JT and JTI Sales Volumes Down

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 02/21/2010

Japan Tobacco Inc's sales volume during the nine months to the end of December, at 117.4 billion, was down by 5.0 per cent on that of the April-December period of 2008. The company said the decline had been expected and was due to the disruption caused by the introduction of the age-verification system for vending machine purchases. However, president and CEO, Hiroshi Kimura, warned of more pain to come. "In our domestic tobacco business, challenging times are expected with the coming price increase," he said. "To ensure we remain well positioned in this profitable home market, we will continue to strengthen our brands and distribution, and implement appropriate pricing." Turning to the performance of JT's international division, Japan Tobacco International, Kimura said JTI had continued to grow its market share in most of its key markets, "reflecting its solid business momentum". But JTI's sales were down overall. JT reported total sales volume for the international division during the nine months to the end of September, at 325.6 billion, down by 3.7 per cent on that of the January-September period of 2008. At the same time, sales of global flagship brands (GFB) were down by 1.7 per cent to 182.4 billion. But there was better news for JTI during the full year January to December 2009, which results it reported separately. For the full year to the end of December 2009, total sales at 434.9 billion, were down by 2.5 per cent on those of the 12 months to the end of December 2008, while GFB sales were down by 0.9 per cent to 243.4 billion. JTI reiterated the statement by Kimura that market share growth was achieved in most of the markets where it operated. In south and west Europe, JTI's market share was said to have grown in all key markets, including those of Italy, where it achieved a 1.4 percentage point gain, and France, where it went ahead by 0.6 percentage points. Elsewhere, JTI's market share increased by 1.3 percentage points in the UK, by 1.1 percentage points in Russia and by 1.8 percentage points in Turkey. Meanwhile, JT reported consolidated group results for the nine months to the end of December with net sales including tax down by 13.0 per cent to ¥4,651.8 billion and net sales excluding tax down by 15.2 per cent to ¥1,496.1 billion. Operating income was down by 23.4 per cent to ¥252.5 billion and net income was down by 18.7 per cent to ¥106.9 billion. For the domestic business (April-December), net sales including tax were down by 5.1 per cent to ¥2,352.9 billion and net sales excluding tax were down also by 5.1 per cent to 476.4 billion. Operating income was up by 7.7 per cent to ¥163.9. For the international business (January-September), net sales including tax were down by 20.8 per cent to ¥1,946.5 billion and net sales excluding tax were down by 21.6 per cent to ¥667.3 billion. Operating income was down by 42.9 per cent to ¥97.3 billion. Enditem