	bat shares undervalued say stock market analysts bat industries plc bti l results which were at the upper end of market expectations showed the company was in a strong position and that its shares were probably undervalued share analysts said bat shares were down at p in late afternoon trading after a previous p close they touched a high of p earlier on news of a pct rise in annual profits to billion pre tax stock market analysts said today s generally weak stock market plus unwinding of positions after heavy buying of bat shares in the run up to the results caused the fall in the share price in the current market people almost expect companies to beat expectations said one analyst adding that pretax profits of to billion stg had been forecast bat s figure of billion stg compared with a pretax profit of billion brokers noted that bat s shift away from its underperforming industries and the decreasing share of the tobacco portion of the group were seen as good signs bat chairman patrick sheehy told a news conference that the tobacco sector of the company had declined to pct from pct four years ago sheehy said he could see the tobacco portion of the company declining further as other sectors increased in importance he said bat was looking to expand in the area of financial services in particular in the u s sheehy also said the group had no sizeable acquisitions in sight in the near future analysts said bat s increasingly good performance in the u k insurance area was encouraging its declining debt to equity ratio of currently about pct also made it likely that bat would soon be looking to make major acquisitions they said reuter 
