British American Tobacco Plc: Plans to reduce workforce by c20%

Research evidence excerpt

British American Tobacco Plc: Plans to reduce workforce by c20%

Equity Research

European Consumer Staples

29 June 2026

British American Tobacco Plc

Plans to reduce workforce by c20%

Bloomberg has reported that BATS intends to reduce its

global workforce by c20% as part of its savings programme.

We think the scale of this reduction is unexpected. BATS.L/BATS LN OVERWEIGHT European Consumer NEUTRAL Staples

Price Target GBp 5400Bloomberg has reported this morning that BATS plans to reduce its c47k global workforce by

Price (26-Jun-26) GBp 4751

c.20%, with c5.5k roles removed and a further 3.5k roles outsourced1 . Note that this excludes Potential Upside/Downside +13.7%

the US biz, but is otherwise broad-based across geographies. Shares are down c-1% at the time Source: Bloomberg, Barclays Research

of writing vs. SXXP index flat.

The restructuring is directly linked to BATS' commitment to deliver ~£600m of annualised cost European Consumer Staples

savings by 2028, as part of its "Fit2Win" savings programme. This sits alongside its wider Pallav Mittal

productivity savings ambition of c£2bn by 2030. +44 (0)20 7773 1376

pallav.mittal@barclays.com

BATS is working with Accenture on outsourcing roles across a number of functions including Barclays, UK

service centres and, as it stands, a number of roles have already been moved across to Morayo Adesina

Accenture. Recall that interim CFO Javed Iqbal had said in February that AI and data analytic +44 (0)20 3134 9537

tools would have an impact on BATS' staffing levels. Recall that BATS has also been morayo.adesina@barclays.com

restructuring in other areas: in January, it announced the closure of its cigarette factory in South Barclays, UK

Africa amidst intensifying competition from the illicit market. Laurence Whyatt