PMI Reports Strong Fiscal 2021

Philip Morris International reported net revenues of $31.41 billion in 2021, up 9.4 percent over those reported in 2020. The company’s operating income was $12.98 billion, compared with $11.67 billion in the previous year. The company’s net revenues were $246 million lower than they could have been due to a 2021 customs assessment in Saudi Arabia.

For the fourth quarter of 2021, PMI reported net revenues of $8.1 billion, up 8.9 percent over those reported in the corresponding 2020 quarter. The company’s operating income was $2.95 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $2.91 billion in the comparable period of the previous year.

PMI shipped 624.88 billion cigarettes in 2021, down 0.6 percent from 2020. The volume of heated tobacco units was up 24.8 percent to 94.98 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the company shipped 158.38 billion cigarettes and 25.4 billion heated tobacco units, up 2.4 percent and 17 percent, respectively, from the 2020 fourth quarter.

“Our business delivered excellent performance in 2021, with strong underlying momentum driving total volume growth, high single-digit organic net revenue growth and double-digit adjusted diluted EPS growth against the pandemic-affected prior year,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak in a statement.

“We were especially pleased by the reacceleration of our business in the fourth quarter to deliver better-than-expected results. This included a step-up in sequential IQOS user growth, as well as the outstanding initial performance of IQOS ILUMA. We also achieved essentially stable category share for cigarettes in the quarter, as our portfolio initiatives bore fruit and pandemic-linked restrictions receded in many markets.”

“We enter 2022 with strong fundamentals, underpinned by IQOS, and exciting innovation to come across our broader smoke-free product portfolio. We are forecasting organic top-line growth of 4 percent to 6 percent and currency-neutral adjusted diluted EPS growth of 8 percent to 11 percent, which prudently incorporate the continuing uncertainty on full IQOS device availability and the pace of the ongoing pandemic recovery.”