadeu Marroco said the plan is meant to make BAT “more agile, cost-disciplined and technology-enabled.” Reuters
Chris Beckett, an analyst at BAT investor Quilter Cheviot, told Reuters the share move probably showed “concerns that the business may need to take more drastic action to meet its medium-term targets.” Reuters
| BAT data point | Latest figure | Investor read |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday close | 4,536p | Down 3.01% for the session |
| 20-session volume ratio | 0.78x | Selloff happened on light trading |
| June 22-26 buyback | 597,155 shares | Repurchased at a 4,609.1p average |
| Close versus that buyback average | -1.6% | Shares finished under last week’s buyback mark |
| 2026 buyback at 4,536p | 28.7 million shares | Roughly 1.32% of June 30 share base |
BAT’s buyback is now part of the stock narrative. The company repurchased 117,509 shares on June 26 at an average price of 4,757.67p. By Wednesday, the shares closed 4.7% lower than that price. BAT reported on July 1 that voting shares as of June 30 totaled 2.165 billion.
BAT has signed a closed-period buyback deal with UBS AG London Branch, running June 30 to July 29, just ahead of its half-year results. The goal is share capital reduction, with the shares bought back set to be cancelled.
| Company June 2 guidepost | BAT figure |
|---|---|
| Revenue growth goal | 3%-5%, at the low end |
| Adjusted profits from operations | 4%-6%, skewed to the second half |
| Adjusted diluted EPS | 5%-8% |
| New Category revenue | Mid-teens growth expected |
| Global cigarette volumes | Down about 2.5% |
| 2026 buyback | £1.3 billion |
Nicotine pouches are also in focus. In its June pre-close update, BAT said Velo posted strong double-digit revenue growth. The company also said Velo Plus added 10.4 percentage points to U.S. Modern Oral volume share. But Philip Morris just secured U.S. FDA modified-risk orders for 20 Zyn pouch variants. That gives Philip Morris a new regulatory edge as BAT leans harder on Velo for growth in its New Category unit.
| Tobacco stock | Ticker | 1-day move | 5-day move | 1-year move | Market cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British American Tobacco | LON:BATS | fell 3.01% | off 3.04% in five days | up 32.71% in a year | $134 billion |
| Philip Morris International | NYSE:PM | dropped 1.12% | gained 0.50% this week | up 1.21% on the year | $282 billion |
| Imperial Brands Plc | LON:IMB | lost 0.75% | slipped 0.40% over five days | down 3.28% for the year | $28.48 billion |
BAT holders are in a strange spot. The stock leads its big tobacco peers tracked by MarketScreener over one year, but on Wednesday it fell harder than any of them.
Deutsche Bank’s Damian McNeela kept his Buy on BAT on June 30, sticking with a 5,100p target, MarketScreener said. That price was 12.4% over where BAT finished Wednesday. McNeela’s target now depends on whether cost cuts can hold up the low end of guidance, as Velo and Vuse pick up more growth.
Hargreaves Lansdown lists BAT at a 13.21 price-to-earnings ratio and a 5.30% dividend yield. The delayed quote showed market cap at £97.94 billion. Eyes turn to the July 30 half-year update once the UBS buyback window closes.
