Philip Morris Sees $700 Million Boost From iQOS Smoking Device

Philip Morris International Inc., the world’s largest publicly traded cigarette maker, forecast that reduced-risk products will start boosting profit in three to four years as it prepares to introduce a tobacco-heating device in Japan and Italy.

The iQOS product, which heats rather than burns tobacco, will be available from the fourth quarter in certain cities in those countries, the New York-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes told investors today at a presentation in Lausanne, Switzerland. Philip Morris will produce Marlboro HeatSticks that can be inserted into the device to give a sensation of tobacco flavor.