Altria Group reported net revenues of $5.72 billion in the first quarter of 2023, down 2.9 percent from the comparable 2022 quarter. Revenues net of excise taxes declined 1.2 percent to $4.76 billion.
“We are off to a strong start and believe our businesses are on track to deliver against full-year plans,” said Altria CEO Billy Gifford in a statement. “Our tobacco businesses performed well in a challenging macroeconomic environment. We delivered strong adjusted diluted EPS growth of 5.4 percent, and we announced exciting progress toward our vision.
“We reaffirm our guidance to deliver 2023 full-year adjusted diluted EPS in a range of $4.98 to $5.13. This range represents an adjusted diluted EPS growth rate of 3 percent to 6 percent from a $4.84 base in 2022.”
During the quarter, Altria Group entered into an agreement to acquire Njoy Holdings for approximately $2.75 billion in cash at closing and up to an additional $500 million in cash payments that are contingent upon regulatory outcomes with respect to certain Njoy products.
In March, Altria exchanged its entire minority economic interest in Juul Labs for a nonexclusive, irrevocable global license to certain of Juul’s heated-tobacco intellectual property. As a result of the 2023 Juul transaction, Altria recorded a noncash, pretax loss of $250 million on the disposition of its Juul equity securities for the three months ended March 31, 2023.
Altria determined that the fair value of the intellectual property was not material to its financial statements. As a result, it did not record an asset associated with this intellectual property on its condensed consolidated balance sheet on March 31, 2023.
“The primary drivers of this conclusion were (i) our rights to the intellectual property being nonexclusive, (ii) there being no product or technology transferred to us associated with the intellectual property and (iii) there being no connection between the intellectual property and our current product development plans,” Altria wrote in a press note.