British American Tobacco p l c : Responses to Online Questions from Shareholders (0.1 mb)

British American Tobacco p.l.c. ("BAT")* Annual General Meeting 2025: Responses to questions submitted by shareholders via the 'AGM Questions' form on bat.com. This document outlines responses to all questions received by 5.00pm UK time on Tuesday, 8 April 2025, before the proxy deadline on 11.30am on Monday, 14 April 2025.

We would like to thank our shareholders for taking the time to submit questions on these important issues. In the spirit of brevity and clarity, we have, where appropriate, edited the questions and responded as completely and concisely as possible.

QUESTION:

What is a performance share plan?

OUR RESPONSE:

BAT's performance share plan is a way of incentivising our leaders to work towards achieving performance goals, with the promise of an award of shares in the company if those goals are met. It is a conditional share award, based on the company achieving certain performance goals over three financial years, beginning on 1 January of the year of award.

QUESTION:

Does BAT have the right departments and employees in places across its business to ensure costs are kept down while delivering for the consumer? Are BAT's employees appropriately remunerated?

OUR RESPONSE:

As a leading international organisation, our business is complex and requires diverse skillsets and capabilities which enable us to offer adult nicotine consumers a wide range of products. We aim to provide responsible and fair remuneration and benefits to all of our employees globally, and measure this against industry benchmarks.

Revenue was up in 2024, driven by the continued growth of New Categories. We remain a highly cash generative business, and expect our strategy to continue to deliver value for shareholders.

QUESTION:

Can BAT confirm what steps it has taken to address allegations raised by media outlet The Investigative Desk regarding taxes paid by BAT Kenya and if the Company has assessed tax accounting practices in any of its other African markets?

OUR RESPONSE:

BAT Kenya firmly rejects all the allegations made regarding the discrepancy between its published financial disclosures and data referred to by the Investigative Desk.

As a public company listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, BAT Kenya publishes financial disclosures in its Annual Reports and audited Financial Statements in line with the applicable local regulations and international reporting standards.

BAT Kenya reports its total production volumes and sales (domestic & exports) to the Kenya Revenue Authority. The company pays all taxes in line with applicable laws, including excise duty, VAT and corporate income tax.

We have not been given visibility of the Investigative Desk's analysis, and therefore are not in a position to provide a detailed response to the allegations. However, retail prices available in the market include other costs not paid to BAT Kenya and as such, are not included in our revenue data. A calculation of BAT Kenya's revenue based on retail prices and declared volumes would likely result in a figure grossly in excess of BAT Kenya's reported revenues.

BAT does not condone or tolerate illicit trade, or any involvement in illicit trade in its products. We maintain controls to prevent and deter the illegal sale of our products and further, welcome enforcement action on any illegal product across each market, by the relevant government authorities.

QUESTION:

Were any incidences of modern slavery found by BAT in 2024? If so, what happened as a result, and was any remediation made? If no instances were identified, can BAT explain how these are monitored accurately?

OUR RESPONSE:

We recognise that child and forced labour are complex issues and incidents can be hidden or under-reported. This is why, in addition to due diligence, we remain committed to working on addressing root causes.

Our procedures for due diligence, remediation and ongoing monitoring are set out in our Group Code of Human Rights in Tobacco Farming and underpinned by our Group Standards of Business Conduct and Supplier Code of Conduct.

We monitor all our directly contracted farmers on child labour risk and prevention.

In 2024, 117 incidents of child labour were reported on 0.05% of farms in our Thrive Supply Chain, which includes our directly contracted farmers and those of our third- party suppliers who participate in our Thrive programme, representing over 93% of the tobacco we purchased by volume in 2024. 100% of the incidents were reported

as resolved during the growing season. In cases of recurring incidents, a farmer's contract is not renewed for the next season. There were zero recurring incidents in 2024.

Partnerships and community-based programmes are essential in our approach to respecting human rights across our tobacco-growing regions. Notable examples include the Florece program in Mexico, which supports education for children of

labourers; the Probaho program in Bangladesh, providing clean drinking water to rural communities; and Kenya's women's development programme, focussed on women's rights, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and agriculture.

Beyond tobacco leaf, all product materials and higher risk indirect suppliers are in-scope for our labour audits. If an in-scope supplier falls below our minimum standards, we support them to develop an action plan for remediation and we monitor their progress. If a supplier does not show necessary improvements, we terminate the contract, as appropriate, taking into consideration responsible disengagement and relevant OECD Guidance. Through this process, in 2024, 23 suppliers made sufficient improvements to meet our standards and 10 were removed from our supply chain.

By bringing together key stakeholders, we can co-develop solutions to manage human rights issues across our supply chains.

*References in this document to 'British American Tobacco', 'BAT', 'Group', 'we', 'us', and 'our' when denoting opinion refer to British American Tobacco p.l.c. and when denoting business activity refer to British American Tobacco p.l.c. and its subsidiaries, collectively or individually as the case may be, as well as in some circumstances those who work for them. When denoting business activity these collective expressions are used for ease of reference only and do not imply any other relationship between British American Tobacco p.l.c. and its subsidiaries. The companies in which British American Tobacco p.l.c. directly and indirectly has an interest are separate and distinct legal entities.