Ball Corp. today said its fourth-quarter net earnings rose to $48.3 million, or 46 cents per diluted share, compared with $47.4 million and 45 cents per share a year earlier.
Ball reported 2006 full year net earnings were $329.6 million, or $3.14 per diluted share, compared with $272.1 million and $2.48 per share the previous year.
Fourth-quarter 2006 sales were $1.59 billion, compared with $1.29 billion the year before. Full-year 2006 sales were $6.62 billion, compared with $5.75 billion in 2005.
The packaging and aerospace company, based in Broomfield, said fourth-quarter 2006 results included net after-tax costs of approximately $20 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, from business consolidation, reduced by a one-time tax gain.
Full-year results included property insurance proceeds from a fire at Ball’s plant in Germany, offset by business consolidation costs, for a net after-tax gain of $25.6 million, or 24 cents per diluted share.
R. David Hoover, Ball’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, called the fourth-quarter results “a solid accomplishment in the inflationary and competitive environments in which we compete.”
