Altria Group said it is on track to achieve full-year earnings estimates, with first-quarter Group revenues, net of excise taxes, up 1.8 per cent, the company said in its first-quarter business results.

Revenue from smokeable products, net of excise taxes, was up 0.4 per cent at USD 4.013 billion (EUR 3.302 billion), while revenue from smokeless tobacco products, net of excise taxes, was up 13.1 per cent at USD 493 million. Operating income for the period, at USD 2.316 billion, was up 3.4 per cent, Altria said.
The owner of Philip Morris USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. shipped 27.522 billion cigarettes in the first quarter, down 4.2 per cent on the 28.727 billion shipped in the comparable period in 2017. Shipment volume of the flagship Marlboro brand, at 23.653 billion sticks, was down 4.2 per cent on the 24.695 billion sticks shipped in the first quarter last year. Total cigar volume, at 378 million sticks, was up 3 per cent. Total shipments of smokeable products, which includes cigarettes and cigars, were down 4.1 per cent.
Altria said the 4.2 per cent decline in cigarette shipments was primarily driven by an estimated 5.5 per cent decline in total domestic industry volumes over the period.
In the smokeless products category, Altria said it shipped 195.7 million cans and packs, which was down just 0.1 per cent on first quarter shipment volume in 2017.
Marty Barrington, Altria’s chairman, CEO and president, commented that the Group “is off to a fast start” in delivering on earnings estimates.