British American Tobacco ups payout despite smoking slump

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British America Tobacco, the outfit behind brands such as Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike, did share buybacks of £750 million last year and plans to raise that amount in 2012. The full-year dividend also rises 11% to 126.5p.

The company, which made 705 billion cigarettes last year, has seen smoking decline in western Europe and North America and offset that with higher prices and by making gains from growth in developing markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Romania and Russia.

Chairman Richard Burrows said: "The economic climate around the world is far from settled but we remain confident that our strategy should continue to generate growth for our shareholders in the years ahead."

BAT has not been immune from tough economies.
Higher prices meant that while underlying global volumes fell 0.4% last year, revenue rose 3% to £14.4 billion.