Business Segment Information

Reportable business segment information for the three and nine months ended September 30 was as follows:



	Metal Containers		Closures		Plastic Containers		Corporate			Total
	(Dollars in thousands)
Three Months Ended September 30, 2018
Net sales	$	797,768	$	360,816	$	148,415	$	—		$	1,306,999
Depreciation and amortization⁽¹⁾	19,823		18,378		9,171		43			47,415
Rationalization charges	72		111		105		—			288
Segment income	86,928		47,349		8,446		(4,268		)	138,455

Three Months Ended September 30, 2017
Net sales	$	772,382	$	357,343	$	137,205	$	—		$	1,266,930
Depreciation and amortization⁽¹⁾	19,250		17,457		8,636		22			45,365
Rationalization charges	326		134		101		—			561
Segment income⁽²⁾	92,222		45,322		6,444		(5,422		)	138,566

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018
Net sales	$	1,808,585	$	1,109,924	$	459,874	$	—		$	3,378,383
Depreciation and amortization⁽¹⁾	60,500		55,786		26,975		107			143,368
Rationalization charges	812		150		521		—			1,483
Segment income	172,268		143,277		32,687		(13,478		)	334,754

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017
Net sales	$	1,768,333	$	904,112	$	421,705	$	—		$	3,094,150
Depreciation and amortization⁽¹⁾	57,172		43,638		25,644		68			126,522
Rationalization charges	3,288		535		662		—			4,485
Segment income⁽²⁾	185,525		102,947		19,944		(37,856		)	270,560

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⁽¹⁾	Depreciation and amortization excludes amortization of debt issuance costs of $0.9 million and $1.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $2.9 million and $3.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.


⁽²⁾	Segment income for Metal Containers includes a $3.0 million charge for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 related to the resolution of a past non-commercial legal dispute. Segment income for Corporate includes costs attributed to announced acquisitions of $0.8 million and $23.8 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively.

Total segment income is reconciled to income before income taxes as follows:



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	Sept. 30, 2018		Sept. 30, 2017		Sept. 30, 2018		Sept. 30, 2017
	(Dollars in thousands)
Total segment income	$	138,455	$	138,566	$	334,754	$	270,560
Interest and other debt expense	28,199		30,583		91,095		87,259
Income before income taxes	$	110,256	$	107,983	$	243,659	$	183,301

Sales and segment income of our metal container business and part of our closures business are dependent, in part, upon fruit and vegetable harvests. The size and quality of these harvests varies from year to year, depending in large part upon the weather conditions in applicable regions. Because of the seasonality of the harvests, we have historically experienced higher unit sales volume in the third quarter of our fiscal year and generated a disproportionate amount of our annual segment income during that quarter.