Philip Morris USA cigarette market share in the three months ended 30 June gained 0.8 percentage points to 50.1 per cent, parent company Altria announced.

Marlboro accounted for 42.9 per cent of the market in the second quarter, a gain of 0.3 percentage points from the same period in 2011. Overall cigarette shipping volume at 36.2 billion sticks was nearly the same as in the previous second quarter in a market where overall volume fell an estimated 3 per cent, PM USA said.

Adjusted operating companies income for smokable products rose 2.8 per cent to USD 1.67 billion (EUR 1.38 billion) on sales of USD 4 billion. (ci)