LONDON (Standard&Poor's) May 16, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on U.K.-based international tobacco company British American Tobacco PLC (BAT) and related entities to 'A-' from 'A'. The downgrade reflects that BAT has not restored its financial profile to a level commensurate with the previous ratings. At the same time, the short-term corporate credit and short-term debt ratings on BAT were also lowered to 'A-2' from 'A-1'. All the ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed on April 16, 2003. The outlook is negative. "BAT is unlikely to significantly improve its financial profile in the medium term, as any discretionary cash flows are expected
