Global aluminum packaging shipments increased 4.7% year over year in the third quarter, Ball reported Tuesday. Year to date, the canmaker’s volumes are up 3.4%, CFO Dan Rabbitt said on the company’s earnings call. Demand remains notably strong in energy drinks and non-alcoholic beverages.
Ball said that inflation passthroughs in its contracts have worked out well. While Ball saw commodity prices rise near the start of the war with Iran, “now we’re seeing them drop,” Rabbitt said.
Production capacity has been tight for Ball, but it’s aiming to grow that through new facility investments. Ball announced a new facility in India in September, expected to be operational in 2029, and detailed a new one in Germany in Tuesday’s release. Recently acquired plants in Hungary and Belgium are also beginning to contribute to gains in the European business.
Expansions in North America and Europe
Ball’s new facility in Millersburg, Oregon, became operational over the summer, and Ball expects it will reach full capacity in 2027. The site is supposed to alleviate capacity constraints in the region. Startup costs for the Millersburg facility were $10 million in Q3 and are expected to total $25 million in 2026.
Meanwhile, Europe is “a land of opportunity because can penetration is relatively low in that geography versus other geographies that we operate in, our customers are making significant filling investments,” said CEO Ron Lewis. “So there’s real physical evidence of the demand that’s required in order to build these plants.” What’s more, sustainability is “a real tailwind” there, he said, “and it continues unabated.”
Ball also recently announced a few key beverage packaging leadership changes. Carey Causey was appointed president of Ball’s beverage packaging business for North and Central America, and Scott Vail was named his counterpart for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Growth bets
Ball said customer demand is leading its growth decisions. “We invest when our customers ask us to invest on their behalf for their growth, and the way they ask us to do that is through long-term offtake agreements,” said Lewis.
For example, the newly announced facility in Baruth, Germany, is being established as a result of one anchor tenant, an energy drinks customer seeking long-term growth. Ramp-up is expected in late 2028.
“I can't tell you how excited we are to to build this plant on their behalf. We have a model in place where we've done this a number of times throughout the world,” Lewis said.
Separately, regarding future M&A, Lewis said Ball is “always looking for opportunities.”
Outlook for 2026 and 2027
Ball has strong growth expectations for Q4, even after volume growth of 6% in that quarter last year, according to Lewis. That said, “strong growth in a sold-out position does create operational friction.”
Ball is on track to grow earnings per share by at least 10% in 2026, executives said. Free cash flow is projected to total $900 million.
Ball is optimistic about 2027. “We are well contracted. There’s nothing significant up for renewal, and everything that we see from our customers is that we'll see certainly in line with our 2-3% volume growth,” Lewis said.
