BAT restructures for e-cigarettes

Group restructures management and targets share in vaping -products market

British American Tobacco said on Thursday that it had reorganised its regional management structure following the acquisition of Reynolds American to bring its vaping and heated tobacco products into the main business.

British American Tobacco (BAT) has reorganised its regional management structure, following the acquisition of Reynolds American to bring its vaping and heated tobacco products into the main business.

“Now that we have built a successful NGP [next generation products] business, which is poised for substantial growth, we will be fully integrating NGP to leverage the scale and expertise of the whole group to drive growth in an area that is fast becoming a key part of our mainstream business,” BAT said in a statement on Thursday. Kingsley Wheaton, MD of NGP, would manage the integration process, the company said.

BAT has been looking to double the number of countries in which it sells vaping products in 2017 and again in 2018 as it chases rivals Philip Morris International to grab a share of a growing market.

BAT and Philip Morris were the first of the big tobacco groups to invest in cigarette alternatives, as growing health consciousness reduces traditional smoking. Philip Morris is ahead of BAT in the market for tobacco-based vaping devices, which some analysts think will be more popular than traditional e-cigarettes with regular smokers. In July, BAT completed the acquisition of Reynolds American in a deal valued at more than $49bn, which the company said would help increase its position in the small but growing global market for vaping products and electronic cigarettes.

BAT said earlier in 2017 that it had the biggest vaping business outside the US and intended to take Reynolds American’s own NGP portfolio, led by vaping brand Vuse, into its international markets.

Also in July, the US Food and Drug Administration proposed cutting nicotine in cigarettes to “nonaddictive” levels in a major regulatory shift designed to move smokers towards potentially less harmful e-cigarettes.

BAT, which in January quit plans to market a nicotine inhaler called Voke, plans to double the number of markets in which it offers cigarette alternatives in 2017, and again in 2018.

Under the management reorganisation, BAT said it had appointed Jack Bowles, hitherto director for the Asia-Pacific region, to the newly created role of chief operating officer for the international business, excluding the US.

Ricardo Oberlander has been appointed regional director for the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa and Tadeu Marroco has been made head of Europe and North Africa.

Johan Vandermeulen will become the director for the new Asia-Pacific and Middle East region.