October 15: Sales in the third quarter for world-leading canmaker Crown Holdings were 3.7 percent down at US$2.28 billion compared with the same period of 2008. The fall was attributed to a stronger US dollar, which reduced sales by $129 million. Some $1.2bn of segment sales were from Europe.
Net income was $108m compared with $114m in the third quarter of last year. As a percentage of net sales gross profit rose from 15.8 to 16.0 percent, said Crown.
Improvements in gross profit had come from markets in which Crown had invested recently, said chief executive John Conway.