Earnings are down, but Broomfield-based Ball Corp. met expectations in the second quarter, CEO John Hayes said on an earnings call Thursday morning.
“Our business remains fundamentally sound, with some hard spots and soft spots,” Hayes said.
Ball’s earnings fell to 89 cents per diluted share from $1.13 in second quarter of 2014. However, net earnings attributable to the corporation were $160.4 million up from $153.1 million at the same time last year.
Several factors influenced the decline, including a weaker Euro, some start-up costs related to new projects, a premium on the cost of aluminum, a loss of a major food-can customer and weakness in the U.S. carbonated soft drink market, chief financial officer Scott Morrison said during the call.
The company’s Boulder-based aerospace division reported operating earnings of $19.5 million on sales of $230.2 million, a down from the record $24.8 million on sales of $241.1 million set in second quarter of 2014.
Hayes said the outlook for the full year has not changed. That outlook includes aerospace contracts on the books in the amount of $641 million that are considered “backlogged.”
Backlogged contracts have been awarded, but the income cannot be counted as part of earnings until work actually starts.
Hayes said these contracts should be realized later this year or in early 2016, and that the company’s aerospace division has several other bids still pending.
Throughout the second quarter, Ball Aerospace integrated four of the five instruments in the (JPSS-1) — a joint NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration project designed to replace the nation’s aging fleet of weather satellites.
Ball is under contract to build the first JPSS satellite. That contract is valued at about $300 million.
The contract for JPSS-2, which includes options to build two more JPSS satellites for a total value of $470 million, was awarded to Orbital ATK — a decision that prompted Ball to file a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO appeal process was created by Congress to give businesses the ability to protest without filing a full legal claim in federal court.
The GAO denied the protest earlier this month, and Orbital ATK resumed work on the project.
Ball Aerospace also that delivered as New Horizons on July 14.
Ball announced Wednesday in early 2016. The move, which the company says is a part of cost-saving measures, will eliminate 230 jobs.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
