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