“These products are intended to bolster the offerings within the Marlboro Black family of products and will be available nationwide, beginning in May.”

In context

“activity from premium menthol brands in the balance of the country. However, we believe that Marlboro remains the aspirational brand in the category as it retained the majority of its share in this challenging environment, growing its share of the premium segment to 58.5%, an increase of 0.1 sequentially and 0.7 year-over-year, while other brands ceded share in the segment. And we believe at PM USA has the appropriate tools to navigate this challenging environment. For example, we recently announced a series of investments behind the Marlboro Black family of products, which are intended to provide additional support for price-sensitive Marlboro smokers. Included in these investments is the introduction of Marlboro Black Gold pack non-menthol offerings with a smooth flavor and rich taste. These products are intended to bolster the offerings within the Marlboro Black family of products and will be available nationwide, beginning in May. Our RGM and advanced analytics capabilities inform the geographies and promotional rates for these strategic investments, allowing us to be precise with our spend while supporting our overall strategy for the segment. And as a result of the flavor ban in California, PM USA shipments to California retailers declined 12.8% in the state while reported industry shipments to retailers declined 18.8%. We’ve included more details related to first quarter California market dynamics in our metrics document that is available on altria.com. Moving to the oral tobacco products segment. Adjusted OCI grew 2.2% in the first quarter and the segment delivered strong adjusted OCI margins of 69.3%. Total segment reported shipment volume decreased 1.8% as growth in on! was more than offset by lower MST volum”