11.07.19
Crown Holdings, Inc. announced that it will conduct a comprehensive board-led review of its portfolio and capital allocation/return to ensure that the company maintains its strong competitive position and its continued stock price outperformance.
“In 2019, Crown and its shareholders have benefitted from our strategic plan with a 75% total shareholder return, far in excess of our peers and most relevant indices,” said CEO Timothy J. Donahue. “Our stock currently trades near an all-time high, with our robust performance driven by the leading market positions of our businesses and our commit-ment to operational excellence and continuous cost reduction across the entire platform.
“We continue to invest to meet accelerating global demand for beverage cans as evi-denced by an expected increase in beverage can capacity in excess of 10% in 2019 and 2020,” Donahue added. “In addition, we expect the strong and stable cash flows generat-ed across all of our businesses will enable us to delever to our target range of 3.5x – 4.0x net leverage and return substantial capital to our shareholders. The company does not plan to pursue acquisitions as part of its capital allocation program.”
“That said, our board and management team believe there may be substantial opportunities to create further value for Crown shareholders. We have decided to commence a Board-led review of the Company to unlock potential shareholder value, including substantial capital return to our shareholders. We have engaged leading financial, legal, tax and other advisors to assist in this review,” he concluded.
“In 2019, Crown and its shareholders have benefitted from our strategic plan with a 75% total shareholder return, far in excess of our peers and most relevant indices,” said CEO Timothy J. Donahue. “Our stock currently trades near an all-time high, with our robust performance driven by the leading market positions of our businesses and our commit-ment to operational excellence and continuous cost reduction across the entire platform.
“We continue to invest to meet accelerating global demand for beverage cans as evi-denced by an expected increase in beverage can capacity in excess of 10% in 2019 and 2020,” Donahue added. “In addition, we expect the strong and stable cash flows generat-ed across all of our businesses will enable us to delever to our target range of 3.5x – 4.0x net leverage and return substantial capital to our shareholders. The company does not plan to pursue acquisitions as part of its capital allocation program.”
“That said, our board and management team believe there may be substantial opportunities to create further value for Crown shareholders. We have decided to commence a Board-led review of the Company to unlock potential shareholder value, including substantial capital return to our shareholders. We have engaged leading financial, legal, tax and other advisors to assist in this review,” he concluded.