Altria, which owns 78% share of Philip Morris CR (PMCR) posted its 2Q06 figures yesterday. Comments concerning Czech Republic show that total market was flat on y/y basis, however PMCR didn’t managed to maintain its market share which was 67.6% at the end of 2005. This is mainly due to intense price competition between tobacco companies there and brand switching among customers, who are highly price sensitive. Although PMCR’s product portfolio has improved in past years, shipments in 2Q06 have decreased by 12.3%.
Our view:
The decline has somewhat slowed in comparison to 1Q06 when the shipments declined by 14.6%. We see the news broadly in line with the expectations that decline should bottom in 2007-2008. We believe the news is neutral or only slightly negative for PMCR’s as downward trend has been widely expected. PMCR is expected to post its 1H06 results in the second half of August.