British American Tobacco CFO Benchikh steps down

(Sharecast News) - British American Tobacco said on Tuesday that chief financial officer Soraya Benchikh is stepping down with immediate effect. Benchikh will remain available to support the transition until 31 December.

BAT said a recruitment process to identify a permanent successor is being launched. In the meantime, Javed Iqbal, who is currently director, digital and information, will take on the role on an interim basis.

Iqbal recently acted as the company's interim finance director from May 2023 until April 2024.

Chief executive Tadeu Marroco said: "Soraya has made a significant contribution to BAT, having worked in various roles within the group over many years. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Soraya for her contribution, most recently in her role as chief financial officer since rejoining the group in May 2024. We wish her all the best with her future plans.

"As we set out at our recent results, our performance in the first half of the year was slightly ahead of our expectations, and we are firmly on track to deliver our full year guidance. With the right strategy we intend to continue to deliver on the profitable transformation of BAT, reflected in our stated ambitions for 2026 and beyond. We will update on our continued progress in our pre-close trading update in December."

At 0955 BST, the shares were down 1.3% at 4,259.61p.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The immediate exit of a finance chief at a company raises alarm bells and the reaction to this development at British American Tobacco certainly betrays some nervousness among investors.

"There is no suggestion of anything amiss in the company's statement and, tellingly, Soraya Benchikh will be available to support the switchover until the end of the year.

"Nonetheless, her sudden exit still raises some questions and the market may be disappointed a key architect in turning around the company's financial performance will no longer be a part of the management team - particularly as she has not been there that long.

"Her interim replacement has experience of stepping up on a temporary basis in this role but shareholders will want to see a permanent appointment sooner rather than later."