“We anticipate SG and A cost will increase slightly more than underlying net revenue for the year excluding currency, reflecting this strong reinvestment.”

In context

“ed with a strong combustible performance, we delivered plus two sixty basis points of gross margin expansion for total PMI. Moving down the P and L to OI margin. We delivered a plus 60 basis point of organic expansion in Q3 or plus 120 basis points in dollar term to reach an excellent 43.1%. This reflects the plus 170 basis point gross margin expansion I just covered, partly offset by elevated SG and A cost as flagged last quarter. This includes a substantial planned commercial investment in international markets, beyond the expansion and brand equity of IQOS, ZYN and VIVE. It also includes stepped-up marketing and brand investment behind ZYN in The U.S, following the return to full availability and further investments in our U.S. Capabilities to support the future growth of ZYN and IQOS. We anticipate SG and A cost will increase slightly more than underlying net revenue for the year excluding currency, reflecting this strong reinvestment. Ongoing cost efficiency in both cost of goods sold and SG and A partially offset increased investment. And we remain well on track to deliver our planned $2 billion cost saving objective over twenty twenty four twenty twenty six. Focusing now on our global smoke-free business. Our portfolio is outpacing the industry in the 100 markets where we are present with over plus 12% estimated IMS volume growth year-to-date, compared to less than 10% for the industry. We estimate our volume share of smoke-free product in this market is around 60% And our year-to-date share of category growth is more than 10 points higher than this. With our portfolio of leading premium brands, our share of smoke-free in value term is notably higher. Than this 60%. Our multi-category portfolio is a key strength as w”