Richa Naidu, Aby Jose Koilparambil

(Reuters). -Camel and Lucky Strike cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco Plc announced Friday that it will leave Russia. It also reduced its guidance for fiscal 2022. This is the latest exit from Russia due to safety concerns.

As sanctions were imposed by the United States and the European Union on Moscow, Western firms have withdrawn from Russia in large numbers.

This week, the government appointed a commission to approve the first step toward nationalizing the assets of any foreign firm that leaves the country.

Russia would consider a business exit or stop manufacturing or selling a criminal bankruptcy. They may also enforce criminal actions against local management. Kingsley Wheaton, Chief Executive Officer of BAT (LON) told Reuters that this was possible.

We cannot, conscious or unconscious, expose our people criminal consequences.”

Wheaton stated that the company has approximately 2,500 employees in Russia and would pay them their salary until it transferred its operations to another entity.

He stated that potential interested parties include the Russian distributor who has been selling it for over 30 years.

Russia and Ukraine accounted for 3 percent of the revenue in 2021 and slightly more of the adjusted profit from operations.

This company accounts for just less than a quarter the Russian tobacco market.

This forced the company to reduce its revenue growth forecast to 2%-4%, down from 3% to 5% last month.

The company now expects a mid-single-figure growth in adjusted earnings per share for 2022, on constant currency. This is down from the previous forecast of a high single figure.

On the news, shares fell more than 1 percent in the final hours of trading.

Two days ago, the Russian company announced that it would be withdrawing all planned capital investments in Russia.

BAT declared that Russia is a complex and unpredictable environment and had begun to transfer Russian assets “in strict compliance with all international and local laws”.

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