DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Ball Corp.'s (BLL) first-quarter earnings rose 14%, with profit
beating analysts' estimates, as four plants acquired last year
contributed to growing sales.
The plastic and metal packaging company has worked to cut costs
and improve margins as demand from its customers waned during the
downturn.
Ball reported a profit of $79.3 million, or 84 cents a share, up
from $69.5 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding
items including restructuring costs, earnings advanced to 85 cents
from 77 cents as sales increased 7.6% to $1.71 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast
earnings of 74 cents on $1.73 billion in revenue.
Gross margin slid to 16.8% from 17.2%.
Earnings from the metal beverage-packaging segment for the
Americas and Asia--the company's biggest segment--surged 60% as
sales jumped 20%. Metal beverage packaging in Europe saw earnings
climb 13% and sales increase 6.9%.
Shares closed at $54.77 Wednesday and were inactive
premarket.
-By Jodi Xu and Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires;
212-416-3037; jodi.xu@dowjones.com