Breaking up is not easy and, in most cases, one side of the partnership ends up worse off than the other.

So it is with Altria's decision to spin off Philip Morris International, the owner of Marlboro cigarettes outside the US.

The transaction makes sense for investors in the new overseas business, who want to benefit from growing demand for cigarettes in developing countries.

But the rump of Altria will be a curious beast – effectively a holding company for Philip Morris USA, struggling against falling demand for cigarettes from US consumers, increased regulation and smokers' lawsuits; Philip Morris Capital Corp, a finance company currently being wound down; and a 29 per cent stake in London-based SABMiller.

Altria has held the SABMiller shares, worth around $11 billion, since it sold Miller Brewing to the British and South African-owned beer giant.

It's hard to see a rationale for Altria to maintain this curious structure, especially given the earlier spin-off of its Kraft Foods unit. Surely the obvious next step for Altria would be to sell the SABMiller stake and use the proceeds to buy back shares or make acquisitions. This would allow the group to focus purely on its US tobacco business, which remains a hugely cash-generative operation.

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