Strong results position Crown for growth in 2009

The Canmaker: "World leading canmaking company Crown Holdings reported sales up by 7.5 percent in its 2008 results yesterday, reaching US$8.3 billion.

Chief executive John Conway said that volumes of beverage cans, up 4 percent for the year, helped the figures along with the pass-through of higher raw material costs in the form of higher selling prices. He said that the results position Crown for further growth in 2009.

The increasing importance of markets such as Brazil, the Middle East and Asia, was demonstrated by sales outside the US, where Crown is based, increasing from 73 to 74 percent of the total. Crown increased its share of the US beverage can business by maintaining volumes as the market shrank 4 percent."