type public limited company traded as lse bats nyse mkt bti jse bti industry tobacco founded 1902 ; 114 years ago 1902 headquarters london united kingdom area served worldwide key people richard burrows chairman nicandro durante chief executive products cigarettes revenue 13.104 billion 2015 1 operating income 4.557 billion 2015 1 net income 4.522 billion 2015 1 total assets 46.45 billion 2016 2 subsidiaries tekel bentoel group souza cruz niemeyer website www.bat.com british american tobacco plc bat is a british multinational tobacco company headquartered in london united kingdom . 3 it is one of the world s five largest tobacco companies . 4 bat has a market leading position in over 50 countries and operations in around 180 countries . 5 6 its four largest selling brands are dunhill lucky strike kent and pall mall with others including kool benson & hedges and rothmans . bat has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . it has a secondary listing on the johannesburg stock exchange and on the nairobi securities exchange contents 1 history 1.1 1902 to 2000 1.2 2000 to present 2 operations 2.1 current 2.2 former 3 senior management 4 sponsorships 4.1 motorsport 5 controversies 5.1 canadian class action lawsuit 5.2 australian lawsuit 5.3 hmrc fine for oversupply 5.4 bribery in rwanda burundi kenya 5.5 pakistani lobbying efforts 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit 1902 to 2000 edit james buchanan duke the company was formed in 1902 when the united kingdom s imperial tobacco company and the american tobacco company of the united states agreed to form a joint venture the british american tobacco company ltd. 7 the parent companies agreed not to trade in each other s domestic territory and to assign trademarks export businesses and overseas subsidiaries to the joint venture . james buchanan duke became its chairman and the british american tobacco business began life in countries as diverse as canada china germany south africa new zealand and australia but not in the united kingdom or in the united states . 7 in china bat inherited a factory in the pudong district of shanghai from w.d. & h.o. wills one of the precursor companies of imperial tobacco . 8 under the management of james augustus thomas from rockingham north carolina usa by 1919 the shanghai factory was producing more than 243 million cigarettes per week . 9 thomas worked closely with the local wing tai vo tobacco company which developed into bat s principal chinese partner after its success with the ruby queen cigarette brand . 10 in 1911 the american tobacco company sold its share of the company . imperial tobacco gradually reduced its shareholding but it was not until 1980 that it divested its remaining interests in the company . 7 at its peak in 1937 bat manufactured and distributed 55 billion cigarettes in china . the company s assets were seized by the japanese in 1941 following their 1937 invasion . in 1953 the company was ejected from china following the foundation of the people s republic . 8 in 1976 the group companies were reorganised under a new holding company b.a.t industries . in 1994 bat acquired its former parent american tobacco company though reorganised after anti trust proceedings . this brought the lucky strike and pall mall brands into bat s portfolio . 11 in 1999 it merged with rothmans international 12 which included a share in a factory in burma . this made it the target of criticism from human rights groups . it sold its share of the factory on 6 november 2003 after an exceptional request from the british government . 13 2000 to present edit the globe house british american tobacco s current headquarters in 2002 bat lost a lawsuit about the right to sell cigarettes under the marlboro brand name in the uk . it had acquired rothmans which had previously bought a licence to use the name from philip morris . philip morris attorneys invoked a get out clause for the case of a major change of ownership . 14 in 2003 bat acquired ente tabacchi italiani eti s.p.a italy s state tobacco company . the important acquisition would elevate bat to the number two position in italy the second largest tobacco market in the european union . the scale of the enlarged operations would bring significant opportunities to compete and grow eti s local brands and bat s international brands . 15 in august 2003 bat acquired a 67.8 % holding in the serbian tobacco company duvanska industrija vranje div allowing local manufacture of its brands freeing them from import duties . in the longer term export opportunities are planned as neighbouring countries in south east europe developed free trade agreements . 16 in july 2004 the u.s. business of british american tobacco brown & williamson was combined with that of r. j. reynolds tobacco company r. j. reynolds under the r. j. reynolds name . r. j. reynolds and brown & williamson were the second and third ranking u.s. tobacco companies prior to the combination . when they combined r. j. reynolds became a subsidiary of reynolds american with bat holding a 42 % share . in january 2007 bat closed its remaining uk production plant in southampton with the loss of over 600 jobs . however the global research and development operation and some financial functions will continue on the site . 17 then in 2008 bat acquired turkey s state owned cigarette maker tekel . in july 2008 bat acquired the cigarette and snus operations of the scandinavian tobacco company . 18 bat acquired 60 % of indonesia s bentoel group in 2009 19 before increasing its stake to 100 % the following year . 20 in may 2011 bat acquired the colombian company productora tabacalera de tabacos s.a. protabaco . 21 operations edit current edit one of british american tobacco s most popular products lucky strike international brands include dunhill kent north state lucky strike pall mall vogue rothmans international winfield state express 555 kool and viceroy . however british american tobacco does not necessarily own the rights to all of these brands in every nation they are marketed . local brands owned by british american tobacco include benson & hedges bangladesh belmont colombia chile nicaragua and venezuela jockey club argentina stradbroke australia hollywood brazil du maurier canada prince denmark north state finland hb germany sopianae hungary wills india ardath bentoel and country indonesia carrolls carrolls kings grand parade black allen germany sweet afton major ireland boots alas mexico gold leaf bangladesh pakistan jan iii sobieski poland yava gold russia courtleigh south africa benson & hedges dunhill kent pall mall perilly s peter stuyvesant and rothmans malaysia parisienne switzerland maltepe turkey and xon uzbekistan craven a vietnam and jamaica as well as bat snus holiday freedom and park drive new zealand royals uk embassy kenya viceroy newport lucky strike in dominican republic and delta in el salvador . on 11 june 2006 r. j. reynolds tobacco company announced that it would be manufacturing camel brand snus in sweden in partnership with british american tobacco ; the product would be test marketed in portland oregon and austin texas by the end of the month . 22 the bentoel group products include bentoel biru bentoel mild bentoel sejati star mild x mild 1 indonesia masyarakat dahulukan pencapaian dahulukan taking the principle of 1malaysia neo mild uno mild and one mild club mild dunhill fine cut mild bintang buana tali jagat pr1nsip joged rawit ardath benson & hedges and country . the gelora djaja products include wismilak spesial wismilak slim wismilak diplomat galan slim galan mild and milday . former edit bat has diversified into various fields at different times in its history . its u.s. retail division batus retail group acquired gimbels kohl s and saks fifth avenue in the 1970s and marshall field s and its divisions in 1982 . the united kingdom retail chain argos was purchased in 1979 . kohl s grocery stores were sold to a & p in 1983 . in 1986 batus sold the kohl s department stores and two marshall field s divisions the crescent and frederick & nelson ; batus closed gimbels the same year with many locations being absorbed by sister division marshall field s as well as allied stores stern s and pomeroy s divisions . in 1990 marshall field s was sold to dayton hudson corporation now target corporation ivey s another marshall field s division was sold to dillard s saks fifth avenue was sold to investcorp s.a. and argos was demerged argos was acquired by previous parent company gus plc in 1998 . the group was a major financial services company with the acquisitions of eagle star 1984 23 allied dunbar 1985 and the farmers group inc. 1988 . around 1996 british american tobacco merged their financial operations into a single operating unit british american financial services bafs . this division was merged with zurich insurance company in 1998 to form the zurich financial services group . 24 b.a.t still owns the minority interest in zurich . senior management edit nicandro durante became the chief executive in march 2011 . 25 sponsorships edit bat have found many imaginative ways over the years to keep its brands in the public eye . itc limited in which bat holds a minority share as recently as 1996 secured an arrangement to sponsor the cricket world cup which was branded the wills world cup and thereby achieved a high level of brand recognition for the wills cigarette brand in india where young cricket fans were a key target market . 26 bat also sponsor the london symphony orchestra . 27 motorsport edit jacques villeneuve driving for bar at the 1999 canadian grand prix . in 1997 bat brought its participation in the sport to new levels with the purchase of the tyrrell team for approximately 30 million . the team raced as tyrrell for the 1998 season before being renamed as british american racing bar . 28 although formula one is an exceptionally expensive sport for bat the high cost of running an f1 team was justified as a promotional expense because there were few other opportunities for brand promotion . however in 2005 a european union eu directive was brought into force which required national governments to legislate to prevent tobacco sponsorship . 29 in 2004 bar announced that technology partner honda had purchased a 45 % stake and in september 2005 it announced that honda would be buying the remaining 55 % stake . the team raced as honda racing f1 team in 2006 the last year of the lucky strike sponsorship before leaving the sport . for the 2006 season the team was renamed as honda f1 racing team with bat only advertised at a couple of races . all links between the two companies were severed for 2007 . 30 controversies edit the nigerian federal government filed a lawsuit against bat and two other tobacco companies in 2007 . nigeria is seeking 42.4 billion 34.4 billion of which the government seeks in anticipation of the future cost of treating nigerians for tobacco related illnesses . they are also seeking 1.04 billion as a fine for the companies advertising and marketing campaign allegedly targeting nigerian youth and has asked the companies to fund an awareness campaign to educate young people about the dangers of their product . several nigerian state governments have filed similar petitions . 31 in 2008 the company was the subject of a bbc two documentary in which duncan bannatyne investigated the marketing practices of the company in africa and specifically the way the company targets younger africans with branded music events competitions and the sale of single cigarette sticks . many of the practices uncovered by bannatyne appeared to break bat s own code of conduct and company standards . towards