Ciggy seller British American Tobacco (BATS) is muscling its way up the pecking order of dividend stalwarts thanks to its 17th consecutive annual payout rise. If that continues as expected, BATS could become the sixth highest payer in the FTSE 100 in 2016, according to consensus forecasts - aided, of course, by payouts from the commodities sector tumbling.
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at
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Besides its income prowess, the company has managed to weather an increasingly challenged market. Excluding its acquisition of Croatian company TDR, cigarette volumes fell 0.8 per cent to 663bn but this was better than an industry decline of 2.3 per cent. Tobacco volumes also fell by the same amount.