NEW YORK ¨C How can a company that tells people explicitly not to buy its products survive? That¡¯s a question for Philip Morris International Inc., which recently unveiled a campaign to ¡°unsmoke¡± the world.
The Marlboro maker reports first-quarter earnings on Thursday, giving investors the latest data on just how fast cigarette volumes are falling. With its public push to discourage smoking, Philip Morris isn¡¯t fighting that trend. Instead, it¡¯s ramping up focus on its IQOS heat-not-burn device, already sold in about 44 countries.
¡°It makes financial sense because the new business is more sustainable, a better product for consumers. I¡¯ve never seen where there is a better product for consumers and the company ended up in a worse situation financially,¡± said Chief Operating Officer Jacek Olczak. ¡°IQOS and combustible (cigarette) volumes, they are 100 percent correlated. We¡¯re not afraid of cannibalization.¡±
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