Author: Staff Writer

Philip Morris International’s cigarette shipment volume during the second quarter to the end of June, at 228,899 million, was down by 3.9 percent on that of the second quarter of 2012.

Volume was down in all of the company’s regions: by 3.5 percent to 80,588 million in Asia; by 3.6 percent to 76,298 million in Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (EEMEA); by 5.9 percent to 48,723 million in the EU; and by 2.4 percent to 23,290 million in Latin America & Canada (LAC).

Without what PMI described at the disruptive January 2013 tax increase in the Philippines, overall, the company’s volume decline would have been 2.6 percent rather than 3.9 percent.

Total cigarette shipments of Marlboro were down by 5.9 percent to 72.7 billion, while those of L&M increased by 6.1 percent to 25.1 billion.

Cigarette shipments of Bond Street decreased by 8.9 percent to 11.6 billion; those of Philip Morris decreased by 8.5 percent to 8.8 billion; those of Parliament increased by 4.0 percent to 11.5 billion; those of Chesterfield fell by 7.9 percent to 8.9 billion; and those of Lark decreased by 7.9 percent to 7.9 billion.

PMI’s shipment volume of OTP (other tobacco products), in cigarette equivalent units, increased by 3.0 percent, while shipment volume for cigarettes and OTP in cigarette equivalents decreased by 3.7 percent.

Reported diluted earnings per share during the second quarter, at $1.30, were down by 4.4 percent on those of the second quarter of 2012.

Reported net revenues, excluding excise taxes, were down by 2.5 percent to $7.9 billion and reported operating income was down by 7.5 percent to $3.3 billion.

“As expected, despite strong pricing and a robust share performance, our second-quarter results were primarily impacted by lower industry volume in several key markets, as well as the timing of inventory movements in Japan, higher costs—predominantly in Asia—and stiffer currency headwinds,” said CEO André Calantzopoulos.

“For the second half of the year, we expect volume/mix to improve, pricing to remain strong and our total cost variance, excluding currency, to be flat. While industry volume remains a challenge, our underlying business performance is such that we continue to expect to meet our mid- to long-term currency-neutral adjusted diluted EPS growth rate target of 10–12 percent in 2013.”

Meanwhile, PMI’s cigarette volume shipments during the six months to the end of June, at 433,846 million, were down by 5.1 percent on those of the first six months of 2012.

Shipments were down by 6.9 percent to 153,207 million in Asia; by 1.3 percent to 143,132 million in EEMEA; by 7.9 percent to 91,690 million in the EU; and by 5.0 percent to 45,817 million in LAC.

Swedish Match’s sales during the second quarter to the end of June, at SEK3,220 million, were up by 3 percent on those of the second quarter of 2012.

But operating profit (including SM’s share of net profit from the Scandinavian Tobacco Group and larger one-off items) fell by 11 percent to SEK1,082 million, while basic earnings per share, excluding larger one-off items, was down by 6.7 percent to SEK3.33.

Imperial Tobacco’s Smoke Spots website has been launched in London.

Already live in Germany and Austria, the U.K. version enables consumers to find bars, restaurants and clubs with smoking facilities, and outlets selling tobacco.

The new website has been expanded so as to build on social aspects, including a blog and forums to enable people to share their experiences. It has been fully integrated with social media platforms such as Facebook.

“This is an exciting opportunity to support U.K. smokers and smoker-friendly venues,” said Andy Henwood, head of digital and marketing communications.

“Furthermore, giving our consumers the chance to interact with each other and form an online community is a significant step toward renormalising the category.”

Smoke Spots is due to be rolled out to other major cities across the U.K. as well as other markets in the near future.

The number of 13-year-old Danes who take up drinking and smoking has fallen dramatically, but the decline has not been as pronounced among older students, according to a story in the Copenhagen Post.

Results from the “Copenhagen Barometer,” a poll of students in the seventh through ninth grades, found that consumption had dropped across the board.

The fall was particularly marked among the youngest group, however, where only three out of 10 of the youngsters polled said they had tried smoking and/or drinking.

But the percentage of ninth graders who had tried smoking and/or drinking was said to have fallen by only a few points.

The polling of Copenhagen students takes place every spring, but no comparative figures were included in the Post’s story.

Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for child and youth affairs, Anne Vang, called the numbers “terrific.”

“They mean that children can learn more effectively because they aren’t hung over or stoned,” she was quoted as saying.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health has advised people that Ramadan is the best time to give up cigarettes, according to the Arab News.

The ministry’s spokesman, Dr. Khaled Al-Mirghalani, said Ramadan provided the ideal platform for people to quit smoking because Muslims abstained from the habit from dawn to dusk anyway.

The theory was that it would not be difficult for smokers to abstain, too, between the evening meal and breakfast, as much of the time was spent sleeping.

The official said that people who were interested in quitting could use the facilities and expertise available at the 55 anti-smoking clinics spread across the kingdom.

There were 10 such clinics in Riyadh alone, with one of them exclusively set up for women.

The clinics were set to remain open daily from 21.00 hours to 03.00 hours during Ramadan, the official added.

Saudi Arabia has an estimated 7 million smokers, 5.9 million men and 1.1 million women, according to a study by the Khair Anti-Smoking Association.

Sales of cigarettes in Oman slumped during the first week of Ramadan, according to a story in the Oman Daily Observer.

Such a fall in sales will not have come as a surprise to retailers, however, since smoking in public during the daylight hours of Ramadan is a punishable offense in the country.

Buying patterns during the fasting month are also disrupted as many smokers rush to buy their cigarettes after breaking the fast toward the end of the day.

However, the newspaper reported that sales of high-end cigars and shisha tobacco were unaffected; in the case of cigars because the consumer base was different to that of cigarettes, and in the case of shisha because this product was usually smoked late at night anyway.

The Pakistan Inland Revenue’s Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation has issued a toll-free number, 0800-77377, through which people can inform on the illicit cigarette trade.

The service will be available from 08.00 hours to 17.00 hours daily.

A directorate official said people could inform on the storage or sale of illegal cigarettes using the toll-free number.

“Once the identity of the caller is verified, we’ll send a team to raid the place where such cigarettes are stored or sold,” he said.

“The team can seize stocks and impose fine[s] and even imprison their owners.”

According to the official, the identity of callers will be kept secret.

The directorate is hoping to crack down on the sale of local non-duty-paid and smuggled cigarettes.