NEW YORK – Wall Street got more hints that Altria Group Inc., owner of the Philip Morris cigarette companies, may be closer to splitting its domestic and international divisions.

Reporting that second-quarter income fell more than 18 percent Wednesday, the New York-based company also provided more financial information than usual for its Philip Morris International unit, a signal to analysts that it may be preparing for the long-awaited split.

Chief Financial Officer Dinyar S. Devitre said Philip Morris International was operationally ready to be spun off. He declined to elaborate on timing while acknowledging that the unit was operating in a more transparent manner by providing results from PMI’s four regional units.

“That has got nothing to do with any specific actions that we would take or not take in the future with regard to the corporation,” he warned. Analysts are looking to an Aug. 29 board meeting for a possible announcement.

Morgan Stanley analyst David Adelman told investors the increased disclosure points to a spin-off.

Philip Morris USA has suffered from declining demand for cigarettes while Lausanne, Switzerland-based PMI has enjoyed strong growth overseas. Analysts were mixed on the quarterly results but most saw signs the board could approve the break-up next month.

A restructuring was first announced in 2004, but has been delayed by uncertainty over lawsuits the company has been fighting around the country. In March, the company completed the first step of its reorganization plan when it spun off its majority stake in Kraft Foods Inc.

On Wednesday, the company lowered its full-year earnings guidance, citing higher than expected asset impairment and exit costs. The company announced in June that it was closing a North Carolina plant to create more independence between domestic and international cigarette manufacturing operations.

Net income for the second quarter dropped 18.3 percent to $2.22 billion, or $1.05 a share, from $2.71 billion, or $1.29 per share, in the same period last year.

Excluding one-time costs, Altria said earnings per share were up 5 percent to $1.05. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings per share of $1.13 per share for the quarter. Those estimates usually exclude one-time charges.

Revenue for the quarter grew to $18.8 billion, up 9.7 percent from $17.15 billion a year ago.

Altria’s shares fell 98 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $70.30 Wednesday.

Chief Executive Louis C. Camilleri said in a statement that the company had a solid quarter.

Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris USA is the biggest cigarette maker in the nation and holds nearly half of the total market, selling the Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament and Basic brands. Philip Morris International operates in more than 160 countries around the world.

Goldman Sachs analyst Judy Hong said the results were slightly disappointing, with operating income falling short of her estimate. Volume at PMUSA declined 3.4 percent, a steeper drop than the 1.7 percent that Hong had predicted, and PMI volume rose 3.3 percent, lower than her 3.8 percent estimate.

Altria lowered its full-year earnings per share guidance to a range of $4.05 to $4.10 from its April estimate of a range of $4.20 to $4.25.

The closure of the plant in Concord, N.C., resulted in $318 million in costs during the quarter, mostly from severance payments to some of the plant’s 2,500 employees.

The company’s production center in Richmond, Va., will become its sole American manufacturing plant by 2011, and production of about 57 billion cigarettes for Philip Morris International was expected to be shifted to Europe by the third quarter of next year.

PMI also announced it would pay $1.1 billion for an additional 30 percent of its Mexican tobacco business, bringing its total stake to 80 percent. Its joint venture partner Grupo Caruso SAB de CV will keep a 20 percent interest.

The company has taken a similar strategy buying majority stakes of tobacco operations in the Dominican Republic and Pakistan and has said it could use the same tack in other countries as it captures growing sales abroad.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)