Holding in Company

British American Tobacco PLC
24 July 2000


Schedule 10 - Notification of Major Interests in Shares

1   Name of company:
  BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO PLC

2   Name of shareholder having a major interest:
  Brandes Investment Partners LP

3   Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of
holding of the shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a non-beneficial
interest or in the case of an individual holder if it is a holding of that
person's spouse or children under the age of 18:
  Non Beneficial 

4   Name of registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the number of
shares held by each of them:
 Not disclosed - see additional information

5   Number of shares/amount of stock acquired:
   Not disclosed

6   Percentage of issued class:
            -

7   Number of shares/amount of stock disposed:
            -

8   Percentage of issued class:
            -

9   Class of security:

    Ordinary shares of 25p each and American Depository Receipts (ADRs) ('the
Relevant Shares'

10  Date of transaction:
    13th July 2000

11  Date company informed:
    24th July 2000

12  Total holding following this notification:
    144,266,310 Ord Shares (see additional information)  

13  Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification:
    6.6%

14  Contact name for queries:

   Geoff Cunnington

15 Contact telephone number:
   0207-845-1925

16  Name of company official responsible for making notification:

   Philip Cook, Company Secretary

17  Date of notification:
   24th July 2000


Additional Information:

A. Extract from disclosure:

.......

'(iii) the registered holders of all the Relevant Shares in which Brandes has
an interest for purposes of the Act are approximately 70 custodian banks
unaffiliated with Brandes.' 


B. Item 12

The total holding of 144,266,310 Ordinary Shares comprises 72,868,726 Ordinary
Shares and 35,698,792 ADRs represented by 71,397,584 Ordinary Shares.