Sampoerna says Q1 sales volume down

Sampoerna says Q1 sales volume down

JAKARTA: Indonesia's second largest cigarette maker PT HM
Sampoerna said on Thursday sales volume in the first quarter
declined compared to the same period a year ago in line with an
overall cigarette market contraction.

Sampoerna said on Thursday its total sales in the first
quarter this year rose 24.3 percent to Rp 3.35 trillion (US$362
million) from last year while sales volume fell 5.1 percent to
9.93 billion sticks in the same period.

Analysts said the top line performance was no surprise while
the decline in sales volume has been widely expected, partly due
to price increases of over 26 percent.

"This performance comes against a backdrop of an overall
market that, according to AC Nielsen, contracted by 6.5 percent
quarter-on-quarter and by 4.1 percent year-on-year," the company
said in a statement. -- Dow Jones