Category: Financial

Imperial’s volume down
Imperial Brand’s total tobacco volume during the six months to the end of March, at 126.3 billion stick-equivalents, was down by 5.7 percent on that of the six months to the end of March 2016. Stick-equivalent volume is said to include cigarette, fine-cut tobacco, cigar and snus volumes.
During the same period, the company’s Growth Brand volume was increased by 3.2 percent, from 70.7 billion to 73.0 billion.
Imperial’s tobacco net revenue during the six months to the end of March, at £3,716 million, was increased by 9.3 percent on that of the six months to the end of March 2016, £3,399 million.
Tobacco adjusted operating profit increased by 5.7 percent to £1,667 million, while logistics adjusted operating profit increased by 20.6 percent to £82 million, and total adjusted operating profit increased by 6.3 percent to £1,740 million.
Adjusted earnings per share increased by 7.9 percent to 1121.9p, while the dividend per share was up by 10.0 percent to 51.7p.
Commenting on the interim results, chief executive, Alison Cooper, said Imperial was delivering encouraging improvements in share trends in many of its priority markets after significantly stepping up investment behind its “strategy and quality growth”.
“The volume and share gains we achieved with our Growth Brands in the period were particularly pleasing,” she said.
“Our performance is underpinned by the rollout of our Market Repeatable Model, which provides an effective and consistent approach for delivering sustainable quality growth in markets.
“We are deploying this model in e-vapour and believe it can also be successfully applied to drive growth in other consumer adjacencies.
“As expected, first half revenue and profit were impacted by the considerable increase in investment. “In a challenging industry environment, we are delivering against our strategy and remain on track to meet full year earnings expectations at constant currency.
“Cash conversion remains strong and we are delivering another dividend increase of 10 percent.”
May 3, 2017
PMI to webcast meeting
Philip Morris International is due to host a live audio webcast of its 2017 annual meeting of shareholders at www.pmi.com/2017annualmeeting from 09.00 Eastern Time on May 3.
During the meeting, Louis C. Camilleri, chairman of the board, will address shareholders and answer questions.
André Calantzopoulos, CEO, will give the business presentation.
The audio webcast, which will be in listen-only mode, may be accessed also on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI’s free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp.
An archived copy of the webcast will be available until 17.00 on June 1 at www.pmi.com/2017annualmeeting, where the presentation slides and script also will be available.
April 27, 2017
PMI’s cigarette volumes tumble
Philip Morris International’s cigarette shipment volume during the first quarter of 2017, at 173,552 million, was down by 11.5 percent on that of the first quarter of last year, 196,041 million.
Volume fell in each of the company’s regions: by 7.5 percent to 42,540 million in the EU; by 10.4 percent to 56,574 million in the EEMA (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia); by 15.5 percent to 55,142 million in Asia; and by 11.1 percent to 19,296 million in Latin America and Canada
But the company reported, too, a major increase in its shipments of heated tobacco products, which in the first quarter of 2016 amounted to 453 million but which by the first quarter of this year had risen to 4,435 million.
Shipments of heated tobacco products were up from 16 million to 184 million in the EU; from two million to 105 million in the EEMA; and from 435 million to 4,145 million in Asia. In Latin America and Canada, where there had been no shipments of heated tobacco products in the first quarter of 2016, PMI recorded one million in the first quarter of this year.
Shipments of cigarettes and heated tobacco products during the first quarter of 2017, at 177,987 million, were down by 9.4 percent on those of the first quarter of 2016, 196,494 million, with shipments down by 7.1 percent in the EU, by 10.2 percent in the EEMA, by 9.7 percent in Asia, and by 11.1 percent in Latin America and Canada.
‘PMI’s total shipment volume of cigarettes and heated tobacco units decreased by 9.4 percent, or by 7.8 percent excluding net estimated inventory movements, reflecting a challenging comparison with the first quarter of 2016, which declined by a more modest 1.1 percent, as well as ongoing declines of primarily low-price volumes in specific markets, such as
Pakistan and the Philippines,’ the company said in reporting its results. ‘The first quarter of 2016 also benefited from the favorable estimated impact of the leap year.
‘PMI’s cigarette volume decreased by 11.5 percent due to: the EU, principally Italy and Spain, partly offset by Poland; EEMA, mainly North Africa, primarily Egypt and Tunisia, as well as Russia and Ukraine; Asia, principally Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and the Philippines; and Latin America & Canada, principally Argentina, Canada and Mexico. ‘The decline in PMI’s cigarette shipment volume was partly offset by higher heated tobacco unit shipment volume of 4.4 billion units, up from 453 million units in the first quarter of 2016, driven by Japan.
Taking cigarette shipments alone, Marlboro shipments of 62,399 million were down by 8.2 percent; L&M shipments of 21,913 million were down by 7.5 percent; Parliament shipments of 9,199 million were down by 9.3 percent; Bond Street shipments of 8,485 million were down by 12.7 percent; Chesterfield shipments of 11,544 million were up by 13.4 percent; Philip Morris shipments of 10,608 million were up by 15.2 percent; and Lark shipments of 6,526 million were up by 0.4 percent. Shipments of other brands, taken together, were down by 26.9 percent to 42,878 million.
PMI said that its reported diluted earnings per share, at $1.02, were up by $0.04 or 4.1 percent on those of the first quarter of 2016.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share, at $0.98, were flat.
Reported net revenues of $16.6 billion were down by 1.4 percent, while net revenues, excluding excise taxes, at $6.1 billion, were down by 0.3 percent.
Reported operating income of $2.4 billion was down by 3.1 percent, while operating companies’ income of $2.5 billion was down by 2.2 percent, and adjusted operating companies’ income of $2.5 billion was down by 2.2 percent.
“Our results were in line with our previously communicated expectation of a relatively weak first quarter, due to lower cigarette volume – primarily related to low-price brands in specific markets where the impact on our profitability was limited – and certain timing factors,” said CEO André Calantzopoulos.
“We are fully on track to deliver our full-year EPS guidance, driven by robust pricing and accelerating IQOS volume growth. We anticipate a combined cigarette and heated tobacco unit volume decline of 3 percent to 4 percent for the full year.
“It is extremely encouraging that already today, despite persistent capacity constraints, 1.8 million consumers have effectively stopped smoking and have switched to our heat-not-burn alternative, IQOS.”
April 21, 2017
RAI to publish results
Reynolds American Inc. said yesterday that it would publish its first-quarter 2017 financial results before the market opens on May 3.
April 20, 2017
Altria to webcast results
The Altria Group is due to host a live audio webcast from 09.00 Eastern Time on May 2 to discuss its 2017 first-quarter business results.
The company will issue a press release containing its business results about 07:00 the same day.
During the webcast, Marty Barrington, Altria’s chairman, CEO and president, and Billy Gifford, CFO, will discuss the company’s results and answer questions from the investment community and news media.
The webcast, which will be in listen-only mode, can be accessed at altria.com or through the Altria Investor App.
Pre-event registration is necessary through www.altria.com/webcasts.
An archived copy of the webcast will be available on altria.com or through the Altria Investor App.
The free app is available for download at www.altria.com/irapp or through the Apple App Store or Google Play.
April 19, 2017
CEO collects $27.6 million
Photo by 401(K) 2013
The Altria Group CEO Martin Barrington was paid $27.6 million in 2016, up 107 percent on his pay for 2015, $13.3 million, according to Reuters story citing a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
CFO William Gifford Jr was paid $8 million in 2016, up 63 percent on his pay for 2015, $4.9 million.
Last year, Altria’s cigarette shipments were down by 2.5 percent, but shipments of cigars and smokeless tobacco were increased by 5.9 percent and 4.9 percent respectively.
In presenting the results for 2016, Barrington said the company had had another “outstanding year”.
“We grew our earnings in line with our long-term objectives while returning a large amount of cash to shareholders, improving our balance sheet and strengthening our organizational capability, thus positioning Altria to continue to deliver on our long-term financial goals,” he said.
“In 2016, Altria’s total return to shareholders of 20.5 percent outpaced both the S&P 500 and the S&P Food, Beverage and Tobacco Index, marking the fourth consecutive year that total shareholder return exceeded 20 percent.
“During the year, we also rewarded our shareholders by paying out over $4.5 billion in dividends, raising our dividend by eight percent, and repurchasing over $1 billion of our shares under an expanded $3 billion share repurchase program.
“And with Altria’s support of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s landmark business combination with SABMiller, we enhanced the value of our beer investment and our position in the global brewing profit pool.”
April 10, 2017
Beyond the smoke
Photo by Garret M. Clarke Photography
Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) has based its just-released annual report on the theme Beyond the Smoke to highlight its contribution to the national economy, according to a story in The Island.
CTC said in the report that it was the country’s only legal cigarette manufacturer and the second largest market capitalized company quoted on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It was the country’s largest individual tax payer, last year contributing Rs87.4 billion in excise taxes – seven percent of state revenues – to the national exchequer. And it supported 178,000 livelihoods through farming, manufacturing and retailing.
‘As an organization operating in a controversial industry, we understand the added responsibility placed on us to maintain the highest standards of corporate conduct and take pride in the sustainable and responsible way our operations are run,’ the report said.
“Given the health risks associated with our products, we understand that regulation is necessary although we urge the government to pursue balanced and evidenced based regulation which preserve the interests of adult consumers while ensuring the livelihoods of all those dependent on our industry, including over 20,000 persons involved in tobacco cultivation,” chairman Susantha Ratnayake was quoted as saying.
“Tobacco is a legal industry with an undeniable positive socio-economic impact and a major source of income to almost every government in the world.”
Despite all the challenges that had depressed CTC’s share price sharply during the year under review, Ratnayake said that the company had delivered yet another year of strong financial performance with earnings per share up by 18.1 percent to Rs67.05. Shareholders would be receiving a total return of Rs66.80 per share.
British American Tobacco Company with 83.14 percent of CTC is the dominant shareholder, but no Sri Lankans are among the Top 20 shareholders holding the balance.
April 10, 2017
€100 million in unintended consequences
France – presumably in the form of French taxpayers – is having to pay about €100 million to tobacconists to buy up unsold branded tobacco packs that do not comply with a law on standardized tobacco packaging, according to a story in The Local France.
When France made the switch to standardized tobacco packaging in January, the government was forced to buy the branded packaging that tobacconists had not sold.
This stock amounted to 250 tonnes of branded products, made up of 15 million cigarette packs and loose tobacco packs that had been rendered unusable by the law.
The law bans eye-catching branding and logos, and requires that packs are of a uniform size and color. Brand names remain, but appear in a small, uniform font.
The process of compensating retailers was complicated by the fact that the authorities decided that the tobacconists needed to provide information about where they had purchased their cigarettes. This was reportedly because some cigarette sellers allegedly tried to cheat the system by sending in cigarettes that had been smuggled from elsewhere.
Some 40 workers with the cigarette distributor Logista are sorting through the cigarettes and paying for them in a process that is expected to last until May. Logista will then be reimbursed by the government, which will in turn get rid of the 15 million packs by burning them.
April 7, 2017
Video: CEO on BAT results
Nicandro Durante comments on British American Tobacco’s 2016 performance. Video: 3B NEXUS
March 7, 2017
Cham reports growth
The Cham Paper Group reported 2016 net revenue of chf198 million ($197 million), compared with chf194.3 million in 2015 on the basis of unaudited figures
The group achieved operating results chf10 million, up from chf2.4 million during the previous year. Net income is expected to reach about chf8 million (2015: chf0.5 million).
Cham said that, in a slightly weaker market environment, the paper division benefited from the efficiency improvements in production and from a return to “normal” raw material prices.
The group will publish its annual report at the end of March.
February 28, 2017