British American Tobacco sees profits weighted in second half

LONDON (Reuters) - British American Tobacco (BATS.L), the world's second-biggest cigarette company, on Tuesday said its profit growth would be weighted toward the second half of the year, due partly to the impact of foreign exchange.

In the three months to 31 March, the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes said revenue rose 1.7 percent. Excluding the impact of currency fluctuations and acquisitions, revenue rose 6.1 percent.

Like-for-like volume, excluding acquisitions and inventory movements a year ago, rose 1.1 percent.

The company said profit growth would be weighted toward the second half of the year mainly due to the timing of the effect of transactional foreign exchange headwinds and higher selling prices.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Jason Neely)