KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): British American Tobacco (M) Bhd (BAT) posted a 9.9% increase in its net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30 to RM241.1 million or 84.4 sen a share, while revenue rose marginally to RM1.2 billion, from RM1.17 billion previously.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, its net profit increased 12.6% to RM714.6 million, while revenue rose 5.9% to RM3.6 billion.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia this evening, BAT said its domestic and duty free sales volumes had declined by 7.3% for the third quarter and 6.2% during the first nine months of the year.

"The rates of decline were bigger that the ones registered up to the month of August, and as such, impacted the financial performance of the group year-to-date," it said.

However, despite the overall volume decline, BAT said its revenue had increased due to the cumulative effect of the price increases in June and September last year.

Looking ahead, the group said it was "cautiously optimistic" of its FY2014 performance, but added this would also depend on the effectiveness of government’s enforcements on illegal cigarette trades.

BAT has declared a dividend of 78 sen per share for the third quarter, making total dividends declared to-date at RM2.31 per share, compared to RM2.04 per share in the same period last year.