Aluminium giant Alcoa (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / USA; www.alcoa.com) plans to sell or carve out its packaging and consumer division. The business generated earnings after tax of USD 95m (EUR 70m) in 2006, 3% of group total, and sales of USD 3.2 bn, around 10% of the total for the group. Alain Belda, Alcoa´s president and CEO, said the packaging business is developing well, "however, now is the right time for us to explore whether these businesses may provide more value on their own or as part of another company." Although progress had been made through the restructuring process initiated in 2005, he said, this had been offset by higher feedstock prices in the plastics segment. Prices for food packaging were under heavy pressure, he added. Alcoa did not exclude the possibility of a joint venture, and contact had already been made with several investment banks, according to a statement from the company. The aim was to conclude the sale by the end of 2007.

The packaging and consumer division consists of four segments: flexible packaging, Closure Systems International (Europe: Alcoa CSI Europe, Barcelona / Spain), consumer products and Reynolds Food Packaging which also has a European base in Barcelona. Its products include plastic closures, thermoformed packaging primarily for food, shrink-wrap film, laminated film and blister packs. The 72 plants around the world - six of them in Europe - employ a total of 10,000 people.

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Alcoa annual report 2006 with segment figures as PDF document (5,329 KB)