Cigarette giant Philip Morris International (PMI) cut its full-year earnings projection earlier today after struggling to increase Japanese demand in its heated tobacco device called iQOS.
The Marlboro cigarette maker slashed its expected diluted earnings from $5.25 to $5.40 in an earlier April forecast to a more downgraded range of $5.02 to $5.12.
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André Calantzopoulos, current chief executive of the tobacco company, said: "We are implementing the right marketing and product measures to reinvigorate growth in Japan, which is undoubtedly well below our initial expectation this year."
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Cigarrete shipment volume dropped 2.8bn units in the second quarter of 2018, falling 1.5 per cent year-on-year to 190.7bn units.
Meanwhile, despite its difficulty in Japanese markets, the companys heated tobacco products enjoyed a sharp 73 per cent rise.
