PM USA Takes Record Share

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Oct 18, 2007 10/19/2007

Philip Morris USA increased its cigarette market share by 0.2 percentage points to a record 50.6 per cent, Altria announced yesterday in reporting its third quarter results. The increase was driven primarily by Marlboro, whose retail market share rose 0.5 points to a record 41.1 per cent, compared with that of the third quarter of last year. But PM USA's cigarette shipment volume, at 47.1 billion, was 1.0 per cent lower than that of the previous year's third quarter, and was estimated to be down about 3 per cent when adjusted for changes in trade inventories and calendar differences. During the third quarter of 2007, PM USA estimates that total cigarette industry volume declined between 3 per cent and 4 per cent, and, for the full year 2007, the company is maintaining its previous estimate of a 3-4 per cent decline in total cigarette industry volume. Marlboro, whose shipment volume during the third quarter, at 39.1 billion, was up by 0.2 per cent, and Parliament, with a volume up 0.6 per cent to 1.5 billion, were the only PM USA focus brands to enjoy volume increases. Basic's volume fell by 8.4 per cent to 3.5 billion, while Virginia Slims' volume fell by 5.4 per cent to 1.9 billion. Parliament's market share rose by 0.1 points to 1.9 per cent, while Basic's share fell by 0.2 points to 4.0 per cent and Virginia Slims' share fell by 0.1 points to 2.2 per cent. PM USA's third-quarter revenues net of excise taxes increased by 3.2 per cent to $4.0 billion, with operating companies' income increased by 2.0 per cent to $1.3 billion. At Philip Morris International, cigarette shipment volume increased by 0.6 per cent or 1.3 billion, to 217.2 billion, due to the volume acquired from Lakson Tobacco. Excluding the impact of the Pakistan acquisition, cigarette volume was down by 1.9 per cent or 4.0 billion, due mainly to lower shipments in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland, partially offset by gains in Algeria, Argentina, Bulgaria, Egypt, South Korea, Lebanon, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine. PMI's volume rose by 9.6 per cent to 53.0 billion in its Asia region, and by 0.3 per cent to 77.5 billion in its region that takes in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. But volumes were down by 4.8 per cent to 65.4 billion in the EU, and by 1.5 per cent to 21.3 billion in Latin America. PMI reported that its revenues net of excise taxes were up by 9.3 per cent to $5.9 billion, with operating companies' income increased by 18.8 per cent to $2.5 billion. Overall, the Altria Group announced yesterday third-quarter diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.24, up by $0.19 or 18.1 per cent on those of the previous third quarter. "In the third quarter, we continued to witness improvement in our business fundamentals, which generated robust earnings growth," said Louis C. Camilleri, chairman and chief executive officer. "In addition, we took numerous steps to accelerate our growth by investing behind product innovation and announcing our intention to pursue a further restructuring of our company." On August 29, Altria's board announced its intention to pursue the spin-off of PMI to Altria's shareholders. The board believes that it will be in a position to finalize its decision and announce the precise timing of the spin-off at its regularly scheduled meeting on January 30, 2008. Enditem