24.01.2008

Ball Packaging Europe to Build New Beverage Can Plant in Poland

Ratingen, 24th January 2008. Ball Packaging Europe, the European subsidiary of Ball Corporation, announced today it plans to build a new beverage can manufacturing plant in Poland in order to meet the rapidly growing demand for beverage cans in Poland and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.

The plant will be built in Lublin, which is in eastern Poland near the borders of Belarus and Ukraine.  The plant will initially have one production line with an annual capacity of approximately 750 million cans per year and will be built to accommodate additional manufacturing lines in the future.

“The Polish can market continues to experience significant growth, up more than 30 percent in 2007 compared to 2006,” said R. David Hoover, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ball Corporation.  “This new plant, which is expected to be operational in the first half of 2009, will help us keep pace with this growth in demand for beverage cans.”

Michael D. Herdman, president of Ball Packaging Europe, said, “Currently we sell significantly more cans in the Polish market than we produce locally.  Our existing plant in Radomsko serves us well for central and southern Poland.  The Lublin plant will provide us with geographic coverage across Poland and position us to serve even better our customers there as well as those in countries further to the east.”

Ball Packaging Europe’s Radomsko beverage can plant started operating in 1995. Today the plant employs a workforce of some 160 people and can manufacture approximately 1.5 billion beverage cans annually on two production lines (330 ml and 500 ml aluminium cans for carbonated soft drinks and beer). 

In 2003 Ball Packaging Europe Radomsko was presented with the prestigious Eagle Award by the Polish prime minister, designating it as one of the best companies in the production sector in the country.

Ball Packaging Europe is one of the leading beverage can makers in Europe with currently 2,700 employees and twelve production sites in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland and Serbia.  The company is a subsidiary of Ball Corporation, a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government.  Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people worldwide and reported 2006 sales of 6.6 billion US dollar.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which are available at our Web site and at www.sec.gov. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in product demand and preferences; availability and cost of raw materials, including recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost reductions, including our beverage can end project; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: accounting changes; changes in senior management; successful or unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety; governmental investigations; technological developments and innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or other effects.

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