Altria Group, Inc (NYSE:MO), maker of Marlboro cigarettes, may expand its offering to include non-nicotine products including cannabis, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
At an investor day on Thursday, the tobacco giant told investors that its 2028 investor goals include aspirations to compete beyond the US nicotine space.
Altria said it established two new goals for its US smoke-free portfolio, including smoke-free volume and smoke-free revenue. For US smoke-free volume, the goal is to grow volumes by at least 35% from its 2022 base of 800 million units. For US smoke-free revenue, the goal is to approximately double its smoke-free net revenues to $5 billion from its 2022 base of $2.6 billion, with $2 billion coming from innovative smoke-free products.
As well as cannabis, the WSJ reported this could include caffeine pouches.
“We announced our aspirations to compete in the international innovative smoke-free and non-nicotine categories,” Altria said in a statement. “We believe the international smoke-free and non-nicotine categories combined represent multi-billion dollar opportunities for us. Our teams are evaluating these opportunities and expect to finalize strategies for these growth areas over the next 12 months. We intend to share specific goals for these areas once established.”
Included among its smoke-free products, Altria unveiled SWIC, its heated tobacco capsule product, and on! PLUS, its newest oral tobacco innovation.
“SWIC and on! PLUS are in development, and we have not yet filed pre-market tobacco product applications with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for these products,” Altria added. “We look forward to bringing these products to ATCs in the coming years, upon regulatory authorization.”
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com