1. Marlboro has been the world’s number one cigarette brand since 1972. Marlboro’s volume outside the United States was 302.0 billion cigarettes in the year 2009. It is larger than its next three competitors combined, and its volume exceeds that of the top four global drive brands of British American Tobacco and the four global focus brands of Japan Tobacco International. In the United States it is the number one cigarette brand in every state and the number one cigarette brand for men and women across all adult age groups. In 2009 Marlboro’s share was larger than the next 12 U.S. cigarette brands combined. It was also larger than the two largest competitors, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard, combined. In 2009, Marlboro’s share of the cigarette market was 41.8%.
  2. Japan Tobacco’s principal activities are the manufacture, sale and import of tobacco. It manufactures brands including Camel, Mild Seven, Salem and Winston. The Group is also involved in the manufacture of soft drinks and processed foods. Mild Seven’s global sales declined by 3% in 2009.
  3. In 2007, an estimated 70.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) users of a tobacco product. This represents 28.6 percent of the population in that age range. In addition, 60.1 million persons (24.2 percent of the population) were current cigarette smokers 13.3 million (5.4 percent) smoked cigars 8.1 million (3.2 percent) used smokeless tobacco and 2.0 million (0.8 percent) smoked tobacco in pipes.
  4. Marlboro is the number one cigarette brand in every state and the number one cigarette brand for men and women across all adult age groups. In 2008 Marlboro’s market share was larger than the next 17 competitive cigarette brands combined.
  5. Approximately 85 percent of cigarette smokers aged 12 to 25 smoked one of the three most used brands in the United States, whereas smokers aged 26 or older reported more diversity in cigarette brand selection. White and Hispanic smokers were most likely to use Marlboro, while black smokers were most likely to use Newport

Top 5 facts sources

  1. ACS The Tobacco Atlas 3rd Edition 2009
  2. Results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health National Findings
  3. Philip Morris 2009 annual report.

Blu e-cigarettes help lorillard capture half the u.s. market – businessweek

European politicians back tougher anti-tobacco rules

Big Tobacco may not be dying after all. Lorillard (LO), the tobacco giant behind Newport and Kent brand smokes, is now getting almost 4 percent of its revenue from electronic cigarettes.

The North Carolina based company says its Blu e cigarette brand posted $63 million in sales in the recent quarter, a brisk trade that helped push Lorillard s total sales up 10 percent, to $1.8 billion. The company estimates that it now holds about half of the U.S. market for e cigarettes, which heat a liquid cocktail of nicotine to create a smokeless vapor. Its e cig sales have risen almost fivefold in the past year thanks to a national TV advertising campaign featuring Jenny McCarthy and strong repeat purchases, Lorillard says.

Wells Fargo (WFC) pegs the global market at $2 billion and estimates it will top $10 billion by 2017. Bloomberg Industries projects that at their current pace, e cigarette sales will surpass those of traditional smokes by 2047.

Although the Blu brand is the most popular e cig product in the world, according to Lorillard, the company is also building its line of e cigarettes abroad. Earlier this month it bought British brand Skycig for $49 million in cash.

Lorillard, which has a cigarette R&D team in Silicon Valley, has actually been selling more traditional smokes lately. It moved almost 10.5 billion fire fueled cigarettes in the recent quarter, 3.5 percent more than a year earlier, and has even been charging more for its old fashioned tobacco products. But the company also had to fork over $79 million in damages tied to a decade long product liability fight in Massachusetts, and regulators are still questioning the harm of Big Tobacco s menthol offerings.

I still think we re looking at an industry that s declining, Lorillard Chief Executive Officer Murray Kessler said on a conference call this morning. While there s plenty of debate about the safety of e cigarettes, if they can help big tobacco companies avoid or at least offset massive one time costs from lawsuits and regulatory battles, investors will be cheering.

Much will depend on how hard of a line the government takes on e cigarette rules, which are being hammered out now. If the FDA does overly strict regulations and reads it just like cigarettes you re going to get a different trajectory in the category than you re going to get if they recognize, again, that this is somewhat different on the continuum of risk, Kessler said.

For the time being, smokeless cigarettes play an important part in Lorillard s comprehensive tobacco harm reduction strategy, as Kessler termed it. That s harm reduction for shareholders and possibly smokers as well.