The British American Tobacco Kenya has announced its full year financial results for the year ended 31st December 2017.
The company has registered a profit after tax of 3.3 billion shillings with gross revenues standing at 34.5 billion shillings.
During the result announcement, it was decided that the company’s shareholders will receive a total dividend of 26 shillings per share.
“The Company navigated an unexpectedly difficult trading environment in Kenya and across our export markets to deliver a solid set of results in challenging circumstances,” said Mr. George Maina, BAT Kenya Board Chairman.
BAT said it had contributed 18 billion shillings to the government through revenues during the year 2017.
“The Nairobi factory remains a manufacturing hub for our operations with over 60 percent of our production being exported to over 13 countries in the region. In 2017, the export business generated USD 89 million for the Kenyan economy, solidifying our position as a top foreign exchange earner,” read the statement from the company.
The tobacco industry is currently incurring per unit costs on excise tax stamps, which are 87 percent higher than those being incurred by manufacturers of similar excisable products.
“For us, this translates to an unjustified and unsustainable 350 million shillings increase in the annualized cost of compliance. While we appreciate the critical role tax stamps play in authenticating duty paid products, tax stamps should not come at a significant cost to the manufacturer or become a revenue-generating measure, as the current cost appears to be,” said BAT.