“We expect the same factors in addition to operating leverage and ongoing cost efficiencies to drive further robust margin expansion with projected organic operating income growth of seven to 9%.”

In context

“and US zinc inventory comparisons described earlier. For combustibles, we forecast a cigarette decline of around 3% with weaker industry volumes in India and Mexico following the recent excise tax increases and our own recovery in Turkey likely to impact comparisons in the first half. Altogether, this results in a broadly stable outlook for total shipment growth subject to the usual variability in shipment timing and trade inventory movement as compared to a forecast total industry decline of around 2% for cigarettes and HDUs. led by combustibles We expect another strong year overall for price notwithstanding the impact of US first half comparisons. And for continued positive smoke-free mix. Taking all these elements into account, we forecast 2026 organic net revenue growth of five to 7%. We expect the same factors in addition to operating leverage and ongoing cost efficiencies to drive further robust margin expansion with projected organic operating income growth of seven to 9%. This includes continued strong investment behind our smoke-free portfolio. We are forecasting currency-neutral adjusted diluted EPS growth of 7.5% to 9.5% factoring in broadly stable net finance cost and an effective corporate tax rate approximately in line with 2025 at around 21.5%. Including an estimated 28 pen currency benefit at prevailing exchange rate, This translates to 11.3 to 13.3% growth to a range of $8.09 to $8.54. Which would mark another year of double-digit EPS growth in dollar terms. We expect a significant acceleration in operating cash flow growth at around €13.5 billion at prevailing exchange rates and is subject to year-end working capital requirement. The strong cash generation is expected to support further meaningful deleveraging in 2026 which I will come back to sh”