Crown provides end of year cheer

January 31: A strong fourth quarter for leading global canmaking firm Crown Holdings provided cheer for analysts when its 2007 results were announced yesterday.
Despite year-end net sales being up by 10.7 percent to $7.23 billion and gross profit up by 15 percent to $1.03 billion, Crown’s highest ever figures, they were short of what many observers had been forecasting.
But fourth quarter sales of $1.87 billion were well above expectations.
Crown says the final year results reflected higher sales unit volumes, the pass through of higher raw material costs and foreign currency translation.