OREANDA-NEWS. Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE / Euronext Paris: PM) today announced its 2015 full-year and fourth-quarter results.
“PMI had an excellent year in 2015. Against a backdrop of improving industry volume trends in many key geographies, our cigarette brand portfolio performed superbly, driven by solid market share gains - underpinned by the successful roll-out of the Marlboro 2.0 Architecture - our enhanced commercial approach, and investments made in both 2014 and 2015 to support our business. Furthermore, our underlying financial results, underpinned by robust pricing, and our strong free cash flow, were equally impressive." said Andr6 Calantzopoulos. Chief Executive Officer.
“We continued to make exciting progress on the development, assessment and commercialization of our Reduced-Risk Products. Wfe significantly expanded the roll-out of iQOS in Japan and introduced it into several new markets. Wfe are well positioned to accelerate deployment in additional geographies this year."
"We enter 2016 with enhanced business fundamentals and ongoing strategic initiatives that will strengthen them further. While currency headwinds endure, we fully expect to continue to grow our business and generously reward our shareholders."
Conference Call
A conference call, hosted by Andr6 Calantzopoulos. Chief Executive Officer, and Jacek Olczak, Chief Financial Officer, with members of the investor community and news media, will be webcast at 9:00 a.m.. Eastern Time, on February 4. 2016. Access is at www.pmi.com/webcasts. The audio webcast may also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI’s free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp.
Dividends and Share Repurchase Program
During 2015. PMI increased its regular quarterly dividend by 2.0% from $1.00 to $1.02. representing an annualized rate of $4.08 per common share. Since its spin-off in March 2008. PMI has increased its regular quarterly dividend by 121.7% from the initial annualized rate of $1.84 per common share, representing a compound annual growth rate of 12.0%. PMI did not make any share repurchases in 2015.
Sampoerna Rights Issue
On October 9, 2015, PT HM Sampoerna Tbk. (Sampoerna) (IDX: HMSP). an affiliate of Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) in Indonesia, announced the approval by shareholders of Sampoerna’s plan for a Rights Issue at an Exercise Price of I DR 77.000 per share. The purpose of the Rights Issue was to comply with the Indonesian Stock Exchange's requirement for all publicly listed companies to have at least 7.5% of their paid-up capital publicly owned by no later than January 30, 2016. The total net proceeds to Sampoerna from the Rights Issue amounted to approximately $1.5 billion. Following completion of the transaction in November 2015, PT Philip Morris Indonesia now owns 92.5% of the issued and outstanding shares of Sampoerna and 7.5% are publicly owned.