“After the completion of the ASR Program, we anticipate having $1 billion remaining under the currently authorized share repurchase program, which we expect to complete by year-end.”

In context

“ntage points as declines in our MST brands, were partially offset by the growth of on!. We remain encouraged by the performance of our oral tobacco products as on! continued to grow share, and Copenhagen remain the leading moist smokeless tobacco brand. Moving to capital allocation. In March, we sold a portion of our investment in ABI and expanded our share repurchase program to $3.4 billion. In expanding our repurchase program, we implemented a $2.4 billion accelerated share repurchase program, under which we received 46.5 million shares in March, representing 85% of the ASR Program. These repurchases are reflected in our weighted average shares outstanding for the quarter. We expect to receive shares representing the remaining 15% of the ASR Program by the end of the second quarter. After the completion of the ASR Program, we anticipate having $1 billion remaining under the currently authorized share repurchase program, which we expect to complete by year-end. Turning to ABI's financial results. We recorded $165 million of adjusted equity earnings for the quarter, down [ 8.3% ]. As a reminder, we use the equity method of accounting for our investment in ABI and report our share of ABI's results using a 1 quarter lag. Accordingly, our first quarter adjusted equity earnings represent our share of ABI's fourth quarter earnings. Following the ABI transaction, our ownership of ABI is approximately 8.1%, with a tax basis of approximately $1.2 billion. We continue to view the ABI stake as a financial investment, and our goal remains to maximize long-term value of the investment for our shareholders. Turning to other capital allocation activity. We paid approximately $1.7 billion in dividends and retired $1.1 billion of notes that came due in t”