“We continue to expect that 2022 adjusted diluted EPS growth will be weighted toward the second half of the year.”

In context

“e as a financial investment, and our goal is to maximize the long-term value of the investment for our shareholders. Moving to capital allocation and our financial outlook. We remain committed to creating long-term shareholder value through the pursuit of our vision and our significant capital returns. In the first quarter, we paid approximately $1.6 billion in dividends and repurchased approximately 11.3 million shares totaling $576 million. We have approximately $1.2 billion remaining under the currently authorized $3.5 billion share repurchase program, which we expect to complete by year-end. We reaffirm our guidance to deliver 2022 full year adjusted diluted EPS in a range of $4.79 to $4.93. This range represents an adjusted diluted EPS growth rate of 4% to 7% from $4.61 base in 2021. We continue to expect that 2022 adjusted diluted EPS growth will be weighted toward the second half of the year. Before opening it up to Q&A, I'd like to comment on our recent ESG progress. Whilst harm reduction and underage use remain the most important social issues for our company to address, we have committed to make advancements in other ESG areas. At Altria, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact and recently announced our first virtual power purchase agreement for energy produced by a new wind farm project in Texas. This agreement marks significant progress toward 2 of our science-based environmental targets, achieving 100% renewable electricity and reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030. When the project is operational, we expect we will hit those targets ahead of schedule. We're proud to support a project that will bring additional renewable energy to the e”