In announcing the result, Amcor’s Managing Director & CEO, Mr Ron Delia said: “, Amcor reported a strong full year result with growth in earnings, returns and cash flow delivered in a challenging macroeconomic environment.
Underlying profit for the year ended 30 June 2016 was US$671.1 million.
- Profit after tax of US$671.1 million up 7.5% on a constant currency basis;
- Earnings per share (EPS) up 11.3% to 57.7 US cents on a constant currency basis;
- Returns, measured as profit before interest and tax to average funds employed of 21.6%;
- Free cash flow of US$311.2 million(2); and
- Annual dividend per share (DPS) increased to 41.0 US cents. Paid as 55.3 AUD cents, up 4.3%.
The defensiveness and resilience of our businesses was once again evident with balanced growth across the portfolio. Growth was solid in both developed and emerging markets, there was a mix of growth from organic sources and from acquisitions and both the flexibles and rigid plastics segments achieved higher results than the same period last year.
“Underlying earnings per share, on a constant currency basis increased 11.3% reflecting strong profit growth and the benefit of a US$500 million share buy-back completed during the period.
“Cash generation remained solid, the balance sheet is strong and returns exceeded 21% for the first time. This enabled Amcor to redeploy US$1.2 billion of cash to generate value for shareholders through acquisitions, a share buy-back and by increasing the dividend. In Australian dollar terms, the annual dividend has increased 4.3%.
“Amcor has made good progress against a set of strategic priorities that were introduced over the last 12 months.
The business is in a strong position today, and there are many opportunities to make it even stronger by generating our own growth, increasing our agility and adapting the organisation, and developing our people.
“Since 30 June 2015, Amcor has announced or completed eight acquisitions in the United States, Canada, South Africa, South America, China and India, and has invested in three dedicated greenfield facilities to support the growth of our customers. We have also been proactive in making changes to our organisation in order to unlock further growth and to take advantage of our global reach. These are important components of Amcor’s growth strategy and we continue to see many opportunities to deliver strong value for shareholders.
Business Group Performance
“Amcor’s end markets are relatively defensive with most sales into the food, beverage and health care segments. Against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions, the performance of the businesses was strong reflecting growth from acquisitions and robust organic growth in emerging and developed markets.
“The Flexible Packaging segment had a solid year with constant currency earnings growth of 7.2%. The key drivers of earnings growth were higher tobacco packaging volumes, benefits from prior period acquisitions, excellent cost performance and strong organic growth in emerging markets.
“The Rigid Plastics business had an outstanding year with earnings up 9.7%. There was strong volume growth in the North American operations with higher volumes in all the main product segments, and continued earnings growth in Latin America.
For further information please contact:
Tracey Whitehead
,
Acting Executive General Manager
Corporate Affairs Amcor Limited,
Ph: +61 3 9226 9028.
