Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 24, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kevin Clothier - SVP & CFO

Tim Donahue - President & CEO

Timothy Donahue - VP, IR & Corporate Affairs

Conference Call Participants

Mike Leithead - Barclays

Cashen Keeler - Bank of America

Arun Viswanathan - RBC Capital Markets

Anthony Pettinari - Citi

Ghansham Panjabi - Baird

Gabe Hajde - Wells Fargo Securities

Jeff Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan

Phil Ng - Jefferies

Michael Roxland - Truist Securities

Adam Samuelson - Goldman Sachs

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings Third Quarter 2023 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 you, Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Kevin Clothier

Thank you, Elmer, and good morning. With me on today's call is Tim Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you do not 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 materially from such statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary are contained in the press release and in our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K for 2022 and subsequent filings.

Third quarter earnings were $1.33 a share compared to $1.06 in the prior third quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.73 per share in the quarter compared to $1.46 in 2022. Net sales in the quarter were down 6% from prior year, as higher sales unit volumes in Americas Beverage and $60 million positive impact from foreign currency translation were offset by the pass through of $187 million of lower raw material costs and lower unit volumes in most other businesses.

Segment income at $430 million in the quarter compared to $336 million in the prior year and reflects the benefit of higher unit volumes in North America, the contractual recovery of prior year's inflationary cost increases in European beverage, and the cost reduction initiatives in Transit Packaging. Cash flow of $832 million for the first nine months of '23 compared to $134 million in the prior year, the result of better working capital management. Net leverage improved to 3.5 times, a half turn improvement from the second quarter, driven by higher third quarter operating income and better operating cash flow.