Earnings per share rose by 7.8 per cent to 45.4c, return on investment continued above the weighted industry average, although it was slightly less than last year. Amcor Flexibles Europe saw its margins rise to 6.2 per cent from 4.7 per cent the year before, while Amcor Australia saw its margins rise above 15 per cent for the first time ever.

The acquisition of German PET operation Schmalbach saw PET sales virtually quadruple from A$863m to A$3236m, while PET profit followed a similar path, PBITA for PET up by a whopping 302 per cent. Amcor Closures saw its sales more than double to A$1311m from A$611m.

The only black spots in the Amcor year were in North America and Asia. Sales in North Americva were down by 8,1 per cent to A$1294m, while PBITA in Asia was down by 28 per cent in Australian dollar terms, to A$32m, on sales that were down 15 per cent. All three Asian divisions reported losses, Corrugated sales were down to A$119m from A$130m, Tobacco products sales were down to A$109m from A$143m, while flexibles and others were down slightly to A$35m from A$37m. The company blamed SARS, Iraq and a flat Asian economy for the poor performance.

Amcor’s share price rose only slightly on the day, as the results were in line with market expectations.

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