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• Altria Group, Inc. Reports 2007 Third-Quarter Results 

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) today announced third-quarter diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.24, up $0.19 or 18.1% versus the prior year, including favorable tax items of $0.05 per share and charges of $0.02 per share for asset impairment, exit and implementation costs, as well as other items detailed on the attached Schedule 7.

"In the third quarter, we continued to witness improvement in our business fundamentals, which generated robust earnings growth," said Louis C. Camilleri, chairman and chief executive officer of Altria Group, Inc. "In addition, we took numerous steps to accelerate our growth by investing behind product innovation and announcing our intention to pursue a further restructuring of our company." . . .

On August 29, the Board of Directors of Altria Group, Inc. announced its intention to pursue the spin-off of PMI to Altria's shareholders. The Board anticipates that it will be in a position to finalize its decision and announce the precise timing of the spin-off at its regularly scheduled meeting on January 30, 2008.

In addition to a final determination by the Board, the spin-off of PMI will be subject to the receipt of a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, the receipt of an opinion of tax counsel, the effectiveness of a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as the execution of several inter-company agreements and the finalization of other matters.

On September 27, PMI filed with the SEC a preliminary registration statement on Form 10 in preparation for its potential spin-off from Altria. In addition, Altria submitted a private letter ruling request to the Internal Revenue Service. . . .

As of September 30, 2007, Altria Group, Inc. owned 100% of Philip Morris International Inc., Philip Morris USA Inc. and Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and approximately 28.6% of SABMiller plc.

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