Highlights
Beverage can volumes including UAC up 3% (2% organic)
Organic underlying operating profit down 9%, primarily due to higher metal premium
Interim dividend unchanged at 5.8p
Ball offer proceeding as planned, timetable unchanged
Commenting, Graham Chipchase, Rexam's chief executive, said:
"Results for the half year were in line with our expectations. Trading in the first half was strong in Europe and the Rest of the World, but with some weakness in the Middle East. In the Americas, standard cans continued to decline whilst specialty cans continued to grow. Our operating profit was impacted by higher metal premium as well as the expected commoditisation of certain specialty cans in North America. Looking ahead, 2015 remains in line with our expectations with softer volumes in North and South America offsetting the benefit of the current lower metal premium."
"The business is in good shape operationally and the Ball offer does not change our strategic priorities. We continue to focus on the things we can control whilst striking the right balance between growth and returns."
