Business Segment Information

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Business Segment Information

Business Segment Information

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. Effective January 1, 2020, the company implemented changes to its management and internal reporting structure for cost reduction and operational efficiency purposes. As a result of these changes, the company’s plants in Cairo, Egypt, and Manisa, Turkey, are now included in the beverage packaging, Europe, Middle East and Africa (beverage packaging, EMEA), segment. The company’s operations in India and Saudi Arabia are now combined with the former non-reportable beverage packaging, Asia Pacific, operating segment as a new non-reportable beverage packaging, other, operating segment. The company’s segment results and disclosures for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, have been retrospectively adjusted to conform to the current year presentation.

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, EMEA: Consists of operations in numerous countries throughout Europe, including Russia, as well as Egypt and Turkey, that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout those regions.

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

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 a non-reportable operating segment (beverage packaging, other) that manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers in India, Saudi Arabia and throughout the Asia Pacific region; a non-reportable operating segment that manufactures and sells extruded aluminum aerosol containers and aluminum slugs (aerosol packaging); a non-reportable operating segment that manufactures and sells aluminum cups (aluminum cups); undistributed corporate expenses; intercompany eliminations and other business activities.

The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those used in the company’s consolidated financial statements as 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.

Summary of Business by Segment

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
($ in millions)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Net sales
Beverage packaging, North and Central America	$	1,327	$	1,230	$	3,775	$	3,647
Beverage packaging, EMEA		809		763		2,177		2,215
Beverage packaging, South America		432		392		1,166		1,210
Aerospace		451		374		1,321		1,081
Reportable segment sales		3,019		2,759		8,439		8,153
Other		74		194		240		602
Net sales	$	3,093	$	2,953	$	8,679	$	8,755
Comparable operating earnings
Beverage packaging, North and Central America	$	209	$	157	$	544	$	416
Beverage packaging, EMEA		117		105		248		277
Beverage packaging, South America		64		60		173		193
Aerospace		44		35		114		103
Reportable segment comparable operating earnings		434		357		1,079		989
Reconciling items
Other (a)		(15)		12		(26)		2
Business consolidation and other activities		(8)		(133)		(235)		(147)
Amortization of acquired Rexam intangibles		(37)		(38)		(111)		(118)
Earnings before interest and taxes		374		198		707		726
Interest expense		(68)		(79)		(206)		(237)
Debt refinancing and other costs		(1)		—		(41)		(4)
Total interest expense		(69)		(79)		(247)		(241)
Earnings before taxes	$	305	$	119	$	460	$	485

(a) Includes undistributed corporate expenses, net, of $13 million and $4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $33 million and $42 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

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