Higher unit sales of beverage and food cans worldwide helped to improve margins at leading canmaking company Crown in 2010, said chief executive John Conway. Overall sales were almost identical in the final year results, at $7.94 billion, and the fourth quarter which were slightly up at $1.95bn. Year-end profit after tax was $324m, slightly down on 2009’s $334m.
Conway said that global beverage can volumes were up 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, and food can volumes up by 5 percent. In the American Beverage division, which includes the fast-growing South American market, year end sales were up by 15 percent, reaching $2.1bn, with segment profits up by a third to $275m.
