KUALA LUMPUR: British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd's (BAT Malaysia) net profit eased 1.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to RM71.45 million for the fourth quarter (Q4) ended December 31, 2021, from RM72.72 million previously.
In an exchange filing today, BAT Malaysia said this was attributed to a slight decrease in sales of the group's value-for-money brands - Rothmans and KYO.
Its Q4 revenue jumped 30.5 per cent YoY to RM861.88 million from RM660.23 million, backed by the recovery of the legal tobacco market and easing of Covid-19 restrictions as well as a one-off benefit from implementation of its new route to market strategy.
For the full-year year, BAT Malaysia's net profit rose 17.8 per cent to RM284.86 million from RM241.84 million, while revenue increased 13.8 per cent to RM2.64 billion from RM2.32 billion.
Managing director Nedal Salem said the group was optimistic of its prospects as it continued working towards its purpose of building A Better Tomorrow by reducing the health impact of its business.
"We are encouraged by the Malaysian government's moves towards legalising nicotine vapour products.
"We are hopeful that the government introduces a science-backed framework as is seen in the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand," he said in a separate statement today.
BAT Malaysia said it would focus on tobacco harm reduction, while encouraged by the government's move to legalise vaping products.
It urged the government to establish specific, science-based regulations for this category which would convert one million Malaysians currently vaping to the legal market.
As for the tobacco business, the group said it would remain greatly plagued by the tobacco black market with smugglers now turning from ports which currently have transshipment restrictions imposed to small coastal jetties as smuggling ingress.
The group also urged the government to take effective enforcement actions to shut these channels down to further address illegal supplies of tobacco.
"To effectively address the tobacco black market, measures like enforcement actions to stop supplies from being smuggled into the country must be complemented with measures that address the affordability pressures that consumers in Malaysia currently face.
"As such, the group is hopeful that the government will take cognisance of this so as not to drive more consumers to the tobacco black market," it added.