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Investment Overview for Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM)
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Below are key drivers of Philip Morris International's (PMI) value that present opportunities for upside or downside to the current Trefis price estimate for Philip Morris International:
Philip Morris International Revenue per Cigarette in Europe and Asia and EEMA and Latin America & Canada - We currently estimate revenue per cigarette to annually increase by 5-6% in its various geographical segments. If however, the increase in each segment is half of our current estimate because of higher excise duties and lower
pricing,it would imply a 10-12% downside to the Trefis price estimate.
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Philip Morris International is a leading international tobacco company, encompassing eight of the world’s top 15 international brands which includes Marlboro, the number one cigarette brand worldwide. Until the spin off in March 2008, Philip Morris International was an operating company of Altria Group. The newly independent Philip Morris International sells tobacco products in international markets while Altria maintains its operations in the US.
After the spin-off, PMI has become the world's leading international tobacco company and the third most profitable international consumer goods company. While US sales revenues have been in decline as Altria struggles to cope with higher state tobacco tariffs and the tobacco industry's negative image in the US, international sales continue to grow for PMI. Its portfolio has a wide range of premium, mid-price and low-price brands, which include both international and local brands.
In addition to selling Marlboro branded cigarettes (the world’s highest volume cigarette brand), PMI also has seven of the top ten brands by volume globally such as L&M, Philip Morris, Bond Street, Chesterfield, Parliament, Lark, A Mild, and Morven Gold which is sold throughout Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.
In 2009, PMI acquired Swedish Match South Africa to gain a stronghold in the smokeless tobacco category. In 2010, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI), an affiliate of PMI, united with Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC) to create a new company PMFTC in the Philippines, with both PM and FTC holding an equal share.
The four divisions of Philip Morris International consist of the following four regional segments –
- Europe
- East Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMA)
- Asia
- Latin America & Canada
Philip Morris International largely serves "discriminatory consumers", who are concerned with where the tobacco was grown and the quality of the product they are purchasing with brands like Marlboro, L&M, Parliament, Philip Morris, and Chesterfield. The firm also maintains a portfolio of three value company brands (Bond Street, Red and White and Next) for the "value consumers" who are more concerned with the price of tobacco products. It also owns local brands such as A Mild and Diji Sam in Indonesia, Diana in Italy, and Assos in Greece, to take advantage of established brands as opposed to marketing new brands in some regions.
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Strong pricing
Most tobacco and cigarette businesses today follow a Price-Profit First Strategy and enjoy significant room for strong net pricing and margin expansion. With declining cigarette sales, Philip Morris International's revenues and profits are maintained through higher pricing, which is a key driver of its performance.
Geographical mix
Philip Morris International benefits from significant geographic diversification, with good exposure to emerging markets which have high growth and developed markets which have higher operating margins.
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Declining tobacco consumption
Volume of tobacco products sales have been declining due to growing health consciousness amongst people about the extreme health risks of smoking. Governments have also been discouraging tobacco consumption through high excise duties and legislative controls like bans on public smoking and strict restrictions on the advertising and marketing of tobacco products and compulsory health warnings.
High excise duty on tobacco products as well as proposed anti-tobacco legislations
State and local governments tax tobacco products for both revenue and public health purposes. Such excise taxes are at times as high as 30-80% of revenues for cigarettes in different countries. Regular excise tax increases or unfavorable changes in the tax structure lead to increases in cigarette prices and a fall in demand.
Governments also resort to anti-tobacco legislation and anti-smoking laws to discourage tobacco and cigarettes consumption. Legislations like those banning smoking in public places lead to a reduction in cigarette sales. Proposed bills for disclosure in different countries and those mandating plain (generic) packaging for tobacco products in (like Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill, 2011 in Australia) result in the expropriation of tobacco companies trademarks.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (“FCTC”) enforced since 2005 with more than 171 signatory countries including the European Community, establishes a global agenda for tobacco regulation with several measures for the purpose of reducing initiation of tobacco use. This is expected to lead to a decline in demand.
Philip Morris' share repurchase program
PMI's strong cash flow has led to the firm conducting share repurchases. The firm has so far repurchased 355.7 million shares using $17.3 billion from 2008 till the first quarter of 2011. In April 2010, it completed its 2008–2010 share repurchase program of $13 billion and in May 2010 it initiated a new three-year share repurchase program of $12 billion.
Trefis Forecast Rationale for Asia Cigarettes Market Volume
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Asia Cigarettes Market Volume is the total market size of cigarettes in Asia (excluding China) in terms of the number of cigarettes sold per year.
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Asia Cigarettes Market Volume was 1062 billion in 2009 and has been growing at a steady rate. In 2010, its volume was around 1078 billion. In 2011, the market volume grew 1.5% to reach 1094 billion and further to 1103 billion units in 2012.
We expect cigarette volume in Asia to decline slightly over the Trefis forecast period and estimate the market volume to reach 1099 billion sticks.
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Trefis considered the following factors for its forecast
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- Increasing health consciousness
- Volume of cigarette sales has been declining with growing health consciousness among people about the extreme health risks of smoking. Awareness levels are already high in developed markets like Japan, Australia and South Korea leading to a steady volume decline in cigarette sales. Growing health awareness in the emerging markets may add to cigarettes volume decline over the coming years.
- Declining sales in Japan and South Korea
- Cigarettes sales in Japan have continued to show a steep volume decline with a fall of 5% in 2009, mainly due to a decline in the adult smoking population and more stringent restrictions on smoking in public areas. Higher excise and introduction of TASPO identification cards in 2008 also added to the decline in sales through vending machines(which was previously the main sales channel). In the first quarter of 2013, the total cigarette market in Japan declined by 3.2% y-o-y.
- High excise duties and legislative controls
- In January, 2013, Philippines implemented the 'sin tax' law raising excise taxes on cigarettes sharply, which led to more than 40% decline in cigarettes shipped by Philip Morris in the country. The law also requires sequential hikes in excise taxes till 2017, beyond which there will be a 4% hike annually.
- Governments also resort to anti-tobacco legislations and anti-smoking laws to discourage tobacco and cigarettes consumption. Existing and proposed legislations for ingredient disclosure and those banning smoking in public places lead to a decline in cigarette sales.
- Legislations for ingredient disclosure and a ban on smoking in public areas in different countries may hurt cigarette sales. The Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill in Australia, which was implemented in the country in December, 2012, requires all cigarette companies to sell their products within the country in generic olive-green packs with large graphic warning labels. This will cause erosion of brand value for the cigarette companies, and can lead to a substantial reduction in sales and market share. Further, governments of other countries, such as India, Canada and the U.K. are keeping a close watch on the bill, and may implement similar measures in their countries as well.
- Almost all state and local governments tax tobacco products for both revenue and public health purposes. High excise duties lead to an increase in cigarette prices which also discourage cigarette smoking. These excise taxes are as high as 50% of revenues in Asia and keep gradually increasing every year.
- WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (“FCTC”) enforced since 2005 establishes a global agenda for tobacco regulation with several measures for reducing the initiation of tobacco use and encouraging cessation, thereby prompting a decline in demand for tobacco products. It has more than 170 signatory countries worldwide including all major Asian markets.
- Marketing restrictions
- Cigarettes and other tobacco products face strong rules on advertising and marketing restrictions with compulsory health warnings on the packaging. Strong restrictions are also meant to prevent children and adolescents from getting influenced from any public marketing of tobacco products, which also constrain cigarette promotion for adult consumers thereby leading to a fall in demand.
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- Positive growth in some of the biggest markets
- In Indonesia, which is the largest cigarette consuming nation in Asia (excluding China), the market grew by almost 9% to 294 billion in 2011. Similarly, India's cigarette consumption grew by more than 4% to 116 billion cigarettes in 2011.
- Lax regulations in developing countries
- Regulations are lax in developing economies and big tobacco firms often use their financial muscle to bend rules in a way that suits them. Moreover, rising incomes and increasing social acceptance of cigarettes are fueling its demand in the region.
Back to Company OverviewHow Does Trefis Modelling Work?
How do we get the historical numbers for this chart?
Trefis has a team of in-house Analysts who gather historical data from company filings and other verifiable sources. When historicals are available, we explain how we got them at the bottom of the Trefis analysis section below.
Who came up with the Trefis forecast for future years?
The Trefis team of in-house Analysts considers a variety of factors when projecting any forecast. The rationale for our projections is explained in the Trefis analysis section below.
How does my dragging the trendline on the chart impact the stock price?
- We use forecasts for business drivers to calculate forecasted Revenues and Profits for each division of the company.
- We then use forecasted Profits in a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model to obtain the Price Estimate for the company.
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