BRITISH American Tobacco (M) Bhd’s (BAT) is in a buying frenzy with its share price having spiked past 20% to an intraday high of M5.52 in today’s (Feb 10) trading after its net profit for 4Q FY2025 ended Dec 31, 2025 more than doubled to RM121.2 mil.
While this was almost 150% from RM48.97 mil a year ago, the group’s revenue also spiralled 45.2% year-on-year (yoy) to RM947.98 mil (4Q FY2024: RM653.03 mil), thus enabling Bursa Malaysia’s only listed tobacco player to declare a fourth interim dividend of 39 sen/share, up from 15 sen the previous year.
For the 12-month period, BAT Malaysia’s net earnings edged up 10.5% yoy to RM202.45 mil (FY2024: RM183.14 mil) but its revenue was 5.2% lower yoy at RM2.19 bil (FY2024: RM2.31 bil).
BAT Malaysia’s managing director Nedal Salem described the group’s latest performance as “reflecting the resilience of our business in a year marked by market transition”.
“By remaining focused on our core combustible portfolio and maintaining operational discipline, we delivered a solid financial outcome while strengthening the fundamentals for sustainable long-term value creation,” he pointed out.
“Strategic decisions taken during the year, including the transition out of Vuse and the acceleration of cost optimisation initiatives, were critical in sharpening our focus, strengthening cash generation and ensuring the business remains agile and resilient in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment.”
Black market
Operating expenses for the year declined by 16%, driven by cost optimisation efforts and lower Vuse-related costs following the transition but partially offset by higher regulatory implementation expenses.
This proactive cost management helped cushion the impact of lower revenue and volume on the group’s overall performance, resulting in a profit from operations of RM304 mil compared with RM279 mil a year ago.
The group’s legal combustible segment posted a 1.4% decline in volume for the year despite a 3% improvement in illicit incidence with tobacco black market share easing from 57.2% to 54.4%.
However, the gains from reduced illicit trade were insufficient to counter on-going structural pressures as the legal combustible segment continued to be affected by a sustained consumer shift toward reduced-risk products.
Compounded by phased implementations of Public Health Act, the trend contributed to a 1.1% decline in the group’s overall market share.
While the group continue to work closely with enforcement agencies and policymakers to clamp down on avualbility of illicit cigarettes, Nedal cautioned that the recent price hike of cigarettes has its negative side.
“The recent excise duty increase effective Nov 1, 2025 has widened the price gap between legal and illegal tobacco products, thus further incentivising the tobacco black market which remains a critical national issue,” he envisages.
At 10.56am, BAT Malaysia was up 91 sen or 19.91% to RM5.48 with 2.14 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM1.56 bil. – Feb 10, 2026
