O-I’s South American second quarter profit grew 40% as a likely result of the recent football World Cup.
The US group reported its second quarter financials and said most regions generated y-o-y volume growth for the quarter. There was strong volume growth in Brazil and a promising increase in demand in the Andean countries. South America volume increased 8% in the quarter.
CEO Al Stroucken said: “Higher profitability in South America, likely a benefit from the World Cup, was modestly overshadowed by supply chain challenges in North America.
"And in Europe, production downtime associated with engineering activities related to our asset optimisation programme, as well as furnace rebuilds, mitigated the benefits of higher sales volumes.”
Europe and North America reported modest growth, while in Asia Pacific volumes were 27% lower, primarily due to the company's smaller footprint in China, as well as ongoing weak demand in Australia.
Overall, net sales in the second quarter of 2014 were $1.8 billion, up 1% from the prior year second quarter.
Commenting on the company’s outlook for the third quarter, Mr Stroucken said: “We expect demand in Europe and North America to remain stable, yet we anticipate better performance in Europe on higher production volume and asset optimisation savings. North America will likely see slightly lower production due to higher planned furnace maintenance.
“Our expectations in Asia Pacific remain subdued, with sales declines in China due to our plant closures earlier in the year, and persistently low demand in Australia.”
