OREANDA-NEWS. Altria Group, Inc. (Altria) (NYSE:MO) held its 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (Annual Meeting) today. Altria’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Marty Barrington, summarized Altria’s 2015 and first-quarter 2016 operating and financial results and discussed Altria’s focus on its corporate responsibility initiatives.

Voting Results for Altria’s Annual Meeting

At the Annual Meeting, Altria’s shareholders elected to a one-year term each of the 11 nominees for director named in Altria’s proxy statement; ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as Altria’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2016; approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of Altria’s named executive officers; and defeated two shareholder proposals. Final voting results will be reported in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

2016 Full-Year Guidance

Altria reaffirms its guidance for 2016 full-year adjusted diluted EPS, which excludes the special items shown in Schedule 1, to be in the range of $3.00 to $3.05, representing a growth rate of 7% to 9% from an adjusted diluted EPS base of $2.80 in 2015, as shown in Schedule 1.

The factors described in the Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements section of this release represent continuing risks to Altria’s forecast.

Regular Quarterly Dividend

Following the Annual Meeting, Altria’s Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.565 per share, payable on July 11, 2016, to shareholders of record as of June 15, 2016. The ex-dividend date is June 13, 2016.

Remarks and Presentation

A copy of Mr. Barrington’s prepared remarks and business presentation, as well as a replay of the audio webcast of the Annual Meeting, are available on altria.com and via the Altria Investor app.

Altria’s Profile

Altria’s wholly-owned subsidiaries include Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM USA), U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company LLC (USSTC), John Middleton Co., Nu Mark LLC, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd. (Ste. Michelle) and Philip Morris Capital Corporation. Altria holds a continuing economic and voting interest in SABMiller plc (SABMiller).

           
Schedule 1
 
ALTRIA GROUP, INC.
and Subsidiaries
First Quarter 2016 Special Items and Reconciliation of 2015 Adjusted Results
           
           
Altria’s First Quarter 2016 Special Items
           
NPM Adjustment Items      

$

0.01

  
Tobacco and health litigation items      

 

0.01

  
SABMiller special items      

 

0.05

  
Asset impairment, exit and implementation costs      

 

0.04

  
Gain on derivative financial instrument      

 

(0.01

 )
       

$

0.10

  
           
Reconciliation of Altria’s 2015 Adjusted Results
           

 

 

Full Year

 

 

2015

Reported diluted EPS

      

$

 2.67  

NPM Adjustment Items

        

(0.03

 )

Tobacco and health litigation items

        

0.05

  

SABMiller special items

        

0.04

  

Loss on early extinguishment of debt

        

0.07

  

Adjusted diluted EPS

      

$

 2.80