Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) reported third quarter net earnings attributable to the company was $1.8 billion or $0.93 per share, compared to $2.08 billion or $1.01 per share in the same quarter of last year.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share in the third quarter were $0.93, same as last year. Excluding currency, adjusted earnings per share up 18.3% to $1.10 from $0.93 in the previous year.
Net revenues for the quarter declined to $16.57 billion, from $17.37 billion in the year ago quarter.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.91 per share on revenues of $6.71 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
PMI increases its forecast for 2009 full-year reported diluted earnings per share to a range of $3.20 to $3.25, from $3.10 to $3.20, which includes, at current exchange rates, an unfavorable currency impact of approximately $0.52 per share. Excluding currency, diluted earnings per share are projected to increase by approximately 12%-14%. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $3.24 per share for fiscal 2009.
PMI said that it has increased its regular quarterly dividend during the quarter to $0.58, up 7.4% from $0.54, which represents an annualized rate of $2.32 per common share.
During the third quarter, PMI spent $1.5 billion to repurchase 31.5 million shares of its common stock.
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