Ball Corporation reported third quarter 2024 net earnings attributable to the corporation of $197 million, or $0.65 per diluted share, on sales of $3.08 billion. This compares to $203 million net earnings and $3.11 billion in sales for the same period in 2023. Comparable diluted earnings per share for Q3 2024 were $0.91, surpassing the $0.83 reported in Q3 2023.
The company's comparable net earnings increased 6% year-over-year to $278 million, driven by strong operational performance and favorable price/mix across North America, EMEA, and South America, alongside lower interest expense. Beverage packaging in EMEA saw a 24% increase in comparable operating earnings due to 6.7% higher volumes, while North and Central America's comparable operating earnings rose 4% despite a 3.1% volume decrease.
Ball updated its full-year 2024 outlook, anticipating mid-single-digit plus comparable diluted EPS growth and expecting to return over $1.6 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. The company also completed the acquisition of Alucan Entec, a European impact extruded aluminum packaging business, for €82 million (or $88 million) in late October, adding two manufacturing facilities in Belgium and Spain.
Management noted that global beverage can shipments were essentially flat year-over-year in Q3 but up 2% year-to-date. They anticipate full-year global shipment growth in the low single digits. The company is on track for year-end 2024 net debt to comparable EBITDA to be below 2.5x, with CapEx in the range of $650 million.
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