Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 8, 2023 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Kevin Clothier – Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Tim Donahue – President and Chief Executive Officer
Conference Call Participants
George Staphos – Bank of America
Mike Leithead – Barclays
Ghansham Panjabi – Baird
Angel Castillo – Morgan Stanley
Arun Viswanathan – RBC Capital Markets
Adam Josephson – KeyBanc
Kyle White – Deutsche Bank
Phil Ng – Jefferies
Adam Samuelson – Goldman Sachs
Mike Roxland – Truist Securities
Gabe Hajde – Wells Fargo
Anthony Pettinari – Citi
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings Fourth Quarter 2022 Conference Call. Your lines have been placed on a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. Please be advised that this conference is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.
Kevin Clothier
Thank you, Nicole, and good morning. With me on today’s call is Tim Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you don’t already have the earnings release, it is available on our website at crowncork.com. On this call, as in the earnings release, we will be making a number of forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary material from such statements.
Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary is contained in the press release and in our SEC filings, including Form 10-K from 2021 and subsequent filings. Earnings for the quarter were $0.74 per share compared to a loss of $7.95 in the prior year quarter.
Adjusted earnings per share were $1.17 compared to $1.66 in the quarter. Net sales in the quarter were down 1% from the prior year as global beverage can growth of 3% and the pass-through of higher raw material costs were offset by foreign currency and as expected, lower volumes in the Transit Packaging business.
Segment income was $292 million in the quarter compared to $357 million in the prior year, primarily due to timing of costs associated with higher inventory levels, lower cost absorption from planned inventory reductions and higher energy prices in Europe.
As outlined in the release, we project EBITDA to grow between 8% and 12% in 2023. The projection assumes better results in our global beverage can and Transit Packaging businesses, offset by lower results in North American tinplate business, the result of Q1 inventory gains not recurring in 2023.