Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) has released its first quarter results for 2021 with net revenues up 6.0 per cent and heated tobacco unit shipment volume up by 29.9 per cent, according to PMI’s press release.

PMI has reported a strong first quarter with net revenues up 6.0 per cent to USD 7.6 billion compared to the first quarter in 2020. The operating income lies at USD 3.4 billion, which is up by 23.5 per cent. In the cigarette and heated tobacco sector, PMI sold a total of 167.3 billion units worldwide during the first quarter of 2021, which was 3.7 per cent less than in 2020. This reflects lower cigarette shipment volumes in the EU, notably in the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain, partly offset by higher heated tobacco unit shipment volume across the Region, notably in Italy. The number of cigarettes shipped decreased by 7.3 per cent from 157.0 billion sticks to 145.5 billion sticks, the amount of heated tobacco units continued to increase by 29.9 per cent from 16.7 billion to 21.7 billion units.
"We are pleased to have delivered a very strong start to the year, with top- and bottom-line results coming in well ahead of our expectations for the first quarter despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic," said André Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer.
"This performance was driven by the continued strength of IQOS, in particular, reflecting excellent user, volume and market share momentum, as well as further progress with manufacturing and operating cost efficiencies. Our results also benefited from the timing of specific factors, notably associated with shipments in certain markets and the phasing of commercial investments, which are expected to partially reverse in the second quarter."
The press release stated that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, PMI has undertaken a number of business continuity measures to mitigate potential disruption to its operations and route-to-market in order to preserve the availability of products to its customers and adult consumers. The company is not facing any significant business continuity issues with respect to key suppliers, all PMI global manufacturing facilities are operational and COVID-related restrictions do not have a significant impact on the availability of PMI’s products to its customers.
"While the speed and shape of the global recovery from the pandemic remains uncertain, we are raising our full-year outlook, on an underlying basis, to reflect the strong results and positive momentum of the first quarter. Our guidance now represents organic adjusted diluted EPS growth of 11 per cent to 13 per cent, reflecting net revenue growth of 5 per cent to 7 per cent on the same basis," Calantzopoulos concluded.