Owner Scorecard


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An industry chapter · Tobacco

Tobacco

6 members, 2914 to TPB, A to Z by ticker.

Gross profitability
median 35% — gross profit as a share of total assets, each member's median across its readable years; read on 5 of 6 members
Capital intensity
median 1.4% — capital expenditure as a share of revenue, each member's median across its readable years; read on 6 of 6 members
Net cash
1 of the 6 members with a readable debt line hold more cash and short-term investments than total debt

Figures describe the list as a group, from each member's own filed record; they name no member and form no rank. A member missing an input is absent from that median, never counted against the others.

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2914 Japan Tobacco

Japan Tobacco makes and sells cigarettes and other tobacco products — both the kind you burn and the kind you heat — under brands sold in Japan and in markets abroad. Smokers buy them through the ordinary retail chain, and the company keeps the gap between what a pack costs to make and what the brand name lets it charge. It also runs businesses outside tobacco, but tobacco is the core.

Owner earnings 2018–2025 ¥322.8B¥429.0B¥434.5B¥512.6B¥402.4B¥471.5B¥502.2B¥370.9B

Retained capital Retained ¥549.8B of earnings over 2018–2025; annual owner earnings grew ¥52.7B, ¥0.10 per ¥1 retained.

Balance sheet Modest net debt, ¥826.6B · dividend paid 8 of 8 yrs, never cut

BTI British American Tobacco p.l.c.

Tobacco and nicotine market was worth around US$939 billion in 2024.

Owner earnings 2016–2025 £4.0B£4.6B£9.5B£8.3B£9.3B£9.2B£9.9B£10.3B£9.6B£5.8B

Retained capital Retained £20.4B of earnings over 2016–2025; annual owner earnings grew £2.5B, £0.12 per £1 retained.

Balance sheet Meaningful net debt, £31.1B · dividend paid 10 of 10 yrs, never cut

MO Altria Group Inc.

Altria sells tobacco to adult smokers in the United States. Most of the money comes from cigarettes, with Marlboro as the centerpiece, and the rest from oral tobacco such as moist snuff and nicotine pouches. It makes its money by owning brands people ask for by name and moving them through wholesale distributors to retailers, at prices set well above what the product costs to make.

Owner earnings 2016–2025 $3.6B$4.7B$8.2B$7.6B$8.2B$8.2B$8.1B$9.1B$8.6B$9.1B

Retained capital Paid out $6.9B more than it earned over 2016–2025; annual owner earnings grew $3.4B.

Balance sheet Meaningful net debt, $21.2B · buybacks at an average near $53.10 · dividend paid 10 of 10 yrs, never cut

PM Philip Morris International Inc

Philip Morris International sells cigarettes and smoke-free nicotine products — heat-not-burn devices and their consumables, nicotine pouches, and e-vapor — to adult smokers across markets outside the United States, led by Europe and a swath of emerging regions. It is a consumer-brand business: it makes a packaged good people buy by habit and brand name, and the profit comes from charging more for that pack than it costs to make and ship. The company has put years and a great deal of money into shifting that portfolio away from burning tobacco toward smoke-free alternatives.

Owner earnings 2016–2025 $7.3B$8.0B$8.5B$9.2B$9.2B$11.2B$9.7B$7.9B$10.8B$10.7B

Retained capital Retained $5.1B of earnings over 2016–2025; annual owner earnings grew $1.8B.

Balance sheet Meaningful net debt, $43.8B · dividend paid 10 of 10 yrs, never cut

RLX RLX Technology Inc.

A consumer-brand business, where the durable asset is the brand and the pricing power it commands.

Owner earnings 2018–2025 (CN¥1M)CN¥336MCN¥2.6BCN¥1.8BCN¥448MCN¥170MCN¥844MCN¥1.1B

Retained capital Retained CN¥2.7B of earnings over 2018–2025; annual owner earnings fell CN¥274M, CN¥-0.10 per CN¥1 retained.

Balance sheet Net cash, debt-free, +CN¥7.7B · dividend paid 4 of 8 yrs, never cut

TPB Turning Point Brands Inc.

Turning Point Brands Inc. is a leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded consumer products.

Owner earnings 2016–2025 $8M$28M$11M$33M$38M$62M$25M$61M$62M$52M

Retained capital Retained $210M of earnings over 2016–2025; annual owner earnings grew $43M, $0.21 per $1 retained.

Balance sheet Modest net debt, $71M · buybacks at an average near $35.20 · dividend paid 9 of 10 yrs, never cut

The same four lines for every member, in strict ticker order; a figure that could not be read renders as "not read," never as a mark against the record beside it. The header describes the list and names no member; the entries carry no ranking and form no score. What a chapter cannot carry — understanding of the business, and a price — is yours.