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Sales of Juul products in the US are estimated to have dropped to 440m units in Q2 2020, nearly 10% less than in 2019, while the company aims to “reset” its business.
In the same quarter of 2019, months before the company suspended sales of its popular fruity and mint pods, volume was 500m units.
These figures were provided by Altria during the presentation of its quarterly earnings on 28th July.
The Virginia-based manufacturer, which owns a 35% share of Juul and manages the product supply chain, also said that the investment “did not result in impairment” despite the current COVID-19 situation.
Altria will continue monitoring the impact of the pandemic on Juul’s business.
In the last quarter of 2019, Altria said that the value of its investment in Juul fell from $12.8bn to $4.2bn in almost a year. This followed news of an investment loss that the company announced in its Q3 2019 earnings presentation.
New director
Meanwhile, Juul is adding a new member to its board of directors with the aim of “resetting” the business, according to information published on Bloomberg.
Teresa M. Sebastian, corporate strategist and executive officer for publicly-traded and private companies, will serve as an independent Juul director.
Juul CEO K.C. Crosthwaite said in an email to employees earlier this week that Sebastian will oversee the company’s audit committee.
This is the second time in a short period that Juul has appointed new members to its board of directors. In May, former Canadian health minister Rona Ambrose also joined the company as an independent director.
Her listed accomplishments included a cigarette tax, restrictions on flavoured tobacco products, and regulations aimed at curbing youth vaping in the country.
What This Means: The recall of some of Juul’s products ahead of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement that it would remove most e-cigarette cartridge flavours from the US market is having a significant impact on the company’s sales numbers.
The details of the new Juul strategy to “reset” the business are not yet clear, nor is whether this refers to looking to other potential markets outside of the US to expand its portfolio.
Some sources said a while ago that the company is considering an expansion into the Japanese market and that it created a company called “Juul Labs Japan Co.”, but nothing official has been confirmed.
– David Palacios ECigIntelligence staff
Photo: Vaping360
