Diversity and inclusion a key driver of BAT's transformation
journey as it builds A Better Tomorrow
BAT continues to move up the FT Diversity Leader
rankings
BAT sets ambitious global diversity and inclusion ambitions
for 2025
LONDON, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The BAT Group (BAT)
has today been named as a Diversity Leader by the Financial Times
for a second consecutive year.
The prestigious FT Diversity Leaders report recognises the top
850 companies across 16 European countries that have achieved a
diverse and inclusive workplace. It assesses key areas including:
Gender balance; sexual orientation; and a workforce comprised of an
ethnic and social mix that reflects wider society.
Diversity and inclusion have been a key part of BAT's heritage
which goes back 120 years. Today, BAT is proud to have 141
nationalities in management positions in its operations
across 189 countries, and 87 nationalities in its London head office alone. This year, BAT set
itself new diversity and inclusion ambitions to achieve by 2025
including:
- Increasing the number of women in senior leadership teams to
40%
- Increasing the number of women in management roles to 45%
- Achieving a 50% spread of nationalities within key leadership
teams to better mirror BAT's consumer base.
Attracting and retaining an increasingly diverse workforce, and
providing a welcoming, inclusive working environment is a key
driver in BAT's transformation journey. BAT is committed to its
purpose to build A Better Tomorrow by reducing the health
impact of its business through providing a range of enjoyable and
less risky products. The company continues to be clear that
combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way
to avoid these risks is not to start or to quit. BAT encourages
those who would otherwise continue to smoke, to switch completely
to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives.
Hae In Kim, Director of Talent, Culture and Inclusion, at
BAT, said:
"We are delighted to be named as a Diversity Leader by the
Financial Times for the second year running. This recognition
acknowledges our ongoing commitment to fostering a diverse and
inclusive culture at BAT underpinned by our ethos which encourages
our employees to be Bold, Fast, Empowered, Responsible and
Diverse. We are proud of what we have achieved so far, and
recognise, like many other businesses, we can and must still do
more.
"We are accelerating our focus on Diversity and Inclusion to
create a dynamic and inspiring workplace that will propel BAT into
the future and create A Better Tomorrow for all the communities in
which we operate."
About BAT
BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business,
established in 1902. Our purpose is to build A Better Tomorrow by
reducing the health impact of our business through offering a
greater choice of enjoyable and less risky products for our
consumers. The company has announced a target of increasing the
number of its non-combustible product consumers from 11 million to
50 million by 2030; and to achieve at least £5 billion in New
Categories revenues in by 2025. BAT has also committed to
encouraging those who otherwise continue to smoke, to switch
completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk
alternatives.
- BAT has a wide number of diversity initiatives aimed at
attracting and retaining diverse talent to its business,
including:
- B United, which provides mentoring and a support system for
LGBTQ+ employees
- Women in Leadership, which seeks to accelerate the performance
and potential of female talent
- Women in STEM, which aims to encourage more women into
science
- Parents@BAT, which supports those seeking to balance work and
family
About FT Diversity Report
The FT Diversity Leaders report is compiled from extensive
research that surveyed over 100,000 employees across Europe who rated their own, and other
employers, on a range of diversity and inclusion metrics.
https://www.ft.com/reports/diversity-leaders
Forward Looking Statements
This communication contains certain forward-looking statements,
including "forward-looking" statements made within the meaning of
Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of
words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may,"
"would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict,"
"will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy,"
"outlook", "target" and similar expressions. These include
statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current
expectations concerning, amongst other things, our results of
operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth,
strategies and the economic and business circumstances occurring
from time to time in the countries and markets in which the BAT
Group operates.
All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and
assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause actual future financial condition,
performance and results to differ materially from the plans, goals,
expectations and results expressed in the forward-looking
statements and other financial and/or statistical data within this
communication. Among the key factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to the
following: the impact of competition from illicit trade; the impact
of adverse domestic or international legislation and regulation;
changes in domestic or international tax laws and rates and the
impact of an unfavourable ruling by a tax authority in a disputed
area; adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of
such outcomes on the BAT Group's financial condition; changes or
differences in domestic or international economic or political
conditions; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse decisions
by domestic or international regulatory bodies; the impact of
market size reduction and consumer down-trading; translational and
transactional foreign exchange rate exposure; the impact of serious
injury, illness or death in the workplace; the ability to maintain
credit ratings and to fund the business under the current capital
structure; the inability to develop, commercialise and rollout New
Categories; and changes in the market position, businesses,
financial condition, results of operations or prospects of the BAT
Group.
It is believed that the expectations reflected in this
communication are reasonable, but they may be affected by a wide
range of variables that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those currently anticipated. Past performance is no
guide to future performance and persons needing advice should
consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking
statements reflect knowledge and information available at the date
of preparation of this communication and the BAT Group undertakes
no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such
forward-looking statements.
No statement in this communication is intended to be a profit
forecast and no statement in this communication should be
interpreted to mean that earnings per share of BAT for the current
or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the
historical published earnings per share of BAT.
Additional information concerning these and other factors can be
found in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Annual Report on Form
20-F filed on 26 March 2020 and
Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge
at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov, and the Company's Annual
Reports, which may be obtained free of charge from the British
American Tobacco website www.bat.com.
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