PMI Reaffirms Full-Year Guidance

Philip Morris International reaffirmed the company’s 2021 full-year reported diluted earnings per share forecast range of $5.76 to $5.86.

Speaking at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference, PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said the company remained on track for an excellent performance in 2021 underpinned by better combustible volumes and continued strong demand for IQOS. “We are today reaffirming our full-year EPS forecast and now expect to be toward the upper end of our 12 percent to 14 percent organic growth range,” he told investors.

Even as the current global shortage of semiconductors limits PMI’s ability to realize the full potential of IQOS, the underlying momentum of the brand is clear, said Olczak, citing the positive early results for IQOS Iluma in Japan following the launch last month.

At the same time, PMI cautioned that the ongoing global semiconductor shortage could reduce device assortment and availability impacting IQOS user acquisition and the timing of second-half 2021 Iluma launches in certain markets. As a result, full-year 2021 heated-tobacco unit shipment volume could be toward the lower end of the 95 billion to 100 billion unit range, if shortages persist, with third-quarter heated-tobacco unit shipment volume of 23 million to 24 billion units.

An archived copy of the Barclay’s presentation and Q&A session will be available at http://www.pmi.com/2021barclays%20 until Oct. 7, 2021.