Ball Announces Plans to Rebuild German Plant Damaged by Fire, Add Line in Hermsdorf Plant
June 20 2006 - 9:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball
Corporation (NYSE:BLL) today announced plans for replacing the
beverage can manufacturing volume it lost in Europe when a fire
heavily damaged its plant in Hassloch, Germany, on April 1. Prior
to the fire, the Hassloch plant produced approximately 2 billion
33cl and 50cl steel beverage cans annually. Ball plans to rebuild
the Hassloch facility as a two-line plant capable of producing 1.3
billion steel beverage cans annually. At the same time, Ball will
add a second production line in its plant in Hermsdorf, Germany, to
produce approximately 700 million aluminum beverage cans annually.
The total cost of the two projects to replace the Hassloch
production volume is estimated to be approximately 90 million euros
and is expected to be largely covered by insurance proceeds. Much
of the necessary design work has been completed. Initial production
is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2007. "Demand for
beverage cans in Europe continues to grow, with industry shipments
up in excess of 7 percent thus far in 2006 over the same period
last year," said R. David Hoover, chairman, president and CEO of
Ball Corporation. "In Germany retail volumes are up considerably
from the lows in recent years as the new redemption system is going
in place and beverage cans are back on retail shelves. Reinstalling
all of our lost capacity will allow us to participate in the market
growth and the anticipated comeback in Germany. "By rebuilding in
Hassloch and adding capacity in Hermsdorf we have the continued
benefit of the highly skilled workforces that have produced
excellent performance at those facilities in the past," Hoover
added. "We also maintain the flexibility of providing either
aluminum or steel containers to meet our customers' requirements."
Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic
packaging products and owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Ball reported 2005 sales of $5.8 billion and employs 15,600 people
worldwide. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains
"forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial
performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates"
and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
which could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether
as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key
risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including in Exhibit 99.2 in
our Form 10-K. These filings are available at our Web site and at
http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging
segments include fluctuation in consumer and customer demand and
preferences; availability and cost of raw materials, including
recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy
costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers;
competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution;
changes in climate and weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing
yields; industry productive capacity and competitive activity;
failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or
production cost reductions, including those associated with our
beverage can end project; the German mandatory deposit or other
restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier
contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; changes in
foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign
subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO accounting. Factors that might
affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization,
availability and returns of government contracts; and delays,
extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts.
Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those
listed plus: acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures;
integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or
laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety;
governmental investigations; technological developments and
innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other
litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected
and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement
plans; changes to the company's pension plans; reduced cash flow;
interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results
due to statutory audits or other effects. DATASOURCE: Ball
Corporation CONTACT: Investors, Ann T. Scott, +1-303-460-3537, , or
Media, Scott McCarty, +1-303-460-2103, , both of Ball Corporation
Web site: http://www.ball.com/
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