Lorillard reports higher cigarette sales, strong electronic cigarette position
Lorillard’s domestic wholesale cigarette shipment volume during the third quarter of this year, at 10,271 million, was up by 3.8 percent on that of the third quarter of 2012.
Full-price cigarette volume, at 8,779 million, was up by 5.1 percent, because of a Newport volume rise of 5.3 percent to 8,697 million.
Also in the full price sector, True volume fell by 8.1 percent to 43 million and Kent volume fell by 9.7 percent to 39 million.
Price/value volume, at 1,492 million, was down by 3.3 percent, with Maverick sales down by 2.5 percent to 1,377 million and Old Gold volume down by 12.4 percent to 115 million.
Non-domestic (Puerto Rico and U.S. possessions) volume was down by 11.2 percent to 155 million; so Lorillard’s overall volume was up by 3.5 percent to 10,426 million.
Lorillard’s domestic market share during the third quarter, at 14.9 percent, was up by 0.5 of a percentage point from that of the third quarter of 2012, and its share of the menthol segment of the market, at 40.4 percent, was up by 0.8 of a percentage point. The industrywide menthol share of the overall domestic market was up by 0.4 of a percentage point to 31.4 percent.
Newport’s share of the domestic market, at 12.6 percent, was up by 0.5 of a percentage point, and its share of the menthol segment was up by 0.8 of a percentage point to 37.2 percent.
In reporting its third quarter and nine months results, Lorillard said that its Blu eCigs had “further established itself as the e-cigarette category leader, achieving approximately a 49 percent share.”
The company was able to report, too, that it had acquired Skycig, a British-based e-cigarette business, on Oct. 1.
Lorillard’s net sales during the third quarter, at $1.827 billion, were increased by 10 percent on those of the third quarter of 2012.
Its reported operating income was down by 4.6 percent to $458 million, while its adjusted operating income increased by 12.5 percent to $541 million.
Its reported net income was down by 8.8 percent to $258 million, and its adjusted net income was up by 9.5 percent to $310 million.
And its reported diluted earnings per share decreased by 4.2 percent to $0.69, while its adjusted diluted earnings per share increased by 15.3 percent to $0.83.
“Lorillard had a strong third quarter of 2013 marked by market share, volume and margin gains for our cigarette business, market share and sequential volume gains for our market leading e-cigarette business and the acquisition of a small U.K. e-cigarette business,” said Murray S. Kessler, chairman, president and CEO.
“We are very pleased that the company’s continued industry leading fundamentals have resulted in robust financial results for the quarter and year to date, with adjusted EPS growth of more than 15 percent in the third quarter and more than 13 percent for the first nine months of 2013.
“We remain steadfast in delivering on our promise to consistently deliver a double-digit total shareholder return as measured by EPS growth and the dividend yield over the long term.”
