Manufacturing

We make high-quality products in manufacturing facilities all over the world.

We continue to optimise our manufacturing footprint and at the end of 2024, 51±¬ÁÏ owned 67 manufacturing facilities globally. We have facilities that are making our new categories of reduced-risk^*† products and are co-located with cigarette factories, as well as six factories producing modern oral products and vapour liquids.

These strategically placed factories enable us to maximise efficiency and ensure products are where they need to be at the right time.

Our production facilities producing cigarettes and the sticks for our tobacco heating products are designed to meet the needs of an agile and flexible supply chain, providing a world-class operational base that is fit for the future.

Our new categories of reduced-risk*† products are manufactured in a mix of our own and third-party factories. We expect our contract manufacturers to comply with the same high standards that exist on our own sites.

We expanded our factories in Romania and South Korea to accommodate new opportunities in New Categories, specifically the production of sticks for our glo Heated Product. This demonstrates how our sourcing is responsive to help us deliver our commitment to offer adult consumers reduced-risk^*† products. It also complements our substantial investment in device capacity, which is taking place in response to increased consumer demand for glo.

We are continually looking to improve the efficiency of our entire supply chain. Our Integrated Work Systems programme is designed to maximise equipment efficiency, while ensuring we maintain high standards of product quality. The improved equipment efficiency delivers real benefits through improved productivity and lower maintenance costs, together with reduced waste.

Delivering on Decarbonisation

In 2024, the Group discontinued its carbon-neutral operations target, instead focusing investments in absolute emission reductions, and towards achieving Net Zero. We invested a further £19 million in emission and energy reduction initiatives across 63% of our operations sites.

Once completed, we expect these initiatives to reduce absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by approximately 27,000 tonnes of CO₂e per annum. After successfully installing biomass boilers in South Korea and Germany in 2023, similar installations have been completed in 2024 at our facility in Croatia. We expect this installation to reduce CO₂e emissions by 2,160 tonnes per annum.

We continue to deploy our 10 Golden Rules Programme, which aims to standardise energy efficiency practices across all our sites. In 2024, 32% of our manufacturing sites implemented the programme, up from 20% in 2023.

For example, the factory in Malang, Indonesia fully adopted the Programme, which resulted in a 76% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions against its 2020 baseline.Ìý

Read more inÌýClimate.

Inside a cigarette factory

When processed tobacco leaf arrives at the factory, it is checked for quality and carefully blended with other tobacco and any ingredients that the brand recipe may call for, such as flavourings that balance the taste.

Keeping track of the various types of tobacco and blend components in use is a highly technical process and computers track production runs. Moisture content is also crucial. Too dry and the tobacco leaf will crumble; too moist and it may spoil during storage. The blended tobacco is treated with just the right amount of steam and water to make it supple and is then cut into the form used in cigarettes. Excess moisture is then removed so the cut tobacco can be given a final blending and quality check.

The technology has advanced dramatically over the years. Cigarette making, once done entirely by hand, is now almost fully automated, with the cut tobacco, cigarette paper and filters continuously fed into the cigarette-making machines. Quality is a top priority. Each cigarette is automatically quality controlled to ensure that it meets every aspect of its specification.

Packing machines put them into the familiar brand packs, wrap the packs in protective film and group them into cartons and cases. There is more testing at each stage to make sure the cigarettes are properly protected before the completed cases are ready for distribution.

Product Quality and Safety

51±¬ÁÏ’s Global Quality Team is responsible for managing the global quality management processes and supporting documentation across all product categories throughout the product lifecycle.

In line with principles of responsible product stewardship we manufacture and source goods to specific quality parameters in a responsible manner to ensure that our products meet the applicable legal and regulatory standards in the country of sale.

We undertake appropriate corrective action where internal quality assurance testing identifies a product that does not conform to the required product quality standards. Procedures are in place to perform a product recall if needed.

In addition to regular on-site quality assurance testing, in-market quality teams perform periodic quality assessments of 51±¬ÁÏ owned manufacturing facilities. In 2022, 56% of our production volume came from 51±¬ÁÏ owned sites with ISO 9001 certification.

51±¬ÁÏ has processes and procedures in place to enable the monitoring, reporting and investigation of product quality and safety, including New Category products from 51±¬ÁÏ distribution centres. We train all call centre and complaint receiving staff on how to appropriately assess potential health and safety incidents and to escalate these appropriately. The training is carried out at least once a year. For complaints related to an outsourced product, an investigation with the relevant supplier would be undertaken.

We aim to substantially reduce the number of consumer complaints and we continuously monitor our progress.