BRITISH American Tobacco (M) Bhd (BAT Malaysia) today announced that its current managing director Jonathan Reed has resigned from his position to take up the role of group head (combustibles) with British American Tobacco PLC from Sept 1.
Reed will be succeeded by Nedal Salem who is currently the managing director and CEO of Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC).
In a career spanning over two decades in senior marketing and general management roles in Europe, the Middle East, Indonesia, the South Pacific and in his current role in Kuala Lumpur, Reed has left behind a strong legacy of leadership and transformative commercial results across the BAT Group.
During his tenure with BAT Malaysia, Reed has been instrumental in returning the company to growth after years of decline, overseeing share, volume and profit growth as well as leading a fundamental talent and leadership reboot and significant fight against the tobacco black market.
For 1H 2021, BAT Malaysia achieved a profit from operations of RM193 mil, a 25% rise from the RM154 mil in the same period last year while revenue for the same period increased by 13% to RM1.16 bil from the same period last year.
BAT Malaysia also declared a second interim dividend of 24 sen/share, amounting to RM69 mil to be paid out tomorrow (Aug 20) to shareholders.
Salem joined BAT in 1998 as country manager in Jordan and area group brand manager for the Middle East.
He later held the positions of area head of strategy in BAT Middle East from 2006-2008, global senior brand manager in BAT UK from 2008-2011, director (brand marketing) in BAT South Korea from 2011-2015 and head (brand marketing) in BAT Indonesia.
Prior to assuming the role as the managing director at BAT Malaysia, Salem had been the managing director and CEO of CTC since May 2019. He has led CTC in one of its most challenging periods.
During Salem’s tenure, CTC has achieved significant milestones in its corporate governance framework, talent strategy and ESG (environmental, social and government) agenda with a specific focus on becoming the first seed-to-smoke end market to achieve carbon neutrality within the group.
Salem holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in International Business from the George Washington University.
At the close of the mid-morning trading, BAT Malaysia was down 14 sen or 0.99% to RM13.98 with 36,000 shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM3.99 bil. – Aug 19, 2021
