Kenya's British American Tobacco FY profit up 65 pct

The cigarette manufacturer said in a statement that total revenues rose to 20.14 billion shillings in 2011 from 13.54 billion, while earnings per share jumped to 30.98 shillings from 17.67 shillings.

BAT said it would pay a final dividend of 27 shillings, bringing the total dividend for the year to 30.50 shillings compared with 17.50 in the previous year.

"The exchange rate benefit on export revenues also contributed to revenue growth. Total domestic and export volumes grew over the previous year driven by higher contract manufacture volumes as well as good performance in the Kenya domestic markets," BAT Kenya said.