LONDON — 24 November 2025 — British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT), traded as BATS in London and BTI in New York, stayed firmly on investors’ radar today as a new round of share buybacks, fresh institutional inflows and renewed attention on its hefty dividend confirmed how central the tobacco giant remains to income-focused portfolios.
While no major trading update or profit warning hit the wires, a cluster of regulatory announcements and fund-flow data on 24 November paints a clear picture: BAT is still leaning heavily on buybacks and dividends to support shareholder returns as it navigates regulatory pressure and a leadership transition.
Share buyback programme adds another 130,000 shares
The headline regulatory news for 24 November 2025 is a fresh “Transaction in Own Shares” notice covering BAT’s ongoing buyback programme.
In a Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) announcement, BAT confirmed it repurchased 130,000 ordinary shares of 25p each on 21 November 2025 from Goldman Sachs International under the authority granted at the 16 April 2025 AGM and as part of the buyback programme first announced on 18 March 2024. [1]
Key details from today’s filing:
- Number of shares repurchased: 130,000
- Highest price paid: 4,227.00p per share
- Lowest price paid: 4,174.00p per share
- Volume‑weighted average price: 4,201.98p per share [2]
- Intended treatment: all repurchased shares will be cancelled, not held permanently in treasury. [3]
Following this latest cancellation, BAT reported 2,182,205,365 ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury) and 132,998,061 shares in treasury, which is the new base investors should use when calculating voting rights or percentage holdings. [4]
A parallel notice also appeared in London market feeds as a “Transaction in Own Shares” RNS dated 24 November 2025, underlining that the buyback activity is relevant for both UK‑ and JSE‑listed investors. [5]
For shareholders, today’s filing reinforces three points:
- Capital returns remain a priority. BAT is still deploying cash to reduce the share count despite a challenging regulatory backdrop.
- Support for earnings per share. Cancelling shares rather than keeping them in treasury mechanically boosts EPS over time, assuming stable profits.
- Signal of management confidence. Continuing a multi‑year buyback typically indicates the board sees the shares as undervalued relative to long‑term prospects.
Structured products tied to BAT near auto‑call triggers
A second SENS announcement this morning highlighted how BAT’s share price performance is feeding into the derivatives market.
Investec Bank Limited issued a notice on “Potential automatic exercise of BATIIL”, a Bermudan autocall note where British American Tobacco PLC (London) is the underlying asset. [6]
Key terms disclosed today:
- Underlying asset: British American Tobacco PLC (London listing)
- Initial asset price: 3,410.5 (BAT share level at issuance)
- Expiry date: 17 December 2027
- Style: Bermudan call
- Issue size: 200,000 notes
- Potential automatic exercise date: 8 December 2025
- Condition: closing level of BAT on 8 December 2025, adjusted for dividend performance, must be ≥ the initial asset price
- Cash settlement amount if exercised: R1,690.00 per note [7]
The fact that Investec is now flagging a potential auto‑call tells investors that BAT’s recent share price recovery has brought the notes close to their trigger levels. While structured products are niche, their behaviour offers a useful signal:
- They reflect sustained underlying share performance rather than a single intraday spike.
- Automatic exercises tend to generate additional secondary‑market demand as issuers hedge exposures and investors reinvest maturities.
For BAT, the autocall notice is another datapoint suggesting that the share price has moved decisively away from the deep‑value territory seen in late 2023 and early 2024.
Institutional investor Adalta Capital Management ramps up BTI exposure
Across the Atlantic, US filings highlighted fresh institutional interest in BAT’s New York–listed ADR, BTI.
A report from MarketBeat today shows that Adalta Capital Management LLC increased its stake in British American Tobacco by 285.7% in the second quarter, buying an additional 8,570 BTI shares to bring its holding to 11,570 sharesworth about $557,000 at the time of filing. [8]
The same article notes that several other institutions — including Atlantic Family Wealth LLC, Global Retirement Partners LLC, Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC and Bahl & Gaynor Inc. — have recently initiated positions in BTI. In aggregate, MarketBeat estimates that around 16.16% of BTI’s free float is now held by institutional investors and hedge funds. [9]
Although the absolute position sizes are modest relative to BAT’s £90‑plus billion market capitalisation, this pattern is notable because:
- It suggests renewed interest from yield‑hungry US wealth managers in a mega‑cap tobacco name trading on relatively low earnings multiples.
- The inflows have occurred in spite of recent analyst downgrades and ongoing ESG pressure around tobacco holdings, implying that some investors see value outweighing the reputational and regulatory risk.
Share price and valuation snapshot on 24 November 2025
Today’s closing prices put those flows and buybacks into context.
London listing: BATS
On the London Stock Exchange, BAT’s ordinary shares ended the session with:
- Sell price: 4,238p
- Buy price: 4,240p
- Daily move: +13p (+0.31%)
- Day’s range: 4,259p (open) to 4,280p (intraday high)
- 52‑week high: 4,400p
- Market cap: about £92.23 billion [10]
The broader FTSE 100 edged up only 0.08%, meaning BAT once again outperformed the index on the day. [11] Data from MarketsMojo earlier in the session flagged BAT among the stronger large‑cap performers, even as the FTSE 100 slipped amid a broader risk‑off tone. [12]
New York ADR: BTI
On the NYSE, MarketBeat’s snapshot put BTI at $55.25 in Monday trading, with: [13]
- A 50‑day simple moving average around $53.02
- A 200‑day simple moving average near $51.61
- A 12‑month trading range between $34.82 and $59.29
WallStreetZen, which updated its numbers on 21 November, calculates a market capitalisation of roughly $121.2 billion, a trailing P/E multiple around 29x, and a price‑to‑book ratio close to 2x. [14]
From a valuation angle, GuruFocus places BAT’s forward P/E ratio at about 11.5x as of 24 November 2025, highlighting the gap between the company’s forecast earnings power and the current share price. [15]
Dividend still central to the BAT equity story
For most investors, BAT’s appeal starts with the dividend.
DividendMax data show BAT’s current dividend yield at approximately 5.7% on the London listing, based on an annual payout of 240.24p per share for the year ended 31 December 2024. [16] That total is being paid in four equal quarterly instalments of 60.06p in May, August and November 2025 and February 2026, representing a 2% increase on the 2023 dividend. [17]
Importantly:
- BAT has delivered consecutive annual dividend increases for eight years, according to DividendMax. [18]
- The board is targeting a payout ratio of around two‑thirds of adjusted diluted EPS, which for 2024 came in at roughly 66.3%. [19]
Separate technical analysis from StockInvest.us today flags a “dividend warning” only in the narrow, short‑term sense: the platform notes that BAT is due to go ex‑dividend again on Monday 29 December 2025, with another 60.06p quarterly payment, and points out that shares often show increased volatility around ex‑div dates. [20]
For income‑oriented investors weighing risk versus reward, the trade‑off is clear:
- A near‑6% sterling yield backed by a long record of increases and strong cash generation
- Versus mounting questions about the sustainability of high payouts as regulation tightens and combustible volumes decline
DirectorsTalk Interviews today emphasised both sides of that coin, describing BAT as a “defensive giant” with a 5.68% dividend yield but also flagging a payout ratio above 100% on some earnings measures and a 2.2% revenue contraction in its latest reported period. [21]
Strategic and regulatory backdrop: why the stock is still contentious
Even as buybacks and dividends shine, several 2025 developments continue to weigh on sentiment.
Analyst scepticism on growth targets
In early September, RBC Capital Markets downgraded BAT from “sector perform” to “underperform”, citing concerns about the company’s “New Categories” portfolio — vapes, heated tobacco and modern oral nicotine. The bank argued that BAT’s medium‑term algorithm of 3–5% organic revenue growth and 4–6% EBIT growth was “unfeasible” given a less favourable margin mix as reduced‑risk products scale. [22]
That scepticism remains a live issue for the equity story. While New Categories are central to BAT’s “A Better Tomorrow™” transformation strategy, the capital intensity and lower margins of these products can dilute group profitability if combustible volumes fall too quickly. [23]
Leadership change in the finance function
On 26 August 2025, BAT announced that Chief Financial Officer Soraya Benchikh would step down abruptly after around 15 months in the role. [24]
According to CFO Dive’s report, Benchikh will remain with the company until 31 December 2025 to support a smooth transition, while Javed Iqbal, BAT’s director of digital and information, has been appointed interim CFO — his second spell in that position. [25]
Benchikh pointed to “significant progress” in embedding financial discipline and putting New Categories “on a path to accretive margins and sustainable profitability,” but markets typically treat sudden CFO exits as a risk flag, especially in heavily leveraged, cash‑return‑focused businesses. [26]
Regulatory pressure from Europe to emerging markets
Regulatory risk remains the biggest structural overhang:
- In Malaysia, shares of British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd plunged to a four‑month low on 31 October after earnings collapsed under the weight of new pictorial health warnings, retail display bans and higher excise duty. UOB Kay Hian and Affin Hwang both cut their targets, citing falling legal volumes and rising compliance costs. [27]
- At the European level, a senior BAT executive recently warned that aggressive tax hikes on both traditional and alternative tobacco products risk turning Europe into “another Australia” in terms of illicit trade escalation, arguing that over‑taxation simply pushes consumers towards unregulated channels. [28]
These developments underline the central paradox of BAT’s investment case:
- Governments want to reduce smoking and nicotine usage, often through higher taxes and stricter packaging rules.
- Yet those same measures can erode legal industry volumes faster than smokers actually quit, squeezing compliant players like BAT while leaving illicit markets to fill the gap.
How today’s news fits into the bigger picture
Putting all of 24 November’s headlines together, three themes stand out for British American Tobacco:
- Capital returns remain aggressive.
- Market demand for BAT exposure is broadening.
- Institutional investors like Adalta Capital Management are increasing their BTI stakes, while structured products such as BATIIL autocall notes are close to trigger levels thanks to the share price recovery. [31]
- Fundamental and regulatory questions haven’t gone away.
- RBC’s downgrade, the CFO transition and persistent regulatory headwinds in markets like Malaysia and the EU continue to cap how bullish many analysts are willing to be. [32]
For now, the market’s verdict appears to be one of cautious optimism:
- The share price has rerated sharply from its lows and is now trading closer to analysts’ fair‑value estimates, as noted by DirectorsTalk’s modest 1.5% implied upside. [33]
- Yet valuation metrics like a forward P/E around 11–12x and a high single‑digit cash yield still suggest investors are demanding compensation for real long‑term risks. [34]
What investors will watch next
Looking ahead from today’s news flow, key catalysts for British American Tobacco include:
- Appointment of a permanent CFO and any shift in capital allocation or leverage targets that may follow. [35]
- Execution in New Categories, particularly whether management can deliver on its margin‑accretion promises despite RBC’s concerns. [36]
- Regulatory developments, especially around tax and packaging rules in core geographies such as the EU, the UK and selected emerging markets. [37]
- Next dividend milestones, including the late‑December ex‑dividend date and the February 2026 payment that completes the current 240.24p annual cycle. [38]
For readers tracking BAT for Google News or Discover, today’s story is less about a dramatic headline and more about steady, incremental signals: a company leaning on buybacks and dividends, attracting selective institutional inflows, and slowly earning back market confidence while still operating under a heavy regulatory cloud.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
References
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