Ball Q3 2023 Earnings Report
Key Takeaways
Ball Corporation reported Q3 2023 net earnings of $203 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, on sales of $3.57 billion. Comparable diluted earnings per share were $0.83. The company is progressing with the sale of its aerospace business and focusing on deleveraging and returning value to shareholders.
U.S. GAAP diluted earnings per share were 64 cents, compared to $1.24 in 2022, which included a gain on the Russian business disposal.
Comparable diluted earnings per share were 83 cents, up from 75 cents in 2022, including the impact of the 2022 Russian business disposal.
Agreement to sell aerospace business to BAE Systems for $5.6 billion was announced, with proceeds intended for deleveraging and share repurchases.
Sequential quarterly improvement in global beverage can shipments was observed, with Q3 shipments down 3% compared to Q2's 5%, excluding the impact of the 2022 Russian business disposal.
Ball
Ball
Ball Revenue by Segment
Forward Guidance
Ball Corporation anticipates generating approximately $750 million in free cash flow in 2023. The company plans to use proceeds from the aerospace sale to reduce debt and increase shareholder returns through share buybacks and dividends.
Positive Outlook
- Well-positioned to deliver free cash flow of approximately $750 million in 2023.
- Prepared to address near-term debt maturities in advance of receiving proceeds from the aerospace sale.
- Intend to reduce debt by approximately $2 billion driving leverage to in the range of 3.0x net debt to comparable EBITDA.
- Approximately $2 billion of proceeds are intended to be used to increase return of value to shareholders via share buybacks and dividends moving forward.
- Improved operational performance, improved financial flexibility and ability to leverage our well-capitalized and optimized plant network to deliver best-in-class innovative aluminum packaging to our customers will expand shareholder value creation for many years to come.
Challenges Ahead
- Higher interest costs.
- Year-to-date demand trends.
- Russian business divestment headwind.
- Potential remains for us to grow comparable diluted earnings per share.
- Potential remains for us to improve EVA generation, and increase cash flow to deleverage and return value to shareholders in 2023.
Revenue & Expenses
Visualization of income flow from segment revenue to net income