Fitch affirms Altria

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed Altria Group, Inc.'s issuer default rating, guaranteed bank credit facilities and guaranteed senior unsecured debt at BBB+ and its short-term issuer default rating and commercial paper at F2. The issuer default rating of Philip Morris Capital Corp. and the senior unsecured debt of UST LLC were also affirmed at BBB+.

The outlook is stable.

Fitch said the affirmation of Altria's ratings reflect the company's continued ability to generate substantial cash flow from operations due to high operating margins, significant liquidity and leading market share position in the U.S. tobacco industry.

The ratings further consider Altria's shareholder-friendly high dividend payout ratio, and the agency said the ratings are lower than those of companies with similar credit profiles largely due to tobacco industry factors including continued and potentially accelerating cigarette volume declines and ongoing, albeit reduced, litigation risk.

The total debt-to-operating EBITDA ratio was 1.9 times as of Jan. 6.

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