With aerospace biz sold, Ball focuses on stock buybacks

WESTMINSTER — After Ball Corp. (NYSE: BALL) sold Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. division to British aerospace and defense company BAE Systems PLC for about $5.6 billion in February, the aluminum packaging giant shifted its focus to improving shareholder value through stock repurchases in the latter half of the first quarter of 2024.

“We delivered strong first quarter results. Following the successful sale of the aerospace business in mid-February, we have executed on our plans to immediately deleverage, initiate a large multi-year share repurchase program and position the company to enable our purpose of advancing the greater use of sustainable aluminum packaging,” Ball CEO Daniel Fisher said in the company’s newly released quarterly report. “We continue to complement our purpose by driving innovation and sustainability on a global scale, unlocking additional manufacturing efficiencies and activating an operating model to enable high-quality, long-term shareholder value creation.”

The board of directors at Ball, which posted first quarter 2024 net earnings attributable to the corporation of $3.69 billion on sales of nearly $2.9 billion, this week approved a 40 million-share stock repurchase plan.

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“During the quarter, incremental volume growth, favorable cost management and the immediate use of aerospace business sale proceeds combined with cash on hand resulted in strong results, $2.8 billion of debt retirement and the initiation of our multi-year share repurchase program,” Ball chief financial officer Howard Yu said in the earnings report. “Throughout the remainder of the year, our strong cash flow and cash on hand will support prudent business investments, pay quarterly taxes due on the aerospace sale totaling approximately $1 billion, and expand share repurchases to in the range of $1.3 billion by year end.”

Ball stock price was trading just under $70 per share around midday on Friday, up nearly 50% over the past six months.