“Earlier this week, our Board authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program, which we expect to complete by the end of 2023.”

In context

“ders. These results were driven by our tobacco businesses that continue to be highly cash generative. Our year-end credit metrics remain strong. Our debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 2.1 times, down 0.4 over the past three years, and our weighted average coupon was 4%, a decrease of 0.2 over the past three years. We also expect to retire approximately $1.3 billion of notes coming due later this month with available cash. In addition, we returned more than $8.4 billion in cash to shareholders last year through dividends and share repurchases. These record cash returns included paying $6.6 billion in dividends and raising the dividend for the 57 time in 53 years. We also repurchased more than 38 million shares during the year, totaling $1.8 billion, which completed our previously authorized program. Earlier this week, our Board authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program, which we expect to complete by the end of 2023. I’ll now turn it back to Billy to conclude our remarks. Billy Gifford: Thanks, Sal. While the calls are being compiled, I’ll remind you that today’s earnings release and our non-GAAP reconciliations are available on altria.com. We’ve also posted our usual quarterly metrics, which include pricing, inventory and other items. As we mentioned during the call, we have exciting topics to discuss at our Investor Day next month. We look forward to having a fulsome conversation about our smoke-free future and we are excited to share more about our journey toward moving beyond smoking. Todd, we’ll now transition to the Q&A period. Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Vivien Azer with Cowen. Vivien Azer: So, I just wanted to start with the industry volume backdr”