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BAT Profit Rises 21% on Currencies, Premium Brands (Update5) 

British American Tobacco Plc, Europe's largest cigarette maker, said first-quarter profit gained 21 percent on favorable currency movements and higher sales of the premium Kent, Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands.

Net income climbed to 599 million pounds ($1.18 billion), or 29.73 pence a share, in the three months ended March 31, from 495 million pounds, or 24.06 pence, a year earlier, London-based BAT said today. That beat the 559 million-pound median estimate of six analysts. Revenue rose 14 percent to 2.54 billion pounds.

BAT gained the most in six weeks in London trading after the pound's decline against currencies from the euro to the Brazilian real added 54 million pounds to operating profit. The cigarette maker has also exploited smokers' switch to higher-priced brands such as the ultraslim Kent Nanotek in Russia. A 12-month, $42 billion wave of tobacco mergers reduced competition, enabling companies to raise prices for their costliest brands.

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