Silgan revises earnings estimates as volumes hit

The US-based firm has also extended the expiration date of its tender offer to purchase up to $250m of its common stock to 5 February 2013.

It revised its estimate of adjusted net income per diluted share for the full year of 2012 to a range of $2.65 to $2.75 from a range of $2.80 to $2.85. The estimate compares to adjusted net income per diluted share of $2.63 in 2011.

The company also revised its estimate of adjusted net income per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2012 to a range of $0.43 to $0.53 from a range of $0.58 to $0.63.

Low volumes​

Tony Allott, president and CEO of Silgan Holdings, said that volumes of metal food containers in Q4 will be lower than expected but higher year-on-year.

“Additionally, product mix and manufacturing costs have lagged our expectations during the fourth quarter, partly as a result of costs associated with hurricane Sandy which caused the extended shutdown of two facilities. ​

“Since the fourth quarter is one of our slowest seasonal periods, lower than anticipated volumes have a significant impact on the ability to absorb manufacturing overhead costs. ​

“As a consequence of our revised earnings estimates, we are extending the expiration date of our tender offer to February 5, 2013, five business days after our year end earnings announcement.” ​

Tender offers for shares​

The company also announced that it is extending the expiration date of its tender offer to purchase up to $250m of its common stock, at a price not less than $40.75 per share or greater than $45.25 per share.

The tender offer was previously due to expire at 5:00pm., New York time, on 18 December but will be extended until 5:00pm., New York time, on 5 February.

Mixed performance​

The firm had seen mixed fortunes throughout the year, highlighted with net sales for Q3 in the metal container business of $814.1m, an increase of $15.4m year on year, while the plastic container business sales were $142.7m, which was a 10.7% decrease year on year.

Silgan acquired Rexam’s plastic thermoformed business for $250m in July this year and at the time of announcing the Q3 results, the company said it was ‘very pleased’​ with its performance so far.

Silgan will release its fourth quarter and full year 2012 earnings results on 29 January 2013.