Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) named Andre Calantzopoulos as the new chief executive today replacing Louis Camilleri. Andre will regain the title after he quit in 2008 over the company’s spin-off from Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO).
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) was the international business arm of Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO) and was spun off in March 2008 to allow the parent company to focus more on the domestic market.
At that time, Calantzopoulos was named as the chief operating officer of the new company while Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO)’s then CEO Louis Camilleri took over as the CEO of company.
According to the company, Camilleri, who served as CEO of PMI for 11 years, will remain as the chairman and help with the transition.
“With the company squarely poised for future success, I decided that the time has come for me to relinquish my executive role,” Camilleri said in a statement.
Calantzopoulos, 55, has been with the company since 1985 and served as PMI’s president and CEO since 2002. Calantzopoulos said in his statement that he is “grateful” to Camilleri for his mentoring and passion, and all future leaders of PMI will be judged by the standards laid by him.
Calantzopoulos was also nominated for election to the board and will become the CEO on May 8 after the annual meeting of shareholders.
The maker of Marlboro and L&M cigarettes revealed that, excluding China and the United States, it enjoyed a 28.8 percent stake of the global cigarette market last year. Lou Noto, the company’s independent presiding director will continue with his current designation following the leadership change.
For the fourth, the maker of Marlboro posted an 11 percent rise in profits and 2.8 percent in net revenues owing to higher volumes in Asia and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Sales for the company in Europe suffered in the fourth quarter with the debt crisis forcing users to cut back or switch to roll-your-own-smokes.
Since the spinoff till 2012, the New York based company has increased its dividend each year totaling 85 percent. Also, during this period, the company has returned more than $50 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks.
The tobacco giants’ share felt a little impact of the news, sliding just 0.13 percent to $90.77 in premarket trading on Wednesday. So far this year, stock has gained 8.7 percent.
