NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) reported a profit for the second-quarter of 2016 that declined 5.2 percent from the prior year. But, quarterly reported net revenues increased 1.5 percent.
Adjusted earnings per share, excluding currency, topped analysts' expectations, while quarterly net revenues, excluding excise taxes, missed their estimates.
'Although our second-quarter results were generally in line with our expectations, our cigarette shipment volume was particularly impacted by declines in low-margin geographies. Nevertheless, we remain fully on track to deliver our full-year guidance, revised today for improving currency, which continues to represent a currency-neutral adjusted diluted EPS growth rate of approximately 10% to 12% versus 2015...As previously communicated, we expect the growth to be skewed towards the second half of this year, and the fourth quarter in particular,' said André Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer.
The company revised its 2016 full-year reported earnings per share forecast for currency only to be in a range of $4.45 to $4.55, at prevailing exchange rates, versus $4.42 in 2015. Analysts expect annual earnings of $4.47 per share. While announcing the first-quarter results, the company had expected earnings per share to be of $4.40 to $4.50, at prevailing exchange rates, versus $4.42 in 2015.
Excluding an unfavorable currency impact, at prevailing exchange rates, of approximately $0.40 for the full-year 2016, the earnings per share range represents a projected increase of approximately 10% to 12% versus adjusted diluted earnings per share of $4.42 in 2015.
Net Earnings attributable to the company for the second-quarter decreased 5.2 percent to $1.788 billion from the prior year's $1.887 billion, with earnings per share declining to $1.15 from $1.21 last year.
Adjusted earnings per share of $1.15, down by $0.06 or 5.0% versus $1.21 in 2015.
Excluding unfavorable currency of $0.08, adjusted earnings per share rose 1.7% to $1.23 from $1.21 in 2015. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.20 per share for the second-quarter.
Cigarette shipment volume of 209.3 billion units, were down by 4.8%.
Net Revenues grew 1.5% to $19.04 billion from $18.76 billion in the prior year. Net revenues, excluding excise taxes, declined 3.1% to $6.65 billion, from $6.86 billion in the prior quarter. Wall Street expected revenues of $6.77 billion for the quarter.
Excluding unfavorable currency of $303 million, net revenues, excluding excise taxes, increased by 1.4%, driven by favorable pricing of $344 million from across all Regions, despite a lower favorable price variance compared to the second quarter of 2015 in Argentina and unfavorable comparisons notably in Japan, Korea and Ukraine. The favorable pricing was partly offset by unfavorable volume/mix of $251 million across all Regions, principally EEMA, mainly North Africa and Russia.
During the quarter, the company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.02, representing an annualized rate of $4.08 per common share.
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