“we are raising our volume, organic sales growth and currency neutral adjusted bottom line growth forecast. First to volumes, where we increase our outlook to plus 1%, to plus 1.5% total shipment growth for cigarettes and HTUs”

In context

“ant to highlight our volume growth of plus 1.5% and organic net revenue growth of plus 7.7%, again, reflecting continued dynamic IQOS performance and combustible pricing. In addition, Swedish Match currency neutral net revenues increased by plus 18%, excluding accounting reclassifications. Year-to-date, operating income grew by plus 2.4 organically, despite accentuated margin headwinds and notable OI decline in the first quarter due to the headwinds covered previously, which are now starting to subside. Combined with outstanding ZYN performance, this resulted in year-to-date currency neutral adjusted diluted EPS growth of plus 10.7% to $4.65. This is an excellent performance. Turning now to the full year outlook. I am pleased to share that following this very strong year-to-date delivery, we are raising our volume, organic sales growth and currency neutral adjusted bottom line growth forecast. First to volumes, where we increase our outlook to plus 1%, to plus 1.5% total shipment growth for cigarettes and HTUs, despite a lower expectation for the total industry. Within this, we expect to deliver HTU shipment volume within the lower half of our prior 125 billion to 130 billion range. While IQOS fundamentals remain strong, this narrowing reflects a further delay to the expected market launch in Taiwan, limited underlying growth in Russia and Ukraine, as well as some uncertainty related to inventory level in the EU as trade partner adjusts to the upcoming HTU flavor ban. For combustible, the resilience of our portfolio is reflected in an updated forecast of a 1% to 2% cigarette volume decline. ZYN continues to perform exceptionally with strong adult consumer traction. Following a further step up in the US volume run rate, we are now increasing our full year nicotine pouch forecast range to 390 mil”