“We're off to a strong start to the year and believe our businesses are on track to deliver against their full year plans.”

In context

“re repurchases remain subject to the discretion of Altria's Board. Altria reports its financial results in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Today's call will contain various operating results on both a reported and adjusted basis. Adjusted results exclude special items that affect comparisons with reported results. Descriptions of the non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations are included in today's earnings release and on our website at altria.com. Finally, all references in today's remarks to tobacco consumers or consumers within a specific tobacco category or segment refer to existing adult tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older. With that, I'll turn the call over to Billy. Billy Gifford : Thanks, Mac. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We're off to a strong start to the year and believe our businesses are on track to deliver against their full year plans. Our tobacco businesses performed well in a challenging macroeconomic environment, and we continue to make progress toward our vision to responsibly lead the transition of adult smokers to a smoke-free future. Let's start with a review of the macroeconomic backdrop and its impact on U.S. tobacco consumers. In January, the surge of Omicron cases disrupted consumers' routines and purchasing patterns, resulting in short-term decreases in retail trips and overall tobacco volumes. Increased inflation throughout the quarter pressured discretionary income levels as the consumer price index reached a 4-year high in March, and higher gas prices were exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the rise in inflation was partially offset by improved employee metrics and increased wage gro”