Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

SalMancuso: Good morning, Vivien and thank you for the question. And yeah, we’re really happy with the OTP margins. And I would say both traditional smokeless and oral TDN are contributing to the strength of those margins. So you’re right to point out the strength of, in particular, Copenhagen in the MSP category. And then as we discussed in our opening remarks, the net pricing increases for on — both on a year-over-year basis and a sequential basis.

Vivien Azer: Okay. Understood. And then on Marlboro market share, healthy 30 basis point improvement sequentially is the Premium segment held fair which is certainly good to see given the continued macro pressures you guys have called out on the consumer. I was wondering if you could comment at all on kind of the impact that Marlboro Black Gold had on that potential improvement. Thanks.

Billy Gifford: Yeah. We’re certainly pleased with the Marlboro Black Gold launch. We’re certainly pleased with the utilization that the [indiscernible] has put on Marlboro Black and use in the marketplace to give consumers that are under economic strain, a place to stay with Marlboro because that’s what the consumer wants. I think when you think about overall, Marlboro Black, it represents about 10% of the Marlboro franchise. It’s very similar as far as being used as a tool, you’ll recall this, Vivien, back when we use special blend and the other downturn that we saw in 2008, 2009. And so when you think about it, it’s being able to utilize a tool, we’re very pleased with the rounding out of the portfolio in Marlboro Black with Mobile Black Gold and very pleased with the results we’re seeing in the marketplace.

Vivien Azer: Sure. That’s great. Thanks for that. I’ll just squeeze in one last one, if you don’t mind. On the last slide of the presentation, you guys highlighted the Nevada menthol share, which did fall off sequentially in the third quarter. Can you offer any color on why you think that is? Thanks.

Billy Gifford: I think it really highlights the illicit activity that takes place in California. You’ll recall previously, so some of it was cross-border, but as the illicit activity takes place in California, whether that be menthol cards that we highlighted last time, or even menthol — menthol cigarettes, finding their way into the state of California. Again, it’s another example where probation doesn’t work. You don’t have enforcement and that illegal activities take place to get the consumer what they’re desiring and that’s what we’re seeing take place in California.

Vivien Azer: Perfect. That’s really helpful. Thank you for that.

Billy Gifford: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll take our next question from Owen Bennett with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Owen Bennett: Morning, gens. Hope all well. I had a couple of questions around vapor again. And first one, is coming back to disposable enforcement. So realistically, ignoring the actions by yourselves and BAT and looking at FDA specifically, do you actually see kind of any chance of meaningful measures in the next six to 12 months, given obviously, in the middle of last year, the FDA spoke that are now working with the government agencies to address this. And then they also flagged the possibility of possible federal statutory changes to address this. So just love to get your thoughts around if we could see kind of any meaningful action from the statutory perspective or the FDA in the next three to 12 months.

Billy Gifford: Yeah. It’s a good question, Owen. I’m very optimistic. I mean if you think about it, I can think of four simple steps that the FDA could take to really rain and improve the enforcement. One, they could help the trade, be able to identify products that out of compliance. When you think about that, that’s just providing a list that’s clear, either the ones that are authorized or those that have been denied so that they’re not in the marketplace. Once they do that conduct a broad-based retail inspection program. They did that in the cigarette category. They can do that in the e-vapor space. And once they do that, issue maximum penalties and then bring in junction actions against manufacturers and distributors that are openly define FDA regulation.