04/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JUNE 4, 2025

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BAT lifts annual sales growth target to 1%-2% LONDON: British American Tobacco (BAT) nudged up its annual sales growth target yesterday to 1%-2%, saying revenue in the first half was ahead of expectations and sales in the United States were picking up. alternatives such as vapes, and as regulations tighten.

Aedifica, Cofinimmo agree to merge to become largest REIT in Europe BRUSSELS: Belgian healthcare real estate company Aedifica has agreed to merge with real estate investment trust Cofinimmo, the companies said in a joint statement yesterday. The combined group will have a gross asset value of €12.1 billion (RM58 billion), making it the largest real estate investment trust (REIT) in Europe and the fourth largest in the world, they said. Shareholders of both companies are expected to benefit from operational synergies of around €16 million, and their EPRA earnings per share are expected to be accretive for all shareholders, they added. “Complementary geographic footprints, aligned strategic focus on healthcare, and comparable portfolio sizes, earnings profiles, and capital structures will provide a strong foundation for value creation,”the companies said. Aedifica has launched an exchange offer at an exchange ratio of 1.185 new Aedifica shares for each Cofinimmo share. It had previously launched a takeover bid in May, offering 1.16 of its shares for each share received, which it said implied a more than 20% premium to Cofinimmo’s stock price. The companies’ boards unanimously support the tie-up and said Cofinimmo chairman Jean Hilgers would succeed Aedifica’s Serge Wibaut as the group’s chairperson upon its completion. The proposed exchange offer is expected to open for acceptance on or about Sept 1, and the combined group will retain a primary listing on Euronext Brussels and be included in Belgium’s blue chip index. Shares of Cofinimmo gained 3% in early trading in Brussels while those of Aedifica rose 0.5%. – Reuters US-India trade deal expected soon WASHINGTON: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday voiced optimism for a trade deal soon with India to avoid tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump. “You should expect a deal between the United States and India in the not too distant future,” he told the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, which promotes relations between the two countries, calling himself “very optimistic”. Trump has set a delayed deadline of July 9 for countries to avoid sweeping tariffs, as he seeks to shake up the global economy to correct what he says is unfairness to the United States. Lutnick, a strong advocate of tariffs, said he was a “great fan” of India – but voiced longstanding concern about the emerging economy’s use of tariffs. On tariff negotiations with India, “bringing them down to a level that is reasonable and appropriate so we can be great trading partners with each other, I think is absolutely on the table”, Lutnick said. “There were certain things that the Indian government did that generally rubbed the United States the wrong way. For instance, they generally buy military gear from Russia,” he said. But he said that Trump believed in raising concerns and “the Indian government is addressing it specifically and directly”. – AFP

New Categories reflected this pressure. New Categories sales growth for the year is expected to accelerate to mid-single digits, the company said. The United States accounted for 44% of BAT’s total group revenue in 2024. In February, BAT had warned of a £6.2 billion (RM35.6 billion) hit from a Canadian lawsuit and said tax headwinds in Bangladesh and Australia would dent its performance in 2025. The company, which last month sold a US$1.5 billion stake in Indian consumer goods company ITC, also increased its 2025 share repurchase target to £1.1 billion. – Reuters

“While Combustibles industry volume remains under pressure ... we have stabilised our total industry volume and value share,” CEO Tadeu Marroco said in a trading statement. The industry is also being squeezed by sales of unauthorised, flavoured disposable vapes. Sales of such products amounted to around US$2.4 billion (RM10.2 billion) in the United States in 2024. “The Vapour category remains impacted by the proliferation of illicit vapour products in the US and Canada,” Marroco said, adding that the first-half revenue growth forecast in

The maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes, which had previously forecast 1% sales growth this year, said it expects low-single digit revenue growth in the first half in its New Categories business that includes vapes, tobacco heating products and oral nicotine pouches. British American Tobacco and its peers have been struggling with declining tobacco sales as consumers switch to cheaper brands or

Vehicles sit lined up on a lot near the docks next to a container ship at the Port of Nagoya in Japan. – AFPPIC

Trade war to hobble global economic expansion o OECD warns of hit to incomes and slow job growth, especially in America

imports has gone from 2% in 2024 to 15.4%, the highest since 1938, the OECD said. The OECD also blamed “high economic policy uncertainty, a significant slowdown in net immigration, and a sizeable reduction in the federal workforce”. While annual inflation is expected to “moderate” among the Group of 20 economies to 3.6% in 2025 and 3.2% in 2026, the United States is “an important exception”. US inflation is expected to accelerate to just under 4% by the end of the year, two-times higher than the Federal Reserve’s target for consumer price increases. The OECD slightly reduced its growth forecast for China – which was hit with triple-digit tariffs that have been temporarily lowered – from 4.8% to 4.7% this year. Another country with a sizeable downgrade is Japan: the OECD cut the country’s growth forecast from 1.1% to 0.7%. The outlook for the eurozone economy, however, remains intact with 1% growth. “There is the risk that protectionism and trade policy uncertainty will increase even further and that additional trade barriers might be introduced,” Pereira wrote. “According to our simulations, additional tariffs would further reduce global growth prospects and fuel inflation, dampening global growth even more,” he said. – AFP

Paris today, with US and EU trade negotiators expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the gathering after Trump threatened to hit the European Union with 50% tariffs. The Group of Seven advanced economies is also holding a meeting focused on trade. “For everyone, including the United States, the best option is that countries sit down and get an agreement,” OECD chief economist Alvaro Pereira said in an interview with AFP. “Avoiding further trade fragmentation is absolutely key in the next few months and years.” Trump imposed in April a baseline tariff of 10% on imports from around the world. He unveiled higher tariffs on dozens of countries but has paused them until July to allow time for negotiations. In the OECD report, Pereira warned that “weakened economic prospects will be felt around the world, with almost no exception”. He added that “lower growth and less trade will hit incomes and slow job growth”. The outlook is particularly gloomy for the US. The US economy is now expected to grow by just 1.6% this year, down from 2.2% in the previous outlook, and slow further to 1.5% in 2026, the OECD said. “This reflects the substantial increase in the effective tariff rate on imports and retaliation from some trading partners,” the OECD said. The effective tariff rate on US merchandise

PARIS: The OECD slashed its annual global growth forecast yesterday, warning that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs blitz will stifle the world economy – hitting the United States especially hard. After 3.3% growth last year, the world economy is now expected to expand by a “modest” 2.9% in 2025 and 2026, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said. In its previous report in March, the OECD had forecast growth of 3.1% for 2025 and 3% for 2026. Since then, Trump has launched a wave of tariffs that has rattled financial markets. “The global outlook is becoming increasingly challenging,” said the OECD, an economic policy group of 38 mostly wealthy countries. It said “substantial increases” in trade barriers, tighter financial conditions, weaker business and consumer confidence, and heightened policy uncertainty will all have “marked adverse effects on growth” if they persist. The OECD holds a ministerial meeting in