Philip Morris International's cigarette shipment volume during the three months to the end of September, at 229,212 million, was increased by 4.5 per cent on that of the three months to the end of September 2009. However, excluding acquisitions, volume was down by 2.9 per cent.
Asia region volumes increased by 28.8 per cent to 70,188 million; Latin America and Canada region volumes decreased by 1.7 per cent to 25,532 million; Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region volumes dropped by 3.3 per cent to 75,228 million; and EU region volumes fell by 4.6 per cent to 58,264 million.
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The volume increase in the Asia region occurred primarily because of the favorable impact of the PMFTC Inc. business combination in the Philippines of 16.2 billion units, and growth in Indonesia, Korea and Pakistan. These factors were partially offset by the timing of shipments in Japan, reflecting the payback of the distributor inventory build-up in the second quarter of 2010 in anticipation of increased trade and consumer purchases ahead of the October 1 tax increase.
The volume decrease in Latin America & Canada was due mainly to unfavorable trade inventory movements in Colombia following the tax-driven price increase in July and a decline in the tax-paid market.
In the EEMA region, the volume decline was due to the continuing unfavorable impact of a significant excise tax increase in Turkey at the beginning of this year, and the unfavorable impact of inventory movements and tax-driven price increases in Ukraine in January and July. These factors were partly offset by increases in Russia and North Africa, mainly in Algeria.
The fall in volumes in the EU was put down to lower total markets.
PMI's total shipment volume of other tobacco products (OTP), in cigarette equivalent units, grew by 64.0 per cent with the acquisition of Swedish Match South Africa. Excluding acquisitions, shipment volume of OTP was down by 0.9 per cent, primarily due to lower volume in Poland, reflecting the impact of the excise tax alignment of pipe tobacco to roll-your-own in the first quarter of 2009.
Total shipment volume for cigarettes and OTP was up by 5.5 per cent, or down by 2.8 per cent excluding acquisitions.
Meanwhile, during the nine months to the end of September, PMI's total volume, at 674,906 million, was up by 4.5 per cent on that of the nine months to the end of September 2009. Excluding acquisitions, volume was down by 1.6 per cent.
Asia region volumes increased by 25.0 per cent to 211,588 million; Latin America and Canada region volumes decreased by 1.1 per cent to 76,436 million; Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region volumes dropped by 2.2 per cent to 217,265 million; and EU region volumes fell by 5.2 per cent to 169,617 million.
PMI's total shipment volume for cigarettes and OTP during the nine months to the end of September was up by 5.4 per cent on that of the nine months to the end of September 2009, though down by 1.7 per cent excluding acquisitions.
PMI yesterday reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.99 during the third quarter of 2010, up by 6.5 per cent on those of the third quarter of 2009. Adjusted diluted EPS, at $1.00, were up by 7.5 per cent.
Net revenues were up by 0.4 per cent to $6,614 million and reported operating companies' income was down by 0.1 per cent to $2,903 million.
During the nine months to the end of September, reported diluted EPS, at $2.96, were increased by 21.3 per cent. Adjusted diluted EPS were up by 16.9 per cent to $2.90.
Net revenues were increased by 6.1 per cent to $20,171 million and reported operating companies' income was up by 7.2 per cent to $8,650 million.
"As anticipated, our third quarter results suffered from various timing issues affecting several markets, Japan in particular," said Louis Camilleri, chairman and CEO. "In addition, the significant excise tax increases that were implemented in Greece and Turkey continued to weigh on our overall performance. The notable highlight of the quarter was our continued strong cash flow performance allowing us to accelerate the implementation of our share repurchase program.
"I should also highlight that the headline quarterly numbers masked continued progress in our underlying performance on several fronts, and in particular on our widespread market share gains, such that we are now pleased to raise our full year earnings guidance to a range of $3.90 to $3.95, up by approximately 20% to 22% compared to $3.24 in 2009." Enditem
