Altria Group, Inc. has reported its 2021 first-quarter business results and has announced it has full global ownership of on! oral nicotine pouches.

“We are off to a strong start to the year and believe our businesses are on track to deliver against full-year plans. Against a challenging comparison, our tobacco businesses performed well in the first quarter and we continued to make progress advancing our non-combustible portfolio,” said Billy Gifford, Altria’s Chief Executive Officer.
Overall, net revenues decreased 5.1 per cent to USD 6.0 billion, primarily driven by lower net revenues in the smokeable products segment. Revenues net of excise taxes decreased 3.3 per cent to USD 4.9 billion. In the smokeable products category, net revenues decreased 6.4 per cent, primarily driven by lower shipment volume and higher promotional investments, partially offset by higher pricing. Revenues net of excise taxes decreased 4.6 per cent. Domestic cigarette shipment volume decreased 12.0 per cent, primarily driven by trade inventory movements, the industry’s rate of decline, one fewer shipping day and other factors, to 22 billion sticks.
“This morning we announced another important milestone in Altria’s journey in Moving Beyond Smoking™. We now have full global ownership of on! oral nicotine pouches as we recently closed transactions to acquire the remaining 20 per cent global interest.” In December 2020 and April 2021, Altria subsidiaries closed transactions to acquire the remaining 20 per cent of the global on! business for a total of approximately USD 250 million. on!’s retail share of the total oral tobacco category was 1.7 per cent in the first quarter, an increase of 0.6 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2020.
In the oral tobacco products segment, net revenues increased 4.2 per cent, primarily driven by higher pricing, partially offset by higher promotional investments in on!, the report said.
In the first quarter of 2021, Altria recorded a non-cash pre-tax unrealised loss of USD 200 million as a result of a decrease in the fair value of Altria’s investment in JUUL. A corresponding adjustment was made to the JUUL tax valuation allowance.