3. Business Segment Information

Ball’s operations are organized and reviewed by management along its product lines and geographical areas and presented in the four reportable segments outlined below:

Beverage packaging, North and Central America: Consists of operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout those countries.

Beverage packaging, South America: Consists of operations in Brazil, Argentina and Chile that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout most of South America.

Beverage packaging, Europe: Consists of operations in numerous countries in Europe, including Russia, that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout most of Europe.

Aerospace: Consists of operations that manufacture and sell aerospace and other related products and provide services used in the defense, civil space and commercial space industries.

As presented in the table below, Other consists of non-reportable segments located in Africa, Middle East and Asia (beverage packaging, AMEA) and Asia Pacific (beverage packaging, Asia) that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers; a non-reportable segment that manufactures and sells aerosol containers, extruded aluminum aerosol containers and aluminum slugs (aerosol packaging); undistributed corporate expenses; intercompany eliminations and other business activities.

The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those in the consolidated financial statements and are discussed in Note 1. The company also has investments in operations in Guatemala, Panama, South Korea, the U.S. and Vietnam that are accounted for under the equity method of accounting and, accordingly, those results are not included in segment sales or earnings.

On July 31, 2018, Ball sold its U.S. steel food and steel aerosol packaging business and formed a joint venture, Ball Metalpack. After the sale, Ball’s 49 percent ownership of Ball Metalpack's financial results is reported in equity in results of affiliates, net of tax, within Ball's consolidated statements of earnings. The financial results of Ball’s remaining non-reportable aerosol packaging segment are reported within Other in the table below. As a result of the sale of the U.S. steel food and steel aerosol business, the results of operations for 2018 and prior year comparative periods of the entire former food and aerosol packaging reportable segment are included as a non-reportable segment within Other in the segment table below.

Summary of Business by Segment


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
($ in millions)	2018		2017		2018		2017

Net sales
Beverage packaging, North and Central America	$	1,237	$	1,080	$	3,513	$	3,180
Beverage packaging, South America		391		425		1,229		1,145
Beverage packaging, Europe		683		651		1,995		1,824
Aerospace		283		241		837		734
Reportable segment sales		2,594		2,397		7,574		6,883
Other		352		511		1,258		1,353
Net sales	$	2,946	$	2,908	$	8,832	$	8,236

Comparable operating earnings
Beverage packaging, North and Central America	$	153	$	121	$	423	$	400
Beverage packaging, South America		71		78		235		205
Beverage packaging, Europe		84		74		219		184
Aerospace		26		23		75		70
Reportable segment comparable operating earnings		334		296		952		859
Reconciling items
Other (a)		6		17		40		11
Business consolidation and other activities		(32)		(157)		(131)		(253)
Amortization of acquired Rexam intangibles		(40)		(37)		(124)		(120)
Catch-up depreciation and amortization for 2016 from finalization of Rexam valuation		—		5		—		(34)
Earnings before interest and taxes		268		124		737		463
Interest expense		(76)		(74)		(226)		(216)
Debt refinancing and other costs		—		—		(1)		(1)
Total interest expense		(76)		(74)		(227)		(217)
Earnings before taxes	$	192	$	50	$	510	$	246

(a)

Includes undistributed corporate expenses, net, of $21 million and $29 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $64 million and $106 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The company does not disclose total assets by segment as it is not provided to the chief operating decision maker.