Alltrista Corporation comments on earnings outlook
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., October 10, 2000--Alltrista Corporation (NYSE: ALC), a
leader in home food preservation and plastic and zinc-based industrial products,
today announced that it expects operating earnings per diluted share, before
unusual items, to be 65 to 70 percent lower than the 1999 comparable $2.86 per
diluted share, which was a record level. Unusual items that will be reflected in
2000 include charges for the settlement of litigation, exiting the Central
European home canning test market, the consolidation of plastics facilities as
well as the favorable impact resulting from the reversal of previously expensed
long-term performance-based compensation.
Thomas B. Clark, chairman, president and chief executive officer of
Alltrista Corporation, said, "The continued downturn in the heavy-truck and
manufactured housing markets, competitive pricing pressures and softness in
healthcare and consumer products markets have adversely affected results in our
plastics segment. In the metal products segment, demand for home canning
products has returned to more normal levels in 2000 after an exceptional year in
1999 affected by the Y2K phenomenon. The margins on foreign sales of zinc
products have been negatively affected by the strength of the U.S. dollar."
Mr. Clark concluded, "We expect these market factors to continue
through the remainder of the year. Management has implemented aggressive cost
reduction programs and sales initiatives to counter the impact on future
operating results. In September, we announced the consolidation of certain
thermoforming facilities. We have also instituted a workforce reduction and have
realigned the organizational structure in the plastics segment. The pre-tax
earnings impact of these initiatives to the corporation is anticipated to be
approximately $10 million on an annual basis, all of which is expected to be
realized in 2001."
Alltrista Corporation is scheduled to announce actual results for its third
quarter ended October 1, 2000 on October 25. Senior management will conduct a
conference call that day for interested parties, which will be Web cast on the
corporation's Web site by StreetEvents.
Alltrista is a materials-based company. Its plastics group serves numerous
fields, including healthcare, consumer, appliance, motor vehicle and industrial
markets. Through its metals group, Alltrista is the leading supplier of home
food preservation products, under the Ball(R), Kerr(R) and Bernardin(R) brands,
and is the country's largest producer of zinc strip and fabricated products,
including coin blanks for the U.S. and foreign mints. Please visit the company's
Web site at www.alltrista.com for further information.
Note: This news release contains forward-looking statements intended to qualify
for the Safe Harbor from liability established by the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the outlook for
Alltrista's markets and the demand for its products. These projections and
statements are based on management's estimates and assumptions with respect to
future events and financial performance and are believed to be reasonable,
though are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Actual results could
differ materially from those projected as a result of certain factors. A
discussion of factors that could cause results to vary are included in the
Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, and its
Form 10-Q for the three months ended July 2, 2000.
-end-
