Philip Morris International shipments of combustible cigarettes continued to decline in a profitable third quarter as heated tobacco products took more market share, the company said.

Marlboro shipment volume fell 6.1 per cent to 68.9 billion sticks, influenced by declines in large European countries and Japan, where heat-not-burn products have been introduced, and by an excise tax hike in Saudi Arabia, PMI said. Combustible volume fell 4.1 per cent to 198.5 billion sticks. Coupled with a nearly five-fold increase to 9.7 billion units in heated tobacco products, overall volume declined a half percent, PMI said.
Operating profit in the three-month period at USD 3.1 billion (EUR 2.6 billion) represented a 2.2 per cent increase. Unfavourable foreign exchange movements prompted PMI to reduce its annual earnings forecast to a range of USD 4.75-4.80 per share from USD 4.78-4.93.