Moody's: Altria unchanged

Moody's Investors Service said news that Altria Group, Inc. will repurchase up to $1 billion in shares will not affect the company's ratings, including its Baa1 senior unsecured debt rating and its prime-2 short-term rating for commercial paper.

The outlook is stable.

Altria said it plans to repurchase up to $1 billion in shares during fiscal 2011, which will replace a $4 billion 2008 to 2010 share repurchase program that was suspended in 2009, Moody's said.

Assuming that the planned repurchases are financed with the same amount of debt, leverage is expected to be about 1.9x, versus a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.8x in fiscal 2010, the agency said.

Considering Altria's ability to generate strong positive cash flows from its operations and assuming no subsequent meaningful debt-financed activities, Moody's said it believes that leverage should remain below 2x by the end of fiscal 2011.

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