July 26: Ball Corporation is planning to add capacity for making an additional half-a-billion cans a year in Europe to meet growing demand, it was announced today.
And if demand increases further, more will be added, said chief executive David Hoover on publishing the company’s second quarter results.
Sales of beverage cans in the second quarter jumped more than 24 percent compared with the same period in 2006 during which Ball had suffered from a serious fire that put out a plant in Germany. Sales this year were $539m, up from $434m.
Ball, with headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado, had strong results overall in the April-to-June period when it builds up stocks to meet the summer rush for soft drinks and beer.
Sales for all sectors reached $2.03 billion, up almost 9 percent but although profits after tax showed that there was a drop to $105m from $129m in the quarter, last year’s figure was boosted by a $45m gain from the insurance claim on the fire at Hassloch, which was back in production after rebuilding earlier this year.
