Broomfield-based Ball Corp. announced today that it posted a 68 percent increase in profit during the second quarter.
Ball, a maker of metal and plastic packaging for food and drinks, reported second quarter earnings of $132.7 million, or $1.26 per share, on sales of $1.84 billion. During the second quarter of 2005, the company had earnings of $79 million, or 71 cents per share, on sales of $1.55 billion.
The results included a $74.1 million gain, or 43 cents per share, for an insurance recovery from a fire that occurred April 1 at a beverage can manufacturing plant in Germany, the company said. Without the one-time gain, Ball had a profit of 83 cents per share, which beat estimates by a penny.
Ten analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect Ball Corp. to post earnings of 82 cents per share for the second quarter. The Broomfield-based company missed earnings estimates during the first quarter, but met or beat estimates during the two previous quarters.
“Though the insurance accounting gain skews our second quarter results, when you put that aside we still had a solid quarter,” said R. David Hoover, Ball’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “Sales and earnings in the quarter were up in our packaging segments.
For the company’s aerospace business, earnings were $8.3 million on sales of $175.4 million, compared to $14.9 million on sales of $180.7 million in the second quarter of 2005.
“The slowdown in awarding and funding of projects began to manifest itself in the second quarter results of our aerospace and technologies segment,” Hoover said. “Although we continue to bid on and win new business, sales and earnings were down. Increased pension costs contributed to the lower earnings in the quarter.”
