KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): British American Tobacco (M) Bhd (BAT), the largest tobacco company in the country, is requesting for a moratorium on further excise duty hikes from the government, following three consecutive increases since 2013.

"We are calling on the government to moderate the policy...[we are asking for an] excise duty moratorium after [the hikes in the past] three years, to give time for consumers to recover their purchasing power, for illicit cigarettes to go down," BAT managing director Stefano Clini told reporters, after the group's annual general meeting today.

The local tobacco industry has seen three rounds of excise hikes between 2013 and 2015. Tax on tobacco was first hiked by 14% in September 2013, 12% in November 2014 and by a whopping 36% in November 2015.

Clini also said the decision to close down its manufacturing plant in Petaling Jaya is not to protest against the government's several rounds of excise duty hike.

"No, I wouldn't say so [that it was a protest]. It is true, though it [the latest excise duty hike] led to a significant drop in volume. It's not a protest. It's the right thing to do to create shareholders' value," he explained.

Clini said the company is assessing where to source its tobacco products now, which will likely be from Singapore, Korea and Indonesia.

BAT's market share grew 0.9 percentage points (ppt) to reach 62.1% in financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY15).

In FY15, the group posted a 1.69% increase in net profit to RM913.31 million, from RM898.13 million in FY14, despite revenue falling 4.58% to RM4.58 billion, from RM4.8 billion a year ago.

At 4.01pm today, BAT shares were unchanged at RM54.50, giving it a market capitalisation of RM15.56 billion.