Altria’s net revenues decreased 2.5% to $5.6 billion, driven primarily by lower net revenues in the smokeable products segment, the Richmond, Virginia-based tobacco company said in its first-quarter 2024 earnings report on Thursday. Altria reported it had net earnings of $2.129 billion in the quarter, up from $1.787 billion from the prior year.
The tobacco company’s flagship cigarette brand Marlboro retained its retail share of 42% of the total cigarette category maintained in the first quarter. In the premium segment, Marlboro grew its share to 59.3%, an increase of 0.7 share points, Altria said.
In the overall cigarette category, Altria’s sales volume for the first quarter dropped 10%, due to increased macroeconomic pressures on the adult tobacco consumer’s disposable income and the growth of illicit e-vapor products, Altria said.
Turning to the state of the e-vapor category, Altria’s CEO Billy Gifford said at the company’s April 25 earnings call that “we saw some encouraging actions in the first quarter” with the enforcement progress.
Altria said that in the first quarter, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in collaboration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued more than 450 e-vapor-related import refusals, up from 348 during all of last year. “While we are starting to see some early signs of action, more impactful progress needs to be made,” Gifford said on the earnings call with investors.
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