DRAFT PAPER FOR MR. P. SHEEHY ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS
ISSUES
FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS
Issue
The confidence of the financial community in the
long-term
profitability of the Company and therefore in its
merits as a
candidate for the investment of the funds at their
disposal.
Basic Stance
The Group has inherent strengths in both tobacco
and in other
sectors and is well equipped managerially to
exploit those
strengths to the optimum. A full appreciation of
those
strengths has yet to be achieved by key financial
audiences,
with the result that the Company is undervalued on
the London
Stock Exchange.
Strategy
To ensure a steadily improving understanding of
Group strength
and prospects through an active communications
programme.
Current activity by Group Public Affairs
1) Regular briefing of brokers and their analysts.
2) The organisation of meetings between senior
management and
institutional investors, fund managers and their
brokers.
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3) Involvement in the preparation and organisation
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presentations o'n the Group to investor audiences
in the 00
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United Kingdom and the United States.
BAT Industries document for Province of British
Columbia 23 April 1999


4) Arranging contact between brokers' analysts and
operating
groups.
5) Production of printed and audio-visual material
used to
support the financial briefing programme.
6) Management of the B.A.T Industries financial
advertising
programme.
7) Financial and industrial press relations.
8) Monitoring the shareholder profile of the
Company to assist
in the development of a more finely tuned
communications
programme for large investors.
9) Participation in the B.A.T Industries Financial
Public
Relations Working Group with Group Finance
Directors.
Recommendations for Action
1) Implement a more intensive programme for
briefing for key
investors and their advisers. The implications Of
this
are:
a) an improved flow of information to GHQ from
Operating
Groups and their subsidiaries;
b) more regular set-piece presentations to
financial
audiences on the Group and on sectors of its
activity;
c) the identification of and close contact with
key
investment decision makers in the financial
community;
d) the implementation, under GHQ supervision, of a
programme of visits to key Group units in the
United
Kingdom and overseas;
e) regular measurement of the communications
programme's
effectiveness through attitude research, against
the
benchmarks established in the 1979/80 survey.
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BAT Industries document for Province of British
Columbia 23 April 1999


2) Further develop the relationship between the
Company and
its stockbrokers, so that the latter play a more
active
role than they do at present in enhancing the
reputation of
B.A.T Industries among City audiences.
3) Develop a more active contact programme with
shareholders
to reinforce their commitment to the Company.
4) Evaluate the merits of encouraging a more
international
spread of shareholdings and stock exchange
quotations.
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BAT Industries document for Province of British
Columbia 23 April 1999