Profitability (measured using the EBITA margin (%)) for Europe's two major tobacco companies and comparator European consumer staple companies
| Company | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008* | 2009* | 2010* | 2011* |
| Tobacco companies | ||||||||
| British American Tobacco | 24.0 | 28.1 | 28.7 | 30.0 | 30.7 | 31.1 | 32.1 | 33.7 |
| Imperial Tobacco Group | 40.2 | 41.5 | 42.9 | 45.0 | 28.2 | 37.7 | 39.4 | 39.5 |
| Food companies | ||||||||
| Cadbury | 15.6 | 15.9 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 13.8 | 14.9 |
| Danone | 12.7 | 13.1 | 13.3 | 12.1 | 14.4 | 16.9 | 15.7 | 15.9 |
| Nestle | 12.7 | 12.9 | 13.5 | 14.0 | 14.3 | 14.4 | 13.0 | 13.2 |
| Premier Foods | 12.9 | 13.7 | 13.8 | 12.5 | 11.9 | 12.0 | 11.9 | 11.7 |
| Consumer products companies | ||||||||
| Unilever NV | 15.5 | 14.8 | 14.3 | 14.5 | 14.6 | 14.7 | 14.9 | 15.1 |
| Henkel | 9.4 | 9.7 | 10.2 | 10.5 | 10.3 | 9.0 | 10.6 | 11.6 |
| L'Oreal | 15.3 | 15.6 | 16.4 | 16.6 | 15.5 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 15.5 |
| Reckitt Benckiser | 19.3 | 20.1 | 21.5 | 22.6 | 23.4 | 23.9 | 23.2 | 23.6 |
| Beverage companies | ||||||||
| Heineken NV | 13.6 | 13.1 | 13.0 | 14.8 | 13.2 | 13.5 | 14.0 | 14.4 |
| SABMiller | 18.1 | 20.2 | 16.9 | 16.8 | 16.6 | 16.8 | 17.3 | 18.5 |
| Carlsberg | 8.8 | 8.7 | 9.6 | 11.5 | 13.2 | 16.0 | 16.3 | 17.1 |
| Diageo | 28.7 | 29.0 | 28.2 | 28.3 | 28.5 | 28.9 | 31.5 | 31.8 |
Various Citigroup ‘Consumer Central’ business analyst investment reports.
↵* Estimated values