Trading statement confirmed:
That trading in the second half of 2017 has proceeded in line with its expectations and that it remains confident of recording solid full-year earnings growth
BATS expects to report organic operating profit growth for the second half
The company added that its full-year earnings per share will benefit from a currency translation tailwind of 5%
Forecasts that volumes in the tobacco industry as a whole will fall 4% in 2017
As of 8.56am the stock was trading down c.0.5% at c.5017p