Lower volumes, higher revenues

Philip Morris International (PMI) shipped 798.2 billion cigarettes and heated-tobacco units in 2017, 2.7 percent fewer than in 2016. Its international market share, excluding China and the United States, down by 0.1 point to 28 percent.
The company’s reported net revenues, by contrast, increased by 4.2 percent to $78.1 billion. Net revenues, excluding excise taxes, were $28.7 billion, up by 7.7 percent. Excluding unfavorable currency exchange rate effects of $437 million, net revenues, excluding excise taxes, were up by 9.4 percent.
PMI reported operating income of $11.5 billion, up by 6.4 percent, and operating companies’ income of $11.8 billion, up by 6 percent.
Excluding unfavorable currency exchange rate effects of $155 million, operating companies’ income was up by 7.4 percent.
“A strong fourth-quarter performance helped drive robust full-year results, exemplified by currency-neutral, double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth, despite previously disclosed challenges in Russia an Saudi Arabia,” said André Calantzopoulos, CEO.
“The excellent performance of our flagship smoke-free product IQOS—not only in Asia, but also in the vast majority of our launch geographies—underscored its great promise and the commitment of our employees to lead the transformation of our industry towards a smoke-free future. Continued investment behind IQOS in 2018 is expected to further drive its positive momentum.”