Philip Morris International Inc (PM) — Q2 2018 Transcript

Welcome, and thank you for joining us. Earlier today, we issued a press release containing detailed information on our 2018 second quarter results. You may access the release on www.pmi.com or the PMI Investor Relations App. A glossary of terms, including the definition for reduced-risk products, or RRPs, as well as adjustments, other calculations and reconciliations to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures, are at the end of today’s webcast slides, which are posted on our website. Today’s remarks contain forward-looking statements and projections of future results. And I direct your attention to the forward-looking and cautionary statements disclosure in today’s presentation and press release or review the various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projections or forward-looking statements. It’s now my pleasure to introduce Martin King, our Chief Financial Officer. Martin?

Thank you, Nick and welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I will open with some brief remarks on how we currently see our business midway through the year. For our combustible tobacco portfolio, the fundamentals are robust, reflecting a strong pricing environment and improving volume trends. This is a very positive sign given the majority of our profits and cash flow continue to be generated by combustible tobacco products. With regard to IQOS, we are tracking below our very high initial expectations for this year, primarily due to the current growth trajectory in Japan. However, the year-on-year performance across geographies remains very strong, and we continue to view RRPs as our largest growth opportunity going forward. As Andre explained during the Annual Shareholders Meeting in May, RRPs will experience periods of acceleration and periods of slower growth as they expand. The related timing is very hard to predict precisely, especially at this initial stage. This is the case with virtually every new product category, and IQOS will invariably go through these phases. What is certain in our view is that adult smokers worldwide are looking for better alternatives for smoking. We believe that IQOS is the best alternative on the market today as evidenced by the fact that 5.6 million adult consumers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to IQOS. Let me now take you through our second quarter results, beginning with total shipment volume, i.e., cigarettes and heated tobacco units combined, which increased by 0.9% or by 0.6% excluding inventory movement. This growth was driven by higher heated tobacco unit volume across IQOS launch markets, led by Japan and Korea, partly offset by a 1.5% decline in cigarette volume, which includes the growing impact of adult smokers out-switching to our heated tobacco products. Importantly, heated tobacco unit volume growth in the quarter was relatively balanced with about half coming from outside the East Asia and Australia region. This illustrates the broad-based progress of IQOS across geographies. For the first half of the year, total shipment volume declined by 0.6% and was essentially flat excluding inventory movement. Our cigarette volume decline in the quarter was due notably to Russia, mainly reflecting the impact of price increases and higher illicit trade in Saudi Arabia, primarily due to the impact of tax-driven price increases following the June 2017 excise tax introduction. The decline was partly offset by growth in a number of markets, most notably Pakistan and Turkey, primarily reflecting higher industry volumes. We also recorded cigarette volume growth in important geographies such as Indonesia, North Africa, and the Philippines. On a sequential basis, our cigarette volume performance in the quarter marked a significant improvement compared with the 5.3% decline of the first quarter. Turning to our second quarter financial results, net revenues increased by 8.3% excluding currency, driven by strong pricing for our combustible tobacco portfolio and higher volume of IQOS devices and heated tobacco units. Our pricing variance for combustible products in the quarter was more than 8% of second quarter 2017 combustible product net revenues, driven by Argentina, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Russia. Year-to-date June, our combustible pricing variance was 7.5%. Adjusted operating income increased by 9.8% excluding currency, reflecting the growth in net revenues coupled with lower manufacturing costs in the East Asia and Australia region, partly offset by an incremental RP investment in all IQOS launch markets. Adjusted operating income margin increased by 0.5 points, excluding currency. Currency neutral adjusted diluted EPS increased by 20.2% in the quarter and benefited from a lower estimated full-year effective tax rate, as well as lower interest expense. Our effective tax rate in the quarter was approximately 22% and reflects the impact of a revised full-year effective tax rate estimate of approximately 24%. The reduction compared to our prior full year estimate of approximately 26% is mainly attributed to further analysis, interpretation, and clarification of the scope and impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the United States. Our lower interest expense in the quarter primarily reflects the impact of our ongoing efforts to optimize our capital structure following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This included the decision to use existing cash to repay the principal of our recently matured May 2018 10-year U.S. bonds, which had a coupon of 5.65%. Our total international market share excluding China and the U.S. increased by 0.8 points in the quarter to 28.4%. The growth was driven by our heated tobacco brands, which reached 1.6%, up by 0.9 points. To put this performance into perspective, our heated tobacco brand now enjoy an international market share equivalent to that of Philip Morris, our fourth largest international cigarette brand after just over two years since the initial IQOS commercial expansion in Japan. Despite the increasing impact of adult smoker out-switching to our heated tobacco products, share for our cigarette brands was stable at 26.9%. I will now cover our performance in select geographies, beginning with an update for two markets; Russia and Saudi Arabia that we had previously referred to as potential watch outs. In Russia, we recorded a strong pricing variance in the quarter, primarily driven by the annualization of pricing announced in the second half of 2017 and further supported by price increases earlier this year. This built on our favorable pricing brands in the first quarter and is a welcome change from 2017 during which we recorded essentially no net pricing in the market. Pricing in Russia was the main driver of the Eastern Europe region's 14.7% possible pricing variance for the year to date June period. We continue to closely monitor the pricing environment in the market, particularly in the context of the excise tax increase that came into effect at the start of this month. Encouragingly, since June, the industry has been progressively announcing price increases in line with the tax increase pass on of 5 Rubles per pack. It is important to note, however, that there continue to be differences in timing between when price increases are announced and when they actually reach the consumer at retail. Separately, I would like to highlight the favorable IQOS momentum in Russia, with HEETS off-take share in Moscow of 4.4% in the quarter, up by 1.7 points sequentially versus the first quarter. This growth was supported by the successful rollout of our new digital initiatives. In Saudi Arabia, cigarette industry volume and PM in-market sales volume remained under pressure in the quarter, declining by about 24% and 40% respectively. However, the declines in both cases improved on a sequential basis as the excise tax driven price increases from June 2017 were finally lapped during the quarter. We expect continued improvement in the sequential trends for both industry volume and our in-market sales over the balance of the year. Importantly, we will enter 2019 with this major drag on our profitability behind us. These positive developments are being reinforced by strong cigarette portfolio performances in a number of key markets, such as Germany, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Turkey, as highlighted on this slide. Turning now to IQOS in Japan. We recorded HeatSticks’ market share of 15.5% in the quarter, an increase of 5.5 points compared to the second quarter of 2017. While share for HeatSticks declined by 0.3 points compared to the first quarter of 2018, let me remind you that our first quarter share was favorably impacted by a low total market in January, reflecting a cigarette inventory reduction by our main competitor. In fact, in-market sales of HeatSticks in the second quarter increased by over 5% versus the first quarter to 6.6 billion units. We remain focused on reaccelerating HeatSticks’ share growth, particularly as competitors expand the availability of heated tobacco products. In this regard, we are rolling out a range of initiatives this year, which do not require incremental marketing expenditures to drive further switching to IQOS, including the introduction of the next generation of IQOS devices, which will offer significant improvements that address key consumer needs, including consecutive use; the planned launch of a stronger-tasting HeatSticks variant in order to facilitate full-flavor adult smokers switching, as well as a mainstream price product for more price-sensitive consumers; the simplification of the registration process for new users, which was a significant barrier to entry, particularly for older smokers; the intensification of our loyalty program and deployment of more targeted and relevant communications for our existing and prospective IQOS users; and we have already addressed device reliability issues in the current generation of IQOS, which had caused frustration among certain consumers. We conservatively assume today that these initiatives will have a limited favorable impact this year with the full favorable effect coming at the beginning of 2019. We continue to observe strong consumer interest in the heated tobacco category. As of June 2018, we estimated that 34.7% of adult tobacco users in Japan use a heated tobacco product in the preceding seven days, an increase of over 2 points since March. This equates to around 150,000 additional users per month over the period. It is important to highlight that this general growth dynamic has not changed as a result of the presence of competitive products. However, there are different patterns of full adoption depending on product, with IQOS having the highest exclusive use and per device heated tobacco unit consumption. Other products appear to dilute the correlation between the number of users and the category share. Thus, the heated tobacco categories’ consumption share of total tobacco volume, which reached around 21% in June, is lagging behind general heated tobacco user share, as the latter reflects an expression of interest in heated tobacco products and the potential for further conversion going forward, which bodes well for both the category and IQOS. We have previously highlighted the role that competitive churn associated with the introduction of the new heated tobacco products to the market is having in Japan. In general, competitive products have the greatest impact following the initial launch, but critically over time as consumers recognize the benefits of IQOS. Given the geographic expansion of the competitive products in recent periods and the related impact that this has on the national share for HeatSticks, it is helpful to look at specific geographies within Japan to help gauge better the impact of competitive introductions and the related churn on IQOS’s performance over time. This slide shows heated tobacco unit off-take share trends in Fukuoka, Sendai, and Tokyo, three geographies where multiple heated tobacco products have been available the longest. As all three geographies illustrate, the longer the competitive products are in the market, the better IQOS performs. Importantly, IQOS remains the heated tobacco proposition with the highest full conversion rate, which drives recurring HeatSticks purchases and, therefore, revenue. In Korea, HEETS market share reached 8% in the second quarter, an increase of 7.8 points versus the prior year period and 0.7 points sequentially. Over the past few months, there regrettably has been confusion among adult consumers with regard to the heated tobacco category. This stems primarily from government discussions on graphic health warnings for heated tobacco products, as well as the Korean FDA mischaracterization of the tar generated by such products, which we have vigorously refuted through compelling scientific evidence publicly and by directly informing our IQOS users. Unfortunately, the KFDA has risked confusing millions of people into thinking that heated tobacco products are as harmful as cigarettes, contradicting its own scientific findings. In spite of this, our existing user base is staying with IQOS, demonstrating consumer confidence in the product and its benefits based on personal experience. We have comprehensive plans in place to ensure that the confusion dissipates so that the many adult smokers who are understandably hesitant at this time will resume switching from cigarettes to the heated tobacco category. In the EU region, IQOS continued its steady growth. HEETS reached a regional share of 1% in the quarter, up by 0.8 points compared to the second quarter of 2017. This growth was supported by strong performances across IQOS launch markets, most notably Greece and Italy, where HEETS shares have increased by 3.1 points to 4.1% and by 1.3 points to 1.9% respectively. As the marketing focus behind IQOS continues to be limited to select geographies within EU launch markets, the regional share, not to mention the national share for any specific market, clearly understates the success of IQOS. It is also important to monitor the number of IQOS users, which serves as a leading indicator of heated tobacco unit consumption. Over the past 12 months, the estimated figure in the EU region has increased by more than fourfold to approximately 1.2 million. Importantly, we have maintained the overall level of quality of the IQOS user base as demonstrated by full and predominant conversion rates while growing the number of users substantially. We have also been able to increase the user registration rate, which now stands at over 80%. User registration is very important as it enables us to follow and better service new IQOS users during their initial conversion journey while also increasing the loyalty and retention of existing IQOS users. Turning to our full-year 2018 outlook. We continue to anticipate a total industry volume decline of 2% to 3%, excluding China and the U.S. Against this backdrop, we also continue to expect a decline in our total shipment volume of approximately 2%. However, we now anticipate a change in the composition of our shipment volume, reflecting higher cigarette volume and lower heated tobacco unit volume compared to our prior forecast. We expect a significant increase in our global heated tobacco in-market sales volume to around 44 billion to 45 billion units, including revised more conservative assumptions regarding the impact of our product and marketing initiatives in Japan to support IQOS. We now target heated tobacco unit shipments of around 41 billion to 42 billion units. This excludes an anticipated full-year net inventory reduction of approximately 3 billion units, reflecting an estimated 4 billion unit reduction in Japan and a 1 billion unit increase in other markets. We expect the reduction in Japan to be concentrated in the third quarter. The revised shipment target represents a total net inventory adjustment swing of 5 billion units compared to our previous communication during our Annual Shareholders Meeting in May, and we had assumed a full-year net inventory increase of 2 billion units. Our heated tobacco unit in-market sales volume target for this year reflects growth in the second half of approximately 60% compared to the same period in 2017 and almost 20% compared to the first six months of 2018. We now expect net revenue growth this year of 3% to 4% excluding currency. The revision compared to our previously disclosed estimates of approximately 8% is primarily due to lower than anticipated shipments of IQOS devices and heated tobacco units, predominantly in Japan and the impact of accounting for affiliate in Argentina as highly inflationary effective July 2018, partly offset by the better than expected performance of our combustible tobacco portfolio. Let me provide some additional granularity behind the revision, beginning with the devices, which account for approximately 2.5 points and mainly reflect the following; the worldwide introduction of the next generation of IQOS devices towards the end of 2018, which I touched on earlier; this requires an adjustment to current generation device inventories, while the ramp-up of new devices is expected to occur in 2019; the fact that we are reaching out to more conservative adult smokers in Japan who need more time in different communications to switch to heated tobacco, as well as the assumption of continued competitive churn as consumers experiment with other heated tobacco products; thus, impacting the rate of adult smoker acquisition; improved device reliability and longer life cycle, leading to fewer IQOS replacement purchases; higher sales of second IQOS holders versus relatively higher price full-kit purchases; and the alignment of the retail selling price for all IQOS kits in Japan to the previously discounted price of approximately ¥8,000, independent of device registration. Given the current unit margin structure of IQOS devices, the impact of lower device sales is felt predominantly on the net revenue line, with a slightly positive corresponding impact on operating income. Heated tobacco unit shipment volume accounts for further 2 points of the revision; mainly reflecting the anticipated full-year inventory reduction mentioned previously and the slower growth of in-market sales in Japan. Our revised net revenue forecast is based on the conservative view of a very limited favorable impact from our initiatives in Japan in 2018. The upward revision for our combustible tobacco primarily reflects better than expected cigarette performance across a range of geographies, notably Germany, The Philippines, and Turkey. We continue to anticipate a full-year combustible price variance of approximately 7% of our 2017 combustible product net revenues. Given our year-to-date June 2018 currency-neutral net revenue growth of 8.3%, our full-year target of 3% to 4% implies a slight decline for the second half of the year on the same basis. This is primarily due to the challenging comparison that we face in the second half of the year related to the sizable shipment of HeatSticks that we made in 2017 as part of our planned inventory build in Japan. As a reminder, in the third and fourth quarters of 2017, we recorded currency-neutral net revenue growth around 9% and 19% respectively. While the inventory build of approximately 13 billion heated tobacco units was appropriate at the time given the then forecasted demand, our heavy reliance on a single production center and the shift from air to heat rate, it is now resulting in lower heated tobacco unit shipments and related net revenues, especially as we adjust existing inventory levels, mainly in the third quarter. Consequently, we forecast net revenue growth of around 1% excluding currency in the third quarter and a decline of around 4% on the same basis in the fourth quarter. As announced this morning, we’re revising our 2018 reported diluted EPS guidance at prevailing exchange rates to a range of $5.02 to $5.12. The change primarily reflects lower anticipated heated tobacco unit shipments in Japan and the unfavorable impact of currency, partly offset by a lower estimated full-year effective tax rate of approximately 24%. We continue to target net incremental investment behind RRPs of approximately $600 million for the full year. Our guidance now includes $0.07 of unfavorable currency at prevailing exchange rates. Excluding currency, our guidance represents up to a growth rate of approximately 8% to 10% compared to our adjusted diluted EPS of $4.72 in 2017. The unfavorable $0.13 change in the currency impact on our guidance as compared to our previous guidance on May 9th is due notably to the Argentine peso and Japanese yen. For the year, we are now targeting operating cash flow of approximately $9 billion, subject to currency movements and year-end working capital requirements. We also now anticipate capital expenditures of approximately $1.5 billion compared to $1.7 billion that we communicated in May. The change primarily reflects lower planned spending on heated tobacco unit manufacturing equipment, driven by increased production efficiency and greater flexibility associated with dual production of our existing factories, as well as an adjustment for the revised production forecast. In June, our Board approved an increase in our quarterly dividend to an annualized rate of $4.56 per share. This marks the 11th consecutive year in which PMI has increased its dividend, representing a total increase of 147.8% or a compounded annual growth rate of 9.5% since PMI became a publicly traded company in 2008. The timing and magnitude of the increase reflect the Board’s confidence in the growth outlook for our business, underpinned by the potential of our smoke-free products, and underscore the Company’s steadfast commitment to generously reward shareholders over time. In conclusion, the fundamentals supporting our combustible tobacco portfolio are robust, namely strong pricing and a modern cigarette industry volume decline. While we are tracking below our very high initial expectations for IQOS this year, primarily reflecting the current growth trajectory in Japan, the year-on-year performance across geographies remains very strong, and we are confident that RRPs constitute our largest growth opportunity. We are implementing the right marketing and product measures to reinvigorate growth in Japan. These initiatives, which require the rightsizing this year of our existing IQOS devices and HeatSticks inventories will position PMI well for a strong overall performance in 2019. Thank you. I am now happy to answer your questions.

So I appreciate all the color and your efforts to be transparent around guide down. I’m just curious if you could just offer some thoughts on why you didn’t update your guidance at the AGM formally?

We’ve been assessing the whole situation. We have been putting the programs in place in Japan. And we gave you quite a bit of detail at the AGM on the dynamics of the consumers, and some of the uncertainties involved. And we gave some better color on the forecast for shipments. We decided not to give a new net revenue number, because at that point in time, we were still recalculating and figuring the effects of all these pieces. But the key is we're really confident going forward in these projections. We have time now to understand the consumer situation in Japan, and to put together a really good plan there. And we have a great deal of confidence going forward that we will hit these numbers, including the shipment and IMS for the heated tobacco units.

Sticking with Japan then please with the more affordable variant. Can you talk about how that will benchmark from a revenue accretion standpoint relative to some of the metrics that you guys had offered at your shareholder meeting in 2016?

I think the key point with regard to the heated tobacco unit, whether it’s mainstream price or premium price in Japan, is these products have better margins than cigarettes do. And their price, including the mainstream variant, will be priced such that it's adding quite a bit of profitability, even above what we would get from a similar tobacco product. Because Japan, for example, our portfolio on the conventional side, has always included Marlboro Lights, Lark and other brands, so we've always had brands priced at different points within Japan. And with heated tobacco units, you're going to follow a similar logic that you need more than one price point in order to reach a broader group of consumers. And we’re still going to be, on average, above the average price in Japan. And we're going to be adding profitability very strongly with our RFP portfolio in Japan and everywhere else.

One last one from me, on South Korea. Can you give us some color on how you're thinking about target market share for the full year, given the deceleration and the confusion in the marketplace?

Well, I mean, it's unfortunate that there is confusion in Korea, because we've been growing tremendously well there. And we are still adding consumers in Korea. But unfortunately, with the confusion, we've had a pause in the rate of speed of converting people; we're sorting through it and getting them the right information, the consumers the right information, which factually we have a very good story to tell; and all the scientific backing, including coming from other government agencies. In fact, the KFDA itself, if you read their evidence, they understand that the composition of the aerosol is much better with our products. Unfortunately, that didn't come through in their final report. So there's some confusion, but we're clarifying it. And we think that Korea will continue to grow. It’s not as fast as what we had been on very good trajectory, but we'll get back to those fast speeds of growth in the future. And I think we're still going to see very good growth in the second half of the year.

My first question is your revenue outlook. It’s much lower than previously. And you highlighted IQOS in Japan as one of the biggest drags on your top line. But I'm trying to understand your outlook for pricing or revenue for IQOS in all of your other markets. I guess, I assumed it would have a bigger contribution as these markets ramp, especially given the tax benefits. And then also, do you expect you’ll need to introduce lower price points in some of the other markets sooner than you had previously planned, possibly as soon as next year to increase conversion. I guess I'm just trying to get a sense of your thinking on all of this.

Our intent is to keep the premium positioning for heat. It’s important as you’re establishing the new category that remains premium. You have to remember in Japan we have reached the market share, which is very substantial to this point where you get running out of premium smokers, if you will. And you need to expand once you hit very high market share. In other markets, we’re not there yet; we will get there eventually. So certainly, if we get well into the 15%, 16% market share, we’re going to have to deal with this issue in other places. But we’re still not there; we are growing very rapidly in the EU. In a number of markets, we’re doing extremely well. Italy, Greece, we called out already, but there are a number of other markets that are growing. And when you look at the consumer uptake, it’s really taken off in the EU and we’re very pleased with the results there and looking forward to higher market shares. But it will be a while before we get to the point where we would need to be thinking about introducing a second lineup of SKUs. But overall, I mean the HeatSticks, as you point out, are very profitable in the EU. They enjoy some favorable tax positioning, and it makes it quite accretive in a number of markets.

And then the incremental spend behind IQOS of $600 million this year. Could you update us on the phasing of this spend for the rest of the year and then more color possibly on some of the initiatives that are working? You touched on the digital initiative in Russia, which seem to be having a very positive effect. And then I know it’s early. But how should we think about potential stepped up investments behind IQOS next year? Should we assume you’ll continue to ramp spending so you can increase further conversion in the future?

So we’re still on track for the $600 million incremental. As far as the phasing, we’re about 50% already in the first quarter. So it’s pretty on track, and we’ll expect about the same for the second half. Obviously, we spent half we’ll have half to go. So that remains intact. We are seeing some very good impacts from some of our investments, digital, absolutely. I mean, Russia, you see the market share really talking in Moscow. It's due to a number of initiatives, digital is playing a role. We’re getting better at finding leads and being more efficient in how we decide to approach those smokers. And it’s paying off effectively that we hope. We will see rolling across other markets towards the latter part of this year and into next year. And it really gives us much more leverage with our coaches, for example, where they can work on leads that are already verified and already delivered from the digital process. It’s also helped us follow during conversion and a number of other benefits. So the spending that we’re making in digital is paying off. Our retail footprint is improving. We’re getting more consistent quality, getting more effectiveness of our retail spend. So there are a number of areas where the spending is really starting to pay off and will pay off even more in next year. As far as next year, when we look at that $600 million, about half of it, say $300 million, will be in the base but will not grow any further. They work through specific initiatives that are being built that can handle much higher scale. So we will not need to grow or have more spending behind it in order to provide the benefits to a huge number of consumers across all the markets. The other half will scale somewhat on how fast we rollout markets and how fast we have uptake in the consumer conversion piece. But it should not grow as quickly as the consumer pieces. So we’re looking at the profitability coming from the whole RRP investment to begin paying off much better next year and going forward, because if you realize it, the consumables are being sold at a net factory price around the world that’s about twice of our average conventional cigarette. So we’re getting very good benefits as we grow the volume. And that allows us to amortize the costs of conversion and of these other essential initiatives over some very good profitability. And we’re seeing more and more markets now have passed the point where they’re accretive and they’re profitable; obviously, Japan and Korea were there; there are a number of markets in the EU there; there obviously, Italy, duty-free. So we’re getting now much more benefits from all these investments and forward.

And then maybe just one-time a quick one from me, I am just curious to hear how IQOS has been performing in markets where e-cigs are much more prevalent. And really what the interaction has been. And then what are your plans for introducing e-cig technology, either organically or possibly via an acquisition? Thanks.

We have less exposure to e-cigarettes compared to other companies. Our main market for e-cigarettes is in the EU, with the UK having the highest level of exposure. However, we hold a lower market share in the UK, which limits our ability to deploy our commercialization efforts. It's challenging to compare e-cigarettes with IQOS. We believe IQOS is superior for converting consumers, particularly adult smokers, because it offers a more satisfying experience that closely resembles traditional cigarettes. Therefore, we are confident that IQOS is a better choice for adult smokers, and we expect to see success in markets where we also introduce e-cigarettes. For example, in Italy, where e-cigarettes are available, IQOS has performed exceptionally well. From a regulatory standpoint, we view the intellectual property related to the heat-not-burn tobacco product category as distinct and difficult to replicate, in contrast to the e-cigarette market, which tends to be more commoditized with limited unique intellectual property. Although we believe heat-not-burn products should be regulated differently from cigarettes, we acknowledge that there will still be regulations around tobacco products. This creates challenges for competitors lacking experience in tobacco regulation. We recognize that e-cigarettes will play an important role in the market. Our developed MESH technology is promising, and we plan to release an updated version soon. We believe our mesh approach offers better consistency and intellectual property protection, resulting in a superior consumer experience over the long term. We intend to compete in the e-cigarette market and are confident in our potential for success; however, we also feel that our winning product is currently in heat-not-burn, where we can achieve greater profitability, uniqueness, and better conversion of smokers. We are ready to compete with e-cigarettes in any market.

First just in terms of your EPS guidance for the full year, so ex-currency, it's now 8% to 10%, which is slightly better than the last guidance. But your tax rates have now come down by about 400 basis points since the beginning of the year. So that should be adding means something like 6 points to EPS growth. So I guess I am just wondering what's causing the shortfall that FX neutral guidance is actually not going up more at this point.

It's the things we made out before. Obviously, the tax is coming better. The business is being impacted by the heated tobacco unit shipments, but also now the currency, I mean the inventory, which is about a 5 billion swing from what we talked about at the annual meeting. The devices don't have much impact because of EPS and that we're getting some offset from the conventional cigarette business. So the main impact is difference between where we were projecting Japan versus where we are today. We're still very confident in Japan and we're taking the actions necessary. And this step around inventories, for both devices and for heated tobacco units, is to clear the deck and prepare Japan for better growth going forward. So that the initiatives we put in there, the new heated tobacco unit offerings, as well as the very compelling new devices, have an opportunity to blossom and to do really well and drive our growth going forward. So we're setting the base for a better 2019, and to deliver the numbers.

And just to clarify the Japan inventory impact. So if we assume a similar in-market sales growth for IQOS in the third quarter, you could have an IQOS volume in the third quarter for Japan something like a 3 or 3.5 billion. That's the right way to model?

I think that's about right. We're going to take the inventory adjustment of 3 billion to 4 billion in Japan, because remember the net is 3 billion. It includes a plus one by the end of the year coming from other areas. So in Japan, we're looking at about 4 billion inventory; it will come mostly in the third quarter. And we're making sure we have the right inventory of the Marlboro heated tobacco units to make room for the new lineup of SKUs. And we have a really flexible manufacturing base now we're able to supply. So rather than end up with too much inventory of any one particular product, which is hard to predict how it's going to perform going forward, especially given the pricing that's coming in the market and the tax increase on October 1. So to clear the decks and have a lower inventory so we can be more flexible is what we're doing.

And then just lastly, in terms of your price guidance of the combustible, I'm assuming it does not include any potential benefit from Japan. So I just wanted to confirm that. And then just confirm if you've gotten any clarity around the application that you've submitted?

Our guidance is comprehensive and does not exclude any specific cases. We have submitted an application for conventional products in Japan. The tax increase is ¥20 per pack, while we applied for a total increase of ¥50. On the combustible side, there are certain technical issues related to the pricing calculation for the device and the heated tobacco unit. There are complexities regarding how the new tax is calculated based on the weight of the tobacco or consumable product, which has delayed our application process. However, the tax will be increasing on October 1, so we will need to submit a new price list for those products as soon as possible.

I just have two questions for you. So I'm curious if you look at your new initiatives you have set for Japan in the second half and new devices, HeatSticks pricing and that kind of thing. Do you believe that that will increase the overall level of heated tobacco users in Japan? Is this what's going to hopefully draw in some of the late adopters? And if I can add to that, you’ve mentioned that there is 35% of consumers that are using new tobacco about at 21% share. And I think you have a bit of an explanation and I couldn’t recall what the explanation is for the gap between those two figures there, if you can help with that too?

So first of all, the number of consumers coming into the heat-not-burn category is growing. We estimate it’s around 150,000 per month. And the 34.7% number is anybody any smoker who has used a heat-not-burn product in the last seven days. So it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re fully converted. It doesn’t even necessarily mean they yet bought a device, but they’ve tried the product. It could also be from a friend or somebody else. But it's an indication of interest and that I think is the starting point. Then you get to the question of, will consumers convert. And this is what our initiatives are around. And we find that IQOS is the best at converting consumers, and we find that it's the best product in the category, so as long as the category has interest and people are coming into it. And look, we’re selling over 500,000 kits and/or holders every month in Japan. So we are bringing people into the category. It's being hidden a bit by this churn and the fact that consumers are trying many different products. And so the number of sticks per device and consumption has come down a bit. So you don't see quite the volume and share growth that you would associate with that number of consumers. So we’re convinced it’s going to settle out that IQOS will win; it's the best product in the market, and we will see higher rates of growth. Now that’s underpinned by the three buckets of things we’re taking in Japan; we’re improving the basics, so the device quality issue and reliability; the loyalty programs for existing users to make sure they stick with IQOS since they appreciate the brand; the holders have programs to get people the ability to do some and use in short-term; we’ve simplified pricing registration, and you've got the messaging to reach a broader consumer base; and reach, for example, we flagged the 50 plus group, which is pretty large in Japan; we’re adapting our messaging to those to that group and focusing on smoke-free Japan; going to where they are and more suburban; there is a new campaign on the way; so that's all around messaging and consumer. And then the products are a key part of it; the new flavor SKU; the new lineup of consumables at the mainstream price; and then very importantly, the new generation devices, which is a nice improved device; and we are convinced, it’s going to do really well, even at a premium price to the existing devices, which is why we’re bringing the inventory of the previous devices down, so that the new devices have room to sell. So all these things, put together, I think will increase the rate of people coming into the category. Overtime, the churn will dissipate. It may take a while. We still have the spread of competitive products. But you see what’s happening in the cities where we’ve already been in the longest, we start to tick backup. So it’s got a come, it’s just a matter of being more conservative in our estimates about when that will happen and making the room for these initiatives to take root and be successful through the inventory resizing. So that’s the story around Japan. We’re really confident in the future. We are absolutely sure that the basics are in place, the product is right, and it’s going to resume growth. We’re just being more conservative about when we forecast that will happen and giving run through the initiatives to take place.

If I could add one more quick question from a high level, when we observed the product in Japan and Korea reaching up to a 2.5 market share, we noticed an exponential increase in market share from that point onward. The product gained significant consumer adoption and became well recognized in the market. However, we aren't seeing the same trend in Europe. Should we expect that the EU is just different from Japan, or is it related to how you're supporting the product? Could you provide insight into how market shares are developing in the EU and when we might see significant growth there?

There are a couple of markets that have accelerated notably in the last few periods. I mean, you call out Europe. Take Italy. Italy is starting to take some pretty big jumps in the share quarter-over-quarter. I mean we were at 1.5 share points in the first quarter, now we’re at 1.9. So maybe it’s not taking off quite as fast as Korea or Japan. But that’s a noticeable acceleration in share. Russia, Moscow being the leading city for Russia. I mean, to you jump from 2.7% to 4.4% in one quarter, that is a serious acceleration. Also, Greece is another example, and there are some of other markets. I mean, I’m not going to go through the whole list. But we are starting to see faster growth across a variety of markets. And I think part of it is the efficiency of our initiatives, and we’re learning how to do it better. Our spending is paying off better. But it’s also I think which you pointed out, which is word of mouth. At some point, it gets to a critical mass where people start seeing each other using it and they start reaffirming their choice, and you start to see a difference in the growth rate. And we are seeing that. And obviously in different geographies, it might be to different extremes, but it is significant growth and we’re very pleased with the progress across EU, Russia, and a number of different geographies, as well as the great success that we’ve had in Japan and Korea. So it’s getting very broad-based now. We’re very pleased with it and very confident in the future.

My first question is really focusing around the $600 million, how you’re spending and how that varies in the life of a slowdown in Japan and Korea. And I suppose what I’m really trying to ask is this. It sounds like you are ramping your marketing investments in Japan in response to the slightly disappointing trajectory in Japan. But you’re keeping the $600 million stable. Does that mean to say that you’re not investing as much in Europe as you would have done? And that’s my first question.

Well, in Japan, we’re actually spending this year what we planned to already at the beginning of the year. We have not increased the total spending in Japan above what we had already planned. And I’m sure within the $600 million that we’re spending across a variety of markets, including Japan, Korea, EU, and a number of different geographies. But the plans, as far as how the markets are spending it, are pretty much on track and Japan is actually right on track with its spending. So it's a step up from last year and that's maybe what you're seeing when you look through our earnings release. But that was already planned and it's already in the $600 million number; we haven't increased either the $600 nor have we increased its allocations to Japan.

And then as I look at the rest of the world, so excluding Japan and Korea, we've talked about a lot. It seems to me that certainly compared with my expectations it's doing better in certain geographies. You've called out Greece, Italy, Russia than I would expect, but correspondingly less well in others. And I'm really talking Northwest Europe here. Is that, compared with your forecast let's say this time last year, is that how you would see it as well? Better in some places, worse in others, net-net in line with what you expected?

Well, I think we expected it to do well across the geographies. It's done a little bit better in some, obviously, and in others we're hoping to accelerate the growth. And we're still confident it'll come. I am one where it would pay off tremendously if it grew, but is challenging, is Germany. We knew, because of the characteristics of the consumer and so forth, there was a little bit more of a show-me type market and would take more effort and more incremental growth to where we get to a point. We are growing in Germany. We're gaining consumers. We're making progress. It's going okay. But obviously, we would like to see it do better in Germany, partly because it would be extremely profitable, as well as the fact that it's a key market for us and we would like to grow it. But we're very confident it's going to happen. We are applying these new tools and the learnings and getting better every day, and it is starting to move faster. But we're always looking for more.

And very quickly, it's not my final question, the UK. I live in London, it seems to me you're making big efforts here. But I just wonder how it’s doing in London?

I think we're making progress. We have good efforts on the ground there. And it's a market that is very interesting because it has a fairly large e-cigarette component, and we have consumers there. And we also would like to see it do well in the UK from the point of view of English-speaking and would spread the word better around the world with word-of-mouth. It's going fine; we're making progress. But that's a market that we're putting a lot of focus on and trying to accelerate the growth in.

Finally, just you've dropped some hints about pricing. One thing you said, I think you said is you're applying the new device to be at a premium to the existing IQOS device. I'm intrigued by that, particularly in line of the fact that the heavy discounting from the glo device and to some degree from plume. And also I think I heard you say that you're definitely planning to submit a new price list for IQOS in Japan in due course to deal with the tax rise on IQOS. Is that correct?

So for the existing lineup of devices in Japan, we said the price now as a simple one price as opposed to the situation before where you had discounting and you had most consumers having to go through the registration process to get the discount price. It also gave the impression that the device was being marked down. So we made it simple. We simplified the registration. We also didn't require the registration in order to get the same price, the ¥8000 price, which is where most consumers were getting to anyway but only after some pain and suffering. And that was also in anticipation of bringing the new line-up of devices. The plan all along was when the new devices arrive would be to have two price tier system for the existing line-up and then the new and improved line-up at a higher price. None like you would see for other electronics product line-up. So we just accelerated that, took away the pain and suffering of having to go through a long process to register and get the price, which you should have gotten anyway and put it there. So yes, when the new line-up comes, it will be an improved device. It will offer better functionality, performance, design, all the great things and consecutive use too, by the way. And so in general, it will be priced above the older device, which you would expect; that’s not surprising. As far as the consumables pricing, I was just referencing in October 1st, there is a tax increase in Japan for both RRP and conventional cigarette. So obviously, you need to have your price list in before any tax increase. We've already put our price listing for the combustible. And so we were delayed a bit by this technicality on the rest of our portfolio, and so that’s what I was referring to.

But the new retail price will be higher to take into account the tax increase on the consumables of IQOS?

There is a tax increase and we’re going to file a price list that deals with that. I can't comment further on pricing.

I just wanted to touch on Russia. It's your largest cigarette market where you’ve launched IQOS. And you’ve highlighted some of the momentum there. Can you just help me to reconcile a few of the data points you’ve given. You talk about the 4.4 share in Moscow, and that’s close to 10% of the population of that country. I think you’ve also got almost 1 billion sticks in that region, which is primarily Russia and Ukraine. I guess, I’m just trying to reconcile that with your appendix 1 where you show zero rounding, I suppose, to zero market share for Russia. If you took say half of the segment number divided by the market size, you’re still looking at around 0.7 or 0.8 share. Obviously, the 4.4 at around 10% in the country would be close to four tenths of a share. Why is there no share registering on the national basis and how should we think about tying all that together?

I believe this is related to the data source for the shares at Nielsen for Russia. I'm not entirely sure, but it seems that our method of tracking share in Russia might not be capturing the situation in Moscow. Unfortunately, I don't have a definite answer for that.

Can you provide an overview of the distribution between Russia and Ukraine, or any other markets in that segment? Specifically, regarding the shipment numbers, how much is attributed to Russia?

We really haven’t split it out by market. Obviously, Russia is probably the biggest component but it’s not split by that.

Now that you've resolved the capacity issues, are you considering a national expansion in Russia or further growth beyond that? I know you've mentioned Moscow, and you're also present in St. Petersburg. What are your thoughts on expanding to other areas?

We are seeing great results in Russia, so we will definitely continue to expand there. While I won't specify the timeline, it's clear that given our success and the effectiveness of our programs, further expansion in Russia makes perfect sense.

Or any sense of timing maybe as a better way to put it?

No, not at this time…

And then just one more on Japan; there is the smoking ban coming into place. It looks like that applies to the heated tobacco as well. How does that influence your outlook for the market there, and just any thoughts on what you expect from that coming through?

I don’t think we really have an impact from that on the market development, going forward. I mean, usually smoking bans aren’t a big impact on volume in the market. I think it’s disappointing if they don’t allow heated tobacco units, because I think it is materially different to combustibles and it should be allowed; it does not impact our air quality, we have the studies to prove it. In fact, we did a study in Japan on actual consumers and looking at the biomarkers in individuals and proved that the IQOS device does not impact air quality or give a problem to non-smokers in the area.

Michael, it’s Nick. The ban applies to both combustible and heat-not-burn products, but there are some distinctions made between the two. The positive aspect is that they are acknowledging the heat-not-burn category as somewhat different.

Just to clarify then you said it does apply to both, but there’re some carve outs…

There are some differences and I can get you the specifics on that after the call.

In restaurants, and bars, and things you maybe…

Just going back to a previous question. What plans have you got if any for the full commercialization of platforms two, three and four? Where are we in that?

Platform two, which is the heat-not-burn product, performs similarly to platform one but uses a carbon tip to generate energy. This product has been launched in a limited test in the Dominican Republic. We are collecting consumer data and information and are preparing to increase production. We will share plans for this in the future. Platform four, the e-cigarette MESH product I mentioned earlier, is nearing finalization and will be launched soon. It features improved technology that we believe differentiates it from others in the e-cigarette category. We have high expectations for this product and will continue its development to enhance satisfaction for smokers. It will be released in the market before the end of the year. Platform three is still under development and is not yet in a test market, but we plan to enter a test market as soon as possible.

Does that mean we should expect when the first national launch of any of these products will happen?

We haven't said, so don't have any new update on that.

Secondly, certainly there was trade press suggesting that the announced IQOS factory in Germany was no longer going to go ahead. Is that true? And are some of the other ones that you announced too; Romania, Greece, the Dublin, the size in Italy, and Switzerland investment, Russia investment? Are some of those also being scaled back or perhaps not going ahead?

We're reevaluating our whole CapEx for RRP. The reality is we're in good shape with RRP capacity. We have better efficiency with the spend because you have better up time. We've had lower waste numbers and we've also figured out how to better use some existing facility layout. And with the new growth forecast, we're in pretty good shape. So we have now changed the timing on some of our spending for CapEx, that's why we have lower CapEx number for the year. And we're going to continue to evaluate the footprint for RRP going forward. We don't have any announcements on individual factories, but we're doing the assessment now. And we'll give more information to the individual areas as they might be impacted or not. From a company perspective, it's a story of us being more effective and efficient with spend and phasing of the timing of our investment on CapEx to match the situation.

In Japan, do you anticipate a direct relationship between pricing and the levels of tar and nicotine as you consider launching products with higher tar and nicotine content alongside lower-priced options? Will the market be divided into higher-priced products that offer more flavor but contain more tar and nicotine, versus lower-priced products that might provide a milder experience?

That is not going to be the case. We're not launching a higher tar and nicotine product. We mentioned more flavorful options. Firstly, tar doesn’t really apply when discussing heated tobacco units. The aerosol is significantly different, making the concept of tar irrelevant. Additionally, nicotine levels don’t necessarily correlate with flavor levels. It’s about selecting the right tobaccos and the methods we use to process them that create varied flavors. Our aim is to offer more flavorful products that enhance the consumer experience and appeal to full flavor smokers, but this is unrelated to tar and nicotine. Regarding pricing, we plan to have a variety of flavors and will not set prices based on flavor or nicotine levels.

And lastly, I think, historically, you’ve talked about having a new EPS algorithm at some point in 2018 given the uncertainties. Is that still the plan at some point, or is that perhaps going to be later?

We have our Investor Day that’s coming up at the end of September, and we will talk about the future in much more depth there and talk about the different aspects of our growth and the very positive plans we have for the future. I think that’s probably the best venue in which to talk about longer-term prospects on growth for the Company.

I just wanted to ask about the combustibles business and what’s driving the improved expectations there. Is it less cannibalization from IQOS? And are you reallocating some incremental investment back into the cigarette business?

No, I think that the spending is just the other side of what we’ve discussed regarding the $600 million on RRP. We haven’t significantly altered our investment plans for the combustible category. Our pricing performed well this year across various geographies, which is contributing positively overall. Our market share is improving. There were several markets that were previously holding us back, but they are now recovering. For instance, in the Asia, South and Southeast Asia region, Indonesia has seen positive share growth this year and an improvement in first half volume; the Philippines is also experiencing strong share growth and increased profitability. In terms of volume, Thailand and Pakistan are showing growth compared to before; in Turkey, the market is expanding as illicit products move back into the legal market, and we are benefiting significantly from this. In Germany, our pricing strategies and initiatives performed well this year, resulting in share growth in the second quarter. Thus, we are beginning to see some positive results. Overall, across various geographies, our brands are performing well, pricing is improving, and in some cases, market volumes are also better, as I mentioned in Turkey and in geographies that previously posed challenges for us. We are regaining volume from illicit sources thanks to several factors, such as the new tax tier in Pakistan. So when you consider everything together, we have a very promising outlook for the conventional products business, not just for the second quarter but also beyond.

And then I was just wondering if you can elaborate on the commercialization strategy for the next generation IQOS device. Are you going to be rolling it out across all markets or initially just in Japan…

I think you’re going to have to wait and see on that one. I can tell you that we’re very excited about this new generation of devices. They really are better from the way the consumers use them, the interface, the way they look and the performance of them. And we have a good plan for introducing them, and you’ll have to wait and see.

And can you comment on the battery life? How many uses does the device have?

We flagged as one of the drivers of having to reduce inventories and device sales going forward, is that we’re finding that our devices are actually holding up better as far as the life of the battery if you will. You buy a battery and it’s rated for a certain number of cycles. But the reality is in the real life and with the consumer use, people are tending to get more cycles out. So the replacement rate for battery life issues is actually turning out to be a bit lower than what we had planned. And therefore, consumers can hang onto them and use them for a longer period of time. So the batteries in these devices are fantastic technological quality and they are lasting better.

I just want to close with just reiterate three key points for our outlook. First of all, the base business we talked about, it’s doing better. We've got improved volume to share. The Marlboro is doing well across the world and the pricing is coming in very nicely this year. The RRP growth is substantial. Year-over-year, we're growing our IMS, nearly doubling it, and it's really broad-based. It’s covering a number of geographies, not just Asia now with Japan and Korea which are great success stories, but also EU, Russia, and other markets are starting to kick in with significant additions to our volume growth. And the last point is that we've taken some decisive actions to improve our growth going forward. In Japan, in particular, the initiatives we put in place in rightsizing these inventories. We're doing that in order to give us better results going forward, not only that the initiatives have better impact but also prepare the decks for 2019. So we're very confident about the future. We look forward to giving more detail at Investor Day, and we look forward to improved results going forward. So thanks very much, everybody.