Crown Holdings, Inc. Stock

Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings Third Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, Rich, and good morning. With me on today's call is Tim Donahue, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you don't already have a copy of the earnings release, it is available on our website at crowncourt.com.

On this call, as in the earnings release, we will make a number of forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary is contained in the press release and our SEC filings, including Form 10-K for 2025 and subsequent filings.

Reported diluting -- diluted earnings per share were $2.08 compared to $1.85 in the prior year quarter. Adjusted earnings per diluted share were $2.39 compared to $2.24 in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 7%.

Net sales increased to $3.7 billion, compared to $3.2 billion in the prior year quarter. The increase primarily reflected higher global beverage can shipments and the pass-through of higher material costs, partially offset by $8 million of unfavorable foreign currency translation. Global beverage can volumes increased more than 6%, including double-digit growth in Asia, 6% growth in North America and 4% growth in Europe.

Segment income was $484 million compared to $490 million in the prior year quarter. Higher global beverage can shipments were offset by inflationary cost pressures and lower results in transit packaging. Inflationary pressures from the Middle East conflict impacted third quarter segment income by approximately $17 million across all businesses and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.12.

We have included a similar impact in our fourth quarter estimate. Adjusted free cash flow was $771 million through the first 9 months of the year with capital spending of $310 million. As we continue to invest in growth projects in Brazil, Spain and Northern India -- excuse me.

Capital allocation remains an important component of our value creation strategy. During the third quarter, we repurchased $81 million of the company's shares, bringing year-to-date share repurchases to $598 million, including $115 million of dividends -- when including $115 million in dividends, we returned more than $700 million to shareholders during the first 9 months of 2026, while maintaining net leverage ratio at approximately 2.5x.

Based on our strong year-to-date performance, we expect full year 2026 adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $8.35 to $8.45 and the fourth quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $1.63 to $1.73 in fourth quarter.

Our full year outlook assumes net interest expense of approximately $355 million, exchange rates at current levels, including a euro-dollar at approximately $1.12. Effective tax rate of approximately 25%; depreciation of approximately $325 million, noncontrolling interest expense of approximately $145 million. Dividends to noncontrolling interest of approximately $110 million, adjusted free cash flow of at least $950 million. Capital spending approximately $550 million. Year-end adjusted net leverage of approximately 2.5x.

The company is executing well, delivered another strong quarter. As we look ahead, our strong balance sheet, consistent free cash flow generation and disciplined capital allocation strategy, position us well to continue to invest in attractive organic growth opportunities while returning capital to shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning to everyone. As Kevin just summarized, the company had another solid quarter of performance as continued strong global demand for beverage cans helped offset the majority of rising input costs. .

Global beverage can shipments advanced 6% in the quarter, following 5% growth in both the first and second quarters with year-to-date growth standing at close to 6%. We remain confident in the outlook for beverage can demand with our full year global growth target in the 4% to 5% range.

The company's businesses are responding well to global economic challenges to continue supporting our customers' needs as we all navigate a world of growing tensions. As Kevin described, inflationary headwinds, primarily a result of the Middle East conflict were greater in the third quarter than we previously anticipated, and we have included a similar headwind in our fourth quarter estimate.

Energy, industrial gases, freight, among other costs, all remain elevated from pre-conflict levels. And as many of you are aware, the contractual recovery of these and other nonmetal costs will occur in 2027 via a look-back formula. Revenues in the Americas Beverage segment advanced 20% in the quarter, primarily a result of $240 million in the pass-through of higher metal costs and higher sales unit volumes.

Volumes in North America grew 6%, Brazil was up 4%, with Mexico down about 1% in the quarter. Against the strong prior year comp, income improved in the quarter on the back of contribution from volume gains, although the majority of the volume contribution was offset by rising input costs.

Adjusting for the pass-through of higher material costs, segment income margin was 17.7% of sales in the quarter. Can demand remained strong in North America, and we expect full year shipments to be up in the 3% to 4% range.

European volumes increased 4% in the third quarter with 7% growth recorded across the continent, offset by a 4% reduction in the Gulf states. Capacity expansion projects in Greece and Spain remain on plan, and we are also installing a third line to the Peterborough U.K. plant.

These capacity additions will bring much needed capacity to our system, helping to serve our customers' growing needs. Income level to the prior year reflects higher volumes offset by rising input and start-up costs. Income in Asia Pacific advanced during the quarter on the back of mid-double-digit Southeast Asian volume gains helping to offset higher energy and transport costs. Performance across the Transit Packaging business disappointed in the third quarter with both volumes and profits falling short of prior expectations.

Soft volumes across all product offerings were compounded by higher input costs, notably freight. While we do see some green shoots, we remain cautious on -- until increased quoting activity results in firm orders. Strong vegetable and pet food demand contributed to high single-digit volume gains in North American food offsetting softer aerosol can sales.

And activity across our beverage can equipment business remains strong as global beverage can makers look to increase their capacity to meet a world of continuing growing can demand.

To summarize before opening the call to questions, global beverage can volumes advanced 6% in the quarter, full year growth now estimated at 4% to 5%. Earnings per share advanced 7% and up 11% through 9 months. Cash flow remains robust. And as Kevin described, the company has now returned more than $700 million to shareholders year-to-date.

The balance sheet remains strong with leverage remaining unchanged at 2.5x through the peak summer selling season. And with that, Rich, we are now ready to take questions. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question is from George Staphos from Bank of America.

Thanks for the details. Tim, I wanted to ask a question with a couple of parts trying to get at the fourth quarter. So can you talk about what sort of exit rate you're seeing on volumes from the third quarter into the fourth quarter for your key regions?

And relatedly and again, trying to get at the fourth quarter, and you said most of this is the elevated level of inflation. With inflation being higher than expected, what's the offset such that you're working -- your free cash flow is actually going up. You would think that with inflation being a bigger burden understandably, that the free cash flow go -- would have been lower, but it's higher.

So Help us understand what's going on in volume in the fourth quarter as you're entering and how you're offsetting the inflation, such that free cash flow is up? And then I had a quick follow-on.

Okay. So very quickly, George, I'll let Kevin deal with the cash flow element. We got 2 things in our fourth quarter estimate. One, as Kevin described, if we had previously told you that we expected inflation to be about a $0.10 headwind in the back half of the year.

It's probably a little bit more than double that split equally between third and fourth quarter. So we've got another block, Kevin, $0.12 or $0.13 baked into our estimate for the fourth quarter.

The way we're able to offset that, at least in the third quarter was exceptionally high volume. As you know, contribution from more volume can cover a lot of costs and other problems.

As you described, exit rates coming into the fourth quarter, still fairly strong. It's hard for us to sit here though and anticipate that we're going to have 6% global volume growth in the fourth quarter. So our estimate for the fourth quarter, probably on the order of 3.5% to 4% and global volume growth, which historically speaking, George, you've been around a long time like I have, I always say that. It helps to have you around because I don't feel so old...

Watch it to...

But 3% to 4% historically, in the can business, we would all do backflips if we could do that every quarter. It's just not the 6% we had in the third quarter, but 3% to 4%, maybe a little bit better than that.

We're quite happy. So continued elevated costs, continued volume growth, although hard to sit here today with an estimate to give you to think that while we're going to have volume growth, it could be as strong as the third quarter, still have volume growth, maybe a touch lighter. And I'll let Kevin deal with the inflation vis-a-vis cash flow.

Yes, we were just trying to see that there wasn't something that had now become negative, but I appreciate that. So keep going. Hi Kevin.

Yes, George, I mean think about it. Look, the guide -- the midpoint of the guide is still exactly where it was at the end of the second quarter. So even though we've had higher inflationary pressures, we basically offset it with volume here.

So -- and that's the expectation because we've maintained the midpoint. We just narrowed the range. And then the delta to get the cash flow higher is just working capital is just running better than it ever has. So we expect working capital to be better than what we originally expected, and that's why we feel we can get at least $950 out versus at least $900...

George, I just want to -- one last thing I'll talk about, because Kevin talked about working capital. We have 2 primary metrics whereby our managers are compensated in their bonus, economic profit and cash flow. And people will perform based on how you compensate them. They are well aware of how they are compensated, and they work to generate as much cash as possible. So it's just a function of the of a compensation program that we've had for more than -- almost 2 decades that works quite well.

Understood. Tim, I'll turn it over to be fair, and it's tenure, it's not age anyway.

It's experience, yes, it's perspective. Rich, next question.

Our next question is from Matt Roberts from Raymond James.

On our volume strength. So North America, 3Q really strong and actually better than 2Q despite World Cup benefit last quarter. So maybe in hindsight, the strength in 2Q still due to World Cup as North America is generally stronger given it carried through into 3Q.

Any timing or spot volume considerations in the second half here and given the strong underlying trends despite harder comps in '27? Any early indications on what we could expect for North America in '27? .

Well, the first thing I'll answer is the Q3. The comp last year Q3 was very high. As you say, we had a very strong Q3 in earnings terms would have likely to have been better given the volume growth. But I think what you don't see is that although we've talked about it before, we had positive volume momentum in Brazil in the third quarter, whereby in the second quarter, I think we had negative volume momentum.

So Brazil was a little bit of a turnaround. I don't believe although we had 4% growth in Brazil in the third quarter, I think the industry probably did better than that. We're still running behind the industry a bit in Brazil given customer mix.

But our third quarter in Brazil was stronger than our second quarter in Brazil. And then that's the reason why you might be referencing that Q3 was better than Q2. A little early to say what 2027 is going to look like. I hesitate to say this, but it feels like we're going to be full next year in North America. The upshot of that is that we won't have a lot of spare capacity. So we'll see how it progresses from here until the next time we talk to you.

And on Europe, another strong growth there on volume segment income was flat. Was that really all the inflation impact or any impact from start-up costs that we are going...

You've got start-up costs, Kevin, I don't know, maybe $4 million or $5 million or something like that. I think the other thing you have is -- on the continent, we were up 7%. And in the Gulf states, i.e., the Middle East, we were down 4%, and so you've got some mix issues. But again, given everything that's going on in Europe, we're not disappointed with that result.

Right. Great. And with the starting costs, is there any way 4Q operating income could be up or should we have more start 4Q or any considerations there? .

Well, I think we're going to continue to have start-up costs, and that's already baked into the fourth quarter estimate. And we'll even have a little bit of start-up cost in the first quarter. That's right. We've got enough projects going on right now between the 3 projects in Europe.

We've got a project in Brazil. And as I mentioned to you in the prepared remarks, our equipment business, the order book is really firm, and it's not just a North America or a European thing. It is a global growth spurt right now we're experiencing across beverage cans.

It feels a little bit like pre-COVID, although this feels a bit more organic, it's not fueled by COVID. This feels like there's a real momentum globally towards beverage cans either from the growth of beverages and/or substrate changes globally. So this feels really positive as we look forward.

Our next question is from the line of Ghansham Panjabi from Baird.

On the cost inflation piece, I understand there's been a lot going on this year, and it just continues to get more volatile, et cetera. But if costs hold at this point, for 2027, will you be price cost at least neutral? Or will there be some lags? Or will you be ahead of the cost curve? .

So as we sit here today, you all are well aware of the contractual mechanism we use at least in the North American market, which is PPI, I think correct me if I'm wrong, Kevin or Tom, but I think PPI right now is running at about 9%. .

That's right.

So it's a pretty big number as we get into 2027 as we reprice mostly around the April 1 time line, but it will be a fairly large repricing, which will recapture much of the headwind we've had in 2026, and we'll see where prices go next year with any luck, we'll get some abatement on rising prices.

We're already starting to see LME levels come down. Now that's not part of the PPI, but declining LME is a good sign with respect to the affordability of cans for our customers and the consumers. So -- why don't you give -- I'd like to say, yes, to answer your question, Ghansham, why don't you let us come back to you in late January when we talk to you and just firm that up.

But it feels like we're going to be in a much better position next year than we are this year with respect to the Middle East inflationary pressures.

Perfect. And then for volumes, again, looking out to 2027, I realize it's early. So it sounds like the Americas segment is in a pretty good spot. You mentioned being sold out, et cetera, certainly North America. What about the other regions? Would Europe start to benefit from the incremental capacity additions? Can Asia sustain the growth? I love to -- love to hear your initial thoughts on those other regions?

Yes. I think -- listen, there's always -- you and I have talked before, Ghansham, there's always business that moves around. People don't always like to hear that. Perhaps some business has moved around, but we're going to be full next year.

So -- and we think we're going to be full with a better mix, I'll just say it that way, in the North American market. We are hopeful that customer mix will be a benefit to us in Brazil next year as opposed to a headwind this year.

Europe, we expect to continue growing in the order of 3% to 5% or 2% to 4%. It's off a much bigger base now, the market, and we are as well positioned to benefit from market growth as anybody else. So we feel like we're at least in line with market growth in Europe.

Hopefully -- and it is a big hope, but we get a resolution to the Middle East conflict or we get the Strait of Hormuz loosening up a bit, perhaps we can return to growth. We've had a little headwind in volumes in the Middle East operations.

We get a little return to growth there. And Asia will continue to grow. It will not grow next year at the rates that it grew this year, but it will continue to grow in the low to mid-single-digit range.

So I think, as I said to Matt, Matt gave me the opening to comment about global beverage can demand, I think, not just for Crown, but for all can makers, I think we're entering a world over the next couple of years where we're going to see very strong demand.

Our next question is from the line of Phil Ang from Jefferies.

Phil?

Tim, sorry about that. Volumes are strong and certainly in an inflationary backdrop. I mean you're still growing earnings this year. So kudos to the team. When we look out to '27, obviously, you gave some great color on PPI, how that kicks in for North America. Europe, I believe there's an element that's tied to that.

But I'm most curious about other markets like Asia, Transit, your ability to take price and to offset inflation, certainly a very strong demand environment right now?

So Asia, we do have a few long-term contracts. Many of the contracts in Asia are annual in nature. So we reprice those annually. Having said that, there are some markets in Asia that are very competitive. So we always look to remain competitive and either maintain a very stable business with a lot of cash flow or grow it when there's an opportunity.

So I do think we'll have an opportunity to grow the business next year. A little early to say where income will come in, but perhaps marginally up next year compared to this year. I'm very hopeful that we'll see the Middle East return to volume growth next year as well as Brazil. And again, pass-through mechanisms in those markets a little different than North America and Europe.

Helpful. And then given the cash flow generation, you're buying back stock, returning cash. What about growing the business outside of projects you have. I'm most curious about North America. I mean, as you kind of alluded to your sold out, what's the path on that front? Is that something we should be focused on? And any other markets where you see an ability to kind of deploy capital for organic growth?

Yes. I think until we -- until we announce a project, I would tell you right now, we've got 4 fairly large projects underway right now, 3 in Europe and we're finishing 1 in Brazil. So it's a lot of work for our team. We do all of the work ourselves in-house.

We don't outsource the work. So we've got a big, very sophisticated, competent project management and engineering team. We make a lot of our own equipment and I would just tell you that we continue to evaluate the opportunity with respect to how much we can sell ahead of ahead of making a commitment to put more capital in the ground. And so until we make an announcement, you should assume that the 4 projects we have is what we have at this point.

Our next question is from Hillary Cacanando from Deutsche Bank.

Great. So on transit, you mentioned some green shoots and quoting activity. Can you give us a little more color on where you're seeing that improvement and what would need to happen for you to become more constructive on the demand outlook into 2027?

Yes. You could probably tell from my prepared remarks, we're a bit disappointed with the performance in Transit. We've started to see an uptick in industrial demand. Certainly, PMI in both the United States and Europe has been running in the expansion category for the last several months, and we have yet to benefit from that.

We are starting to see quoting activity pick up across the equipment sector. Obviously, we'd like to sell more equipment. You sell more equipment, you get more tools and service in the future and a lot of quotes, but we need to get some firm orders before we're going to get a little bit more constructive to use your words and/or confident to use my words before I want to put my neck back out there again. So disappointing, but it feels like things could be getting better. We're just not ready to say it yet.

Got it. Got it. And then as a follow-up, you recently broke ground on your first beverage can facility in India. So can you talk about the opportunity you see in the Indian market and how you're thinking about the ramp and return profile of that investment?

Sure. So I think 1 thing I'd like to say is that -- it's our first plant in India. But let's be clear, Crown has been at the forefront of entering new markets well ahead of anybody else for decades. We were the first Western can company in China. We're the first Western can company across Southeast Asia, in the Middle East.

We've not had -- we've not had a lot of hesitancy to go into new markets, our hesitancy with India over the years had more to do with the fact that it was more of a spirits market than a beer market. That is changing as the Indian consumer continues to consume more beer as well as soft drinks.

And it appears that cans are becoming a more preferred package as well. in that market, like many other regions in the world. So I think it's fair to say that India is a very large country with a very large population and a very large middle class.

I mean, the population of the United States is 330 million. The population of India is pushing 1.5 billion, and I'll get to the middle class in India is the entire population of the U.S. such that 20% -- at least 20% of India, 300 million is middle class, and they have growing disposable income and the opportunity set would be there for us to have not 1 plant.

We -- I don't think we ever would envision going to a market as large as India over a 3-, 5- or 10-year period and only want to have 1 location. So we'll look to get this capital in the ground and get started up as quick as possible.

It's a big 2-line plant. I would tell you that right now, more than 90% is under contract. Our challenge is to get it up and running as quick as possible to serve those contracts. And the payback should be in line or better than we've seen with other large projects that we've put in the ground over the last 6 years.

Our next question is from Arun Viswanathan from RBC Capital Markets.

Congrats on the strong Q3 on the volume side. So I guess I wanted to continue that discussion. So obviously, maybe you can just offer some of your thoughts on what you're hearing from some of your customers. We know that inflation is up. The beverage companies, I think, have been struggling with balancing promotions and price with volumes.

So I guess what are you hearing on that front? Do you expect promotions to continue as you enter into '27? And do you expect -- you are facing a pretty tough comp. So do you think you can still grow volumes off of this, say, mid-single-digit performance in '26? .

Yes. I think as I've said to some -- Arun to some of the previous questions, I think we see continued volume growth in '27, albeit perhaps not to the same level certainly in Asia that we see this year, you're not going to grow business double-digit every year.

But -- and some of the Asian growth we had this year was on the back of a renewed commercial strategy after a couple of years of getting our cost structure in line. We're now back in the market with a renewed commercial strategy. We'll have growth next year, but as I said, low to mid-single digits.

Middle East, I would hope is better than this year in the face of a war. Europe is going to continue to grow. It's just a matter of how quickly we can get capital in the ground and others can get capital in the ground to meet customers' growing needs across the European continent.

As I said, we're very hopeful that customer mix next year is more positive for us in Brazil than it was this year. And in North America, we're going to be sold out and the limits of our capacity will be tested, and that will determine whether or not our growth next year is 2% or 4%.

And we'll come back to you still wanted to press the issue on new capacity in North America. We're not there yet, but we'll come back to you in due time if we feel that's necessary.

And then just real quickly on the promotional activity. I guess that's more what I'm working customers, I guess, last time when there was some inflation, the beverage companies raise prices. And then when the inflation were treated, they weren't really willing to promote this immediately. So -- do you think those promotions will continue that kind of buy 2 to get 1 free in North America specifically?

I think they need new volume, right? And the parent companies look to sell syrup, and the bottlers look to move volume. I think the 1 thing that's very positive for the can makers, where the can makers sit right now is LME looks like it's dropped below 3,000 or very close to 3,000 from a from a high of what, Kevin, 3500 or 3,600.

So we're starting to see some easing on LME. It would be nice to see some easing on the Midwest premium. But certainly, the LME has come off almost 20%. And that will give the beverage companies, the opportunity to promote if they continue to want to do so.

I appreciate that. And then just real quickly, if I could just squeeze in 1 more, just on PPI. So in years past when you've had an inflationary pass-through maybe that weighed on EPS a little bit. Could you just kind of speak to how that would impact your '27 outlook, if at all -- will take some -- will there be a lag before you can see some earnings growth due to that PPI pass-through?

Well, the pass-through will occur by contract. It is formulaic. Some contracts are early in the year. The majority, I think, are April 1. So it is formulaic and it's going to happen. And little -- the timing is as it relates to the third and fourth quarter of '26 is unfavorable. We know how this works every year.

I think as Kevin has said before, for the last couple of years, I think PPI was flatter 1% or 2%. And clearly, flat to 2% doesn't reflect the cost environment post April this year when the war started. So we'll get it back next year.

Our next question will be coming from the line of Jeff Zekauskas from JPMorgan.

I think this summer was the hottest on record in the United States and Europe. Do you think that, that affected beverage demand and your can demand?

I don't know. I -- Jeff, I don't know, to be honest with you. I think -- I think globally and even in the North American market, people are embracing cans, more fillers and more -- more companies that are introducing new beverage products or introducing in higher rates into cans than ever in the past.

And I think the younger consumer, which isn't me, but the younger consumer is well aware of the sustainability benefits surrounding the can and the infinite recyclability of aluminum as opposed to mass piles of plastics that are floating in the ocean and clogging our nation's water wave.

So I think there's a lot of things that are positive for the can. It's -- you could argue if it's too hot, people don't go outside. And if people don't go outside, they don't have picnic. So you can -- you can look at it a lot of different ways. I'm going to try to stay out of the global warming debate. I don't know. So -- but I think we're in a world where cans are being recognized for the benefits that they offer versus other substrates, and I'll leave it at that.

And you talked about a look-back benefit in 2027 because of the inflation that was felt in the second half of '26, but not immediately recouped. So all things being equal, should there be, I don't know, a $0.20 a share benefit that accrues to Crown in 2027 because of the inflation in '26?

Well, there is a benefit. Yes, it won't be the full amount we incurred this year because not all regions have that contractual look-back mechanism. We certainly have it in North America, and we have it to a large extent in Europe.

We do not really have it in the Middle East or Asia as more of those contracts are annual in nature. So perhaps half of that number, you might want to fairly say that we should see next year.

Our next question is from Chris Parkinson from Wolfe Research.

Tim, can we just circle back at kind of the beginning of this year. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts. When you take a step back and look at where you stood then versus where you stood now, what are the things you feel generally better about in terms of the way the industry is trending, specifically in North America?

And what are the kind of 1 or 2 things we should be focusing on the most for 2027 in terms of moving parts in terms of your own thinking as CEO?

Listen, I think the -- if you had told me on January 1 that we get through 9 months of the year, and we'd be global beverage can shipments for Crown would be up on the order of 5% to 6%. And I have taken that in a heartbeat on January 1.

And if you told me then that my quoting activity and my order book at CMB Engineering, our beverage can equipment company would be as full as it is now for the outlook I'd be thrilled.

I don't think we anticipated demand for us in North America or the world to be as strong as it has been this year on January 1, and we certainly didn't anticipate the strength of equipment demand that we're seeing right now as we look forward. So I think, as I said earlier, it feels like we're entering a world of increased beverage can growth, and it certainly feels as I said earlier, much more organic than it felt during the COVID period.

So I think the only thing I would tell you to look at it as we get into next year because things feel pretty good as it relates to demand. Hopefully, we see some easing on input cost pressures such that when we do get the contractual mechanisms, we recover what we lost this year that we're just not keeping pace with further cost pressures next year.

Got it. And just a quick follow-up, a couple of questions ago. You kind of ran through some quick math in terms of the entry into the Indian market. You've obviously been focusing on a couple of anchor customers per the press releases, but how are you thinking about that intermediate long term? Is that mainly -- is that the beer thesis -- are there possibilities with additional CSD customers -- just any additional color on how you're going to anchor yourself into that market and eventually, you obviously grow would be greatly appreciated?

I'm sorry, if I gave you the impression that we only had beer customers. What I was trying to say that historically, the Indian consumer was more of a spirit drinker than a beer drinker. But we do have soft drink customers under contract.

And I'd say that perhaps at least 40% of what we have under contract in this new facility is soft drink with the 60% of it being beer. So we have a number of soft drink customers, including some of the very largest soft drink companies in the world.

And our growth aspirations requirements in that country will be anchored to our customers as they want us to go to other regions of a very large market with a very large consumer base.

Our next question is from Mike Roxland from Troy Securities.

Tim, you mentioned over the last few years that you were focused on reducing costs, but now you're back to a renewed commercial strategy or commercial focus. Can you provide some more color on what that strategy, our commercial strategy entails and maybe what has changed versus your prior strategy?

Well, I was specifically talking about Asia. So we had -- 1 thing that happens in Asia, I'll just give you a quick recap here. One thing that happens in Asia when you build a facility in many countries, you don't own the land, you get a long-term lease on the land.

Fortunately or unfortunately, for Crown, we've been there so long that some of the leases came due. The properties happen to be in areas which while they were industrial in nature in the past, when the factories were built, they're now more residential and the government wanted those back to build residential housing as opposed to industrial complexes.

So we had to exit 2 locations across Southeast Asia, 3 can lines and 3 end lines. So we took the opportunity as we were doing that to reset the cost base across Southeast Asia in the '23, '24 time frame and having completed that and getting the cost base back to where we wanted it.

We had a look at our commercial strategy and understood that we could use that lower cost base to go back into the market and grow our business and increased utilization or absorption in the remaining factories that we had.

Got it. Very clear. And just 1 quick follow-up on food cans. You mentioned you have strong reg and pet food demand. Any impact on your -- on the pack due to higher-than-expected weather in the Midwest?

No, we had a -- I would tell you, we have a pretty balanced food can business. We have a number of East Coast producers, Southeast producers and a big strong presence in the Upper Midwest, not the lower Midwest.

So really, it's been a tremendous year. We have what we think is -- it's not the biggest food can business, but we believe it's the best food can business, really great partnerships with some great people, great family businesses and other businesses and we really enjoy the business, and it does well.

And we continue where we have opportunity to invest smartly to support those customers. So -- but it's been a great last couple of years, and again, another great campaign this year.

Next question is from Anthony Pettinari from Citigroup.

Tim, just following up on the Middle East. I think you previously had estimated $0.07 to $0.10 headwind in the second half after a $0.05 headwind in 2Q. I'm just wondering how you think that might shake out, and you talked about Gulf volumes down 4% in 3Q. I mean, is that what you're seeing in October? Or is there any...

Again, Anthony, just to be clear, when we said $0.05 in Q2 and then $0.10 in the back half, we were talking about the inflationary impact of the Middle East conflict across our global operations.

We clearly got that wrong in the back half, $0.05 in Q2 and $0.10 in the back half is morphed into $0.20 to $0.25 split equally between Q3 and now our estimate for Q4. Some of that being volume declines in the Middle East, much of it being elevated energy costs and elevated freight costs globally.

And then the Gulf volumes down mid-single digits. I mean is that reasonable for 4Q? Or are you seeing any change there? Is there any kind of comp we should be mindful of?

No, I think we should -- until we see the Strait of Hormuz, the restrictions there eased. I think you should consider that our estimate for Q4 includes continued declines across a couple of the Middle East operations.

And then maybe just 1 more. You've been taking share from glass maybe in most of your markets. I'm just curious, as you see these moves in aluminum with LME spiking and now coming back down does that really drive or impact adoption of cans versus glass or substitution out of glass?

Like if you just think about the last 3 to 5 years, I'm wondering if you can talk about that dynamic if it's accelerating, slowing? Like how sensitive is it to LME? I just -- any kind of...

Yes, you're going to give me a chance to talk about sustainability, and Kevin is going to get really excited here because he loves this. I think let's be clear. In North America, there's almost no CSD in glass any longer. The CSD guys are not going back to glass. So where a declining LME helps us. It makes the can much more competitive against the pet bottle from a cost perspective, and we all know it's much more competitive across an environmental spectrum.

Globally, glass only works globally when it's returnable glass. And for those of you who have traveled internationally, you know that many storefronts are very, very small. Those shopkeepers do not want to recollect glass and have empty used bottles sitting there waiting for somebody to come pick them up because it's taking up very precious real estate they have to put saleable product.

They prefer to have salable product on the floor, not empty bottles waiting to be picked up. So the movement towards cans away from glass is real. I don't need to pile -- glass has a problem. I don't need to pile on the glasses problem. I'm not trying to do that. But the opportunity for cans to continue growing at the expense of glass is very real.

Our next question is from the line of Josh Spector from UBS. .

I want to come back to the inflation question. And I feel like you've been pretty comprehensive on North America and Europe. And just kind of given the comments around Asia not having the pass-throughs -- is that a good or bad thing for you now? I guess, is a tighter environment for can something you think you can get pricing faster? Or do you see that being more of a lag recovery?

Well, depending on who the competition is and how realistic the competition is and where the competition is in terms of their own profitability, you would expect that we're larger we have a much better footprint.

I firmly believe we operate better, that is more efficiently with less spoilage. We should have opportunities as the competition looks to raise price. And we saw a little bit of that in China this year for the first time in a long time, the Chinese competition raised price in China.

I think we're going to expect to see that as we go forward, that as prices -- or as contracts reprice on an annual basis, we'll see the competition becoming more responsible.

That's helpful. If I could shift gears quickly here. Just on M&A. I mean, there's plenty of noise going around on 1 of the smaller competitors about potential restructuring. Can you just talk about your appetite for doing any large-scale M&A in cans today?

Well, I think as Kevin said, we are well positioned to continue organic -- organic growth opportunities and returning cash to shareholders. Organic growth may contain can acquisitions. It's hard to see how we could do a large-scale can acquisition, just given the concentration across so many of the markets.

Would we or do we have opportunity to pick up a plant here or there? Yes. And we'll see what happens. It's too early to say what might become available from any of the 2 or 3 situations that are out there or recently announced.

But as we sit here today, no large-scale M&A because we just don't think it's available in cans and certainly no large-scale M&A outside of cans.

Our next question is from Edlain Rodriguez from Isu.

A quick 1 on Transit. I mean as you noted, a little disappointment there -- so what does 4Q look like? Given seasonality and the cost inflation, does it get much worse before it gets better? Like should we expect like a big step down in 4Q's earnings for Transit?

Well, I think that we would expect Q4 in transit to have a similar comparison to the prior year as Q3 did. So it will be down a little bit, but similar to -- maybe similar to the third quarter.

Makes sense. And also in the other segment, -- should we expect similar trends in 4Q on that $45 million to $50 million in terms of earnings because it's been pretty steady this year, but not last year, like should we expect something similar to what we've been seeing the past couple of quarters?

Yes, I think you could expect. We were flat year-on-year in the third quarter. I think we're flat to maybe slightly down in the fourth quarter is what I would expect, but definitely not in the $40 million to $50 million range. .

Okay. So compared to last year, you say a flat to slightly low, okay.

Our next question is from Ketan Mamtora from BMO Capital Markets. .

Just coming back to North America volumes. Tim, any additional color you can provide as to kind of how some of the products within product categories, whether it's energy drinks, CSD beer?

Well, energy -- energy has been exceptionally strong, as you know, what has been positively surprising this year is CSD. And for us, sparkling water is a big category and we've done well in sparkling water and I always hate to say this, but it feels like beer is stabilizing.

But no, listen, it's been a -- it's been a really good campaign. I think if we look at the last 52 weeks, at least the data I saw recently, it looks like every category was up over the last 52 weeks. Beer might have been slightly down, but it might only have been down like 1% or 2%. It wasn't down much bigger than that, but certainly offset by all the other categories.

Understood. No, that's helpful. And then or in Brazil, last quarter, you mentioned that the team was targeting sort of flat volume for the year. Is that still sort of how you all are thinking about it?

Yes. I think what we said is the team was targeting flat volume. We weren't sure we believed it. We're still targeting on the top side, maybe we're going to be down 2% for the full year. .

Our last question is from George Staphos from Bank of America.

Tim, you were candid and we appreciate the comments on transit. And you also talked earlier about your philosophy on managing and incentivizing. What do you think will improve? What changes might you make in terms of the incentives or anything else so that you do get better performance out of transit over the next year or 2?

And then separate question. If you look out over the next year or so, assuming we continue along this path, right, there are no guarantees in life. But nonetheless, the company and the industry generates a lot of cash. Large acquisitions are seemingly less likely for obvious reasons. Can you help us think about what your goals might be on capital allocation, really share repurchase over the next year or so?

So on the first thing, George, I'll be further candid on the transit. And I'll tell you, the team does a very good job in transit with respect to cash. If you want to blame somebody blame the CEO of the company, that's me for not giving them capital and/or bolt-on acquisition dollars that they would otherwise like.

We made a decision several years ago, we were going to run this business for cash and use that cash to support our beverage can growth strategy globally as well as our opportunity to return cash to shareholders.

Now we probably do need to look to spend a little bit more capital per year in that business, but nothing on the order of more than $20 million a year. So not massive numbers, but maybe we need to give them a little bit more money.

And so if we want to say where the blame lies, you can blame me. The team would like a little bit more money. We've said, no, we've generated a lot of cash. And we've used it for what we believe have been good reasons, delever the balance sheet rapidly, return a lot of capital to shareholders and grow the beverage business.

As we look at the future, again, as you rightly point out, hard to understand how we can do large-scale metal M&A, unlikely we're going to do large-scale nonmetal M&A, going to generate on the order of $900 million to $1 billion of free cash flow every year.

I think Kevin would probably tell you, it feels pretty confident about that. And we pay a dividend right now in the order of $1.40, maybe that increases a little, but that leaves a lot of money to repurchasing shares. And in the absence of something that we believe returns more value to shareholders, we're going to continue to buy back shares.

Would you put any goals out there, Tim, at this juncture or not at this juncture?

Well, we bought back $600 million year-to-date this year, and maybe Kevin would like to buy a little bit more than $100 million throughout the rest of the year. So that would be like $700 million. And if you thought about $600 million, $700 million, $800 million a year for the next several years. I don't think that's too far out of the question.

I think the share count is quickly approach. I think we're at 108 million right now. I would say by mid next year, could we get down to $100 million on share count. That's 8 million shares that would be roughly another $800 million, $900 million. There's no reason to believe we couldn't do that, and then we'll see where we go from there.

But -- but listen, $600 million, $700 million, $800 million a year in share buyback going to get the denominator down pretty quick.

Thank you, George. Rich, I think you said that was the last question. So thank you very much. And as that was the last question, we, again, thank you all for joining us, and we'll speak to you again in early 2027. Bye now. .

And that concludes today's conference. Thank you, everyone, for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Please be advised that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, Michelle. Good morning. With me on today's call is Tim Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you do not already have a copy of the earnings release, it's available on our website at crowncort.com.

On this call, as in the earnings release, we will make a number of forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary is contained in the press release and our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K for 2025 and subsequent filings. Reported diluting earnings per share were $2.23 compared to $1.56 in the prior year quarter.

Adjusted earnings per diluted share were $2.49 in the second quarter compared to $2.15 in the second quarter of 2025. That represents an increase of 16%. Net sales increased to $3.7 billion, reflecting 5% growth in global beverage can shipments, the pass-through of higher material costs and favorable foreign exchange -- foreign currency translation.

Segment income was $501 million compared with $476 million in the prior year quarter, the increase was driven by higher global beverage can shipments, strong performance in our beverage can equipment business and North American template operations, partially offset by inflationary cost increases.

Based on the strong first half performance and positive demand outlook, we are increasing our full year 2026 adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance from $7.90 to $8.30 to a new range of $8.30 to $8.50. We currently expect the third quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.20 to $2.30.

Our full year outlook assumes net interest expense of approximately $355 million. Exchange rates at current levels with the euro at an average rate of $1.16 to the dollar, effective tax rate of approximately 25%, depreciation of approximately $330 million, noncontrolling interest expense of approximately $150 million, while dividends to noncontrolling interests are expected to be $110 million. Adjusted free cash flow of at least $900 million, capital spending of approximately $550 million. Capital allocation remains a key component of our value creation strategy.

During the second quarter, we repurchased $305 million of company shares. Through the first 6 months of the year, we repurchased $517 million of shares and paid $77 million in dividends, returning a total of $594 million to shareholders. This pace of repurchases reflects our confidence in the company's outlook, the strength of our free cash flow generation and our commitment to a disciplined balanced capital allocation framework. We continue to invest in our growth initiatives in Brazil, Greece, Spain and India, which are progressing on schedule while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

At the end of Q2, our adjusted net leverage ratio was approximately 2.5x, an improvement from the first quarter and consistent with our long-term leverage target. Our results in the quarter reflect what we see every day. Consumers continue to choose beverages in aluminum cans and our customers look to Crown to reliably support this growing demand.

In fact, as I sit here this morning, enjoying a cold beverage in a can, I'm reminded that millions of consumers around the world made the same choice throughout the second quarter. It's a simple but powerful reminder of the strength of our business and the appeal of the most sustainable beverage package.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning to everyone. As Kevin solubility discussed and as reflected in last night's earnings release, the company had another strong performance, with second quarter revenues and earnings per share, both exceeding the prior year quarter by 16%.

Global beverage can volumes were up 5% in the quarter, with most regions experiencing strong demand, and this follows 5% growth in the first quarter. All of this is only possible due to the tremendous global team we have at Crown. Despite the ongoing Middle East crisis and related global economic headwinds, the businesses responded well to not only support each other, but to also continue to provide the level of service and quality that our customers require.

Revenues in Americas Beverage advanced 21% in the quarter, almost entirely due to the pass-through of higher aluminum costs. Sales unit volumes in North America grew 5%, offsetting declines across Latin America. Income in the segment declined by $3 million primarily due to cost inflation. North American can demand remains strong, and we expect full year shipments to be 3% to 4% above 2025.

European volumes increased 7% in the quarter with growth noted across almost all countries, resulting in a 10% improvement to the segment's income in the quarter. As in North America, demand remains strong, and the first line in Greece was commercialized earlier this month, bringing much needed capacity to our European system. Further capacity will come on late in the year in both Spain and the second Creek line.

Income in Asia Pacific advanced 6% in the quarter as volume gains across most countries offset cost headwinds arising from the Middle East crisis. Overall, volumes in Transit Packaging were level to the prior year, with improved equipment and tool activity being offset by lower steel and plastic strap volumes. The income effect of this positive revenue mix is offset by inflation impacts running ahead of our cost recovery.

The business remains resilient and we expect second half performance to be firmer to the prior year than in the first half. Increased beverage can equipment activity, combined with productivity improvements in North American tinplate, resulted in segment income improvement across our other businesses. Our North American food can business, which is now well balanced between human and pet food saw volumes declined 3% in the quarter, although we note that volumes advanced 9% in the prior year second quarter.

Just a few points to summarize before opening the call to questions. Global beverage can volumes up 5% in the quarter. Earnings per share, up 16% in the quarter with full year guidance raised. We returned almost $600 million to shareholders in the first half and the balance sheet remains strong with leverage remaining at our long-term target of 2.5x.

And with that, Michelle, we are now ready to begin to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of George Staphos of Bank of America.

Congratulations on the progress. I had a couple of questions, obviously. I guess, first of all, with America's EBIT, the guidance so far for this year has been for earnings to be down. You've talked about that in the past. The quarter was relatively flat, which was better than expected. Do you think that potentially there is a chance that earnings might be flat overall for Americas given the volume momentum that you have? Or would that still be a bridge too far? And what are the considerations in that?

Maybe second question related. I know its early. It's the middle of the year. But do you have any thoughts that you could share in terms of how you think your volume your market shares, particularly in North America, might develop in 2027. Any thoughts here? And then I have one last follow-on.

So George, on the first question, I think -- the second half of the year, we could be level to the second half of last year. To use your terms, just given the softness we experienced in Brazil in the first half, it might be a bridge too far for this year to equal last year in segment income in the Americas. Although we'll -- if we don't get to a $1 billion of segment income I know we crossed it last year, we don't get to $1 billion of segment income, we'll get real close to that number in the Americas. But I think the the customer mix related softness we had in the first half in Brazil, as you say, a bridge too far. But second half should be pretty firm to the prior year.

I think the strategy we've employed as it relates to volume and market share in all regions has been one in which we tried to develop a business that rewards our company and our stakeholders for the efforts that we make. And sometimes that is not so volume dependent. Sometimes that is not so volume dependent. Sometimes that is more depended on sound commercial strategies, which yield higher income. Having said that, the market is growing it's probable that our volume next year will be up compared to this year. What that means for market share, I don't know, less concerned about market share, although we do have a pretty good position in North America. We're probably about 25% of the market. There's nothing wrong with being a strong #2 in the market, and I think we're pleased with our position. And as I said, we're more focused on getting a proper return on the assets that we have employed in the system.

Last one for me. Again, the quarter was -- for 2Q was ahead of your guidance. And again, congratulations to your team on that. As we look early into the third quarter, any thoughts on where volumes are right now and if somebody wanted to ask the question, why are earnings lower sequentially from 3Q versus 2Q? What would -- what are the key considerations there? And to some of what are you guarding against. With that, I will turn it over and thanks very much.

Yes. Listen, I think just looking at volumes globally in beverage cans, everything feels very firm right now. That is North America is continuing to see high demand. One of the large retailers has a number of rollbacks in place, and they typically run from 1 to several months. And so as an industry, we're excited about that, not just in beverage cans, but also in food cans. Hopefully, that drives more volume.

George, you've been around a long time like I have, you recognize that in times when consumers are stretched and stressed that dining at home or consuming at home becomes more prevalent. We're sitting here in Tampa right now. I can tell you not that I'm gloating about this, I think it's unfortunate, but the Tampa restaurant scene is really struggling this summer, which tells me people are eating at home. And if we're seeing that in Tampa, I guess we're seeing that all around the country. So I think demand is going to remain strong for aluminum beverage and steel food as we look through the rest of the year. Europe remains sold out more or less. It will slow down seasonally, but it's still sold out, and we have new capacity coming online.

Asia, we've had double-digit growth in the first half of the year. I think we'll have high single-digit growth in the second half of the year. So that's a slowdown, but it's still high single-digit growth. We'll take high single-digit growth all the time. Now we obviously don't have a World Cup in the second half of the year, but as I said, demand remains strong. You've asked the question that everybody else wants to ask. I think there -- we have a little bit of caution around the second half. If we were sitting here 3 months ago, we might have had hopes as many people did that the Middle East war, Middle East crisis, perhaps would be drawn to some conclusion, it seems to only be picking up right now, which is unfortunate for a lot of reasons. And again, we'll give us some caution as we look at [indiscernible]

Just following up on the last question. I think previously, you had given an EPS impact from Middle East conflict of $0.05 in 2Q and $0.10 for the full year, if I got that right. Can you -- any update there?

Yes. So the $0.05 in the second quarter, maybe it was $0.05 or $0.06, and we saw a lot of that in the Asian business. Having said that, we earn through it with higher volumes. And we've got a much lower cost structure there than we had several years ago. So the Asian businesses is well prepared to defend itself against cost increases. Having said that, we do expect the second half of the year to continue to see higher inflation that currently runs ahead of our cost recovery mechanisms, which will reset either at the end of the year or early next year.

So I would, if we were back in April, if we were modeling $0.05 in the second quarter and $0.05 in the second half, I'd tell you we probably had $0.05 or $0.06 in the second quarter, and we probably have $0.07 or $0.08 in the $0.07, $0.08 maybe $0.10 in the second half in our model right now, and it's just -- I'm always afraid to say we're being overly cautious. I think we're just trying to be mindful of the challenges that we see in the global economic system and not unhappy with our projected results. Just trying to make sure we and you don't get ahead of ourselves right now until we see some resolution to some of the political instability we're seeing right now.

Got it. Got it. That's very helpful. And then I'm just wondering, when all is said and done, is it possible to gauge what the World Cup may have done for Crown in calendar '26 in terms of volume, sales, earnings, whatever metric you might want to use. And then just directionally, is there anything that sort of surprised you about the impact positively, negatively? Anything you call out?

So Anthony, when you look at the World Cup and we kind of look at our volumes, right, the second quarter, we were up 5%. You look at our full year expectation, we're looking at 3% for the full year. You can almost equate to 2% probably, whether it's World Cup or America 250. It seem like the activity around it was definitely elevated. It's hard to say how much is directly correlated, but there's clearly some volume impact that we've seen in the second quarter. And if I just want to equate a number, I would say it's probably close to maybe it's 2% of the North American volume for sure.

Our next question is from the line of Ghansham Panjabi of Baird.

Just going back to the comments on relative caution, if you will, for the back half versus what you delivered in -- just to confirm, are you actually seeing something that worries you as it relates to either volumes or cost? Or are you anticipating some sort of pressure as it relates to those 2 dynamics as you think about the back half of the year?

Well, Ghansham that's a really good question. I think Kevin's comment, if we saw 5% volume growth, and let's just deal with North America to start. If we saw a 5% volume growth in North America in the second quarter, and we attribute perhaps roughly half of that to outsized World Cup activity, which was certainly beyond what we expected. Our comments previously with respect to the World Cup would have been something along the lines that it's a 4-week tournament and how much more can people drink well, guess what, they drink a lot more. And so we're not going to see that in the third quarter.

So we know that that while for the full year, we're still going to be up 3% to 4%. It's not going to mirror the 5% we saw in the second quarter or the first half. So -- and then some caution around inflation in the second half. We won't get a chance to recover a lot of these costs, be it in transit, Asia. And even some of -- where we don't have freight in some of the contracts, some of the incremental freight costs and and diesel that we see in our businesses here in North America. So I don't think there's anything specific. I think it's just it's a reflection of we had an outsized North American gain in terms of volume from the World Cup in Q2, I think we had a -- let's be honest, we had a quarter we didn't expect for a lot of reasons.

A lot of things -- to use Kevin's term, a lot of things went right -- and when you take a step back and you look at it, everything that went right, you're trying to be honest with yourself and go through all the things that went right and things may still go really good in the back half of the year, but are they going to go with that good as related to the second quarter. So just caution. I don't think anything specific, just caution.

Okay. And then can you give us a sense on Latin America -- I'm sorry if I missed that in terms of volumes for 2Q and then separately, as it relates to the beverage can business and the tinplate businesses, obviously, very, very strong operating performance. Was there anything unique in there that boosted the second quarter? Or is that just you're on the flip side of perhaps some tougher quarters previously.

What was the first question?

First was the beverage business. Ghansham, on the other businesses, the other segment, remember, that's tinplate businesses and also the can-making equipment business. And really, we had a really easy comp on the equipment making business, where I would say the majority of the gain that you're seeing in other is largely related to the equipment and tooling business that we have.

Versus the prior year.

Versus prior year. [indiscernible] business is still strong and doing well. But when you're looking at the quarterly gain, the majority of it is the equipment business. And then what was your other question?

It was on South American volumes.

I'm sorry. So North America, up 5%; Latin America, down 10%.

Our next question comes from the line of Matt Roberts of Fremont James.

I appreciate all the -- we don't -- I can't mistake comments, a good word there, Tim.

Listen, I've been dealing with 7 of Julian for the last 1.5 weeks. It was like trying to calm down an excited kid getting ready to go out for Halloween. So...

Sure. always entertaining. Talked about Europe much, that continues to be strong. So maybe just more granularity there by region what you're seeing in Southern Europe, gold states and exposure in Northern Europe as well. seems like a hot summer starting out over there, starting to run up against tough comps.

So any comments there and how we should think about the timing of incremental volumes as Spain and Greece start to ramp?

Yes. So as I said in the prepared comments, the -- I'm sorry, the first line in Greece, we commercialized earlier this month. So we'll work through some start-up costs, but we're going to have incremental volumes between now and the end of the year and Spain will come online early in Q1.

The second line in Greece will come online late in the year -- later in Q4. We didn't talk about Brazil. Brazil should be up and running sometime in Q4 as well, the new line in [indiscernible]. The market remains very tight. Our system remains tight. I hesitate to say sold out, but probably sold out as the right term. Combination of factors, just an increasing acceptance of the beverage can compared to traditional glass bottles that have existed in Europe for the last 200 years or more. And and a growing propensity of fillers to use cans for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the lowest cost through distribution.

Obviously, the inherent sustainability characteristics and also the billboard that is used to advertise your product via the graphics on the can, the 360 graphics on a can. So understand that we're going to have tougher volume comps as we go forward. And obviously, the bigger the denominator gets, the lower the percentage gain is. We don't always get so concerned about the percentage gain. We like absolute unit numbers because absolute unit numbers or what drive our need to put more capacity in and grow earnings. So really, a lot of positive thoughts around our European business.

I think if we look at specifically the second quarter, maybe all markets -- all of our businesses in Europe up all locations up with the exception of a slight decline in Eastern Europe and the business in the United Arab Emirates down unit volumes down about 20% in the quarter, owing to the Middle East crisis. But in total, our Middle East volume was up for the quarter, meaning that the other units in Jordan and Saudi more than made up for the Dubai shortfall.

And maybe one on transit in the prepared remarks, noted [indiscernible] Tepeglobal industrial production the PMI levels where they are currently. Are you seeing any green shoots or bright spots in that business and why you had success in pulling costs out, are there any further cost opportunities or commercial adjustments you're considering that business?

I think we've taken a lot of cost out. There's -- you never say it's the end, right? There's all can companies, all businesses that operate in in businesses that are looking at margins and trying to keep cost down. It's continuous improvement. We're always looking for ways to improve and take cost out. We've taken the majority of the costs out of that business that we feel we need to take out.

So the business is in a really good place. The team has done an excellent job rightsizing the overhead cost structure for what the business should have as a packaging business. the green shoots we are seeing is the -- we continue to see manufacturing production manufacturing indices being level or expanding from time to time, a little different where we're seeing it, but we are starting to see some green shoots and capital goods orders, which helps our business because capital good -- we have the most profitable piece of our business is the equipment and tools and the service that goes along with that. And so that's a really good sign.

Obviously, gasoline and diesel and some other things impact the segments we serve, i.e., the transportation segments and -- so the transportation industry under some pressure with that, although gasoline obviously and diesel have pulled back a little here in June, we'll see what it does the balance of the year with the war picking up. But I think we feel better about the business today than we have over the last 18 months, and we'll see where that takes us.

Our next question is from the line of Phil Ng of Jefferies.

Congrats guys on a strong quarter. And Kevin, if that was intentional, it was a very nice touch when you cracked open your can at the start of the call. So congrats all that.

He's been practicing that all week.

I know it was good execution. I guess a question for you, Tim, to kind of kick things off. You mentioned that North America and across your portfolio, your focus is profitability. So I guess when we look out to 2027, do you have a path to kind of drive EBIT per can grinding higher in 2027 in that North America business it's certainly very tight. So how much slack capacity is out there just from an industry standpoint kind of moved around? And have any of your customers even actually come out -- reached out to you to add capacity. Once again, I appreciate the focus here is making more money, but any more color on some of those dynamics.

Listen, Phil, it's a great question. given the industry missteps maybe 5 or 6 years ago, as you remember, we tried to be very cautious around that, but you get caught up in all that. I would say that let's be clear, customers are always telling you to add more capacity. They want an overcapacity situation. So we all act like desperate rolls. And I think we the recent memory has taught us all a good lesson, and nobody is trying to do that.

We're all trying to be very responsible. Having said that, the market continues to grow. I think we see further growth. And where we see growth is the continuing growth in energy drinks, which largely come in cans and offset many products that are consumed in other substrates, be it a coffee cup or plastic bottle. And so that's a positive end market development for the can industry as is flavored alcohols, flavored teas, sparkling alcohols that offset perhaps other alcohols, namely beer that comes in glass and/or draft versus just a can. So all these are positive substrate moves for the can industry, those end market moves. So we see the market growing. There may come a time when we need to consider more capacity. And when we believe we can do that in a responsible way, we'll take a look at that much closer.

Tim, any color on how much stock capacity is there in North America? I think there's not much, but in terms of any high level...

I apologize for all of you that know this already. And just very quickly, if you took the rated speed of the equipment that's out there, you would you would posit that perhaps the industry is running at 92%, 93%. But if you adjust that for changeovers for sizes, label changes, maintenance, we've got to be in the mid- to high 90s, which is in real terms from April to August, it's 110% utilization, and then you've got to do a lot of maintenance catch-up and other things in the fourth quarter.

So I think it's a market that's pretty well utilized. I mean, there is some new capacity coming on the West Coast, it will be specific to the West Coast and some certain customers in that region. There's been other capacity that's come on. And some of the smaller companies that have brought capacity on will get better, and they'll just they'll create more capacity from their own creep. But I think the market is in a really good place right now.

And then on South America, you talked about Brazil down, I think, 10% or South America at large. Tim, any more color on what's driving that? Is that the comp dynamic share movement? And then you are bringing on more capacity in Brazil. So how do we shore that up in terms of a little weakness right now in more capacity? And just broadly, how you're thinking about Brazil this year?

Phil, I'll take this. So look, Brazil is all about mix, right? You have a high-end consumer and you have cans that are sold to what I'd say, the more premium brains, which is not our customer, largely. We service the lower end of the market, which is our main customer. So I don't think -- I think Brazilian economy is doing okay. I think it's similar to the United States where the high end is doing better than the low end. And right now, I think in the first half, what we've seen is that the lower-end consumer struggled a little bit. I think -- and it's also the weakest time of the year.

Just remember that. It's their winter, if you remember. So I think as we look through the rest of the year, we feel okay with where the projection is, but it's all a mix game in Brazil. And this happens from time to time. You'll have years where we'll do really well and above market growth because our customers have done it. This year, it looks like we're probably below the market. And that is, again, customer mix.

So Phil, just a little further color. The big guy there, far more active in promoting beginning in the beginning of the year through the World Cup and as Kevin said, resulting in a mix for us where we service principally the other 2 big beer companies there and not the larger one in -- to a great extent. The -- the line in Panagrossa, we have a 2-line can plant currently in Panagrossa, which is multi-size. We need more size capability in the Southeast, and that's the reason for the addition even though the market for us has been soft this year, it's just a regional size expansion.

Tim, any color on what you're expecting for Brazil for the full year?

We didn't -- to Ghansham's question, I could have also said that as we look at the back half of the year, Brazil had a massive fourth quarter last year. They're forecasting a similar fourth quarter this year. And Kevin and I, as we look at the first half, we're being a little cautious on what we think our Brazilian team is going to deliver.

Currently, our Brazilian team being down high single digits in the first half, is projecting that they're going to be flat for the year. So some of our second half caution is just putting some caution against our own Brazilian forecast.

Our next question is from the line of Chris Parkinson of Wolfe Research.

Just as it pertains to North America, I think we catered on this on a few prior questions. But could you just give us some just baseline assumptions on how you see different substrates to the market growing? It seems like energy is still generally positive, nonalcoholic seltzers. Just any color you could give on those as well as your Mexican glass business would be particularly helpful for the second half?

Yes. Listen, I think all segments felt like they were up in the second quarter. I think beer was flattish. I mean that's a win for beer. It might have been -- and I'm only going from data we get from the CMI, the can Manufacturers Institute, but 1 of the companies doesn't report, and they're a bigger beer supplier.

So maybe beer was up. But it felt like everything was really strong in the second quarter across all segments. Mexican glass, we had a positive -- a really strong quarter. As the economy tightens especially in the lower income economies, glass does better and -- we have a real nice position in the Mexican glass business with 2 factories, 5 furnaces and results have been very good this year across Mexico glass.

And just as a follow-up, you've been pretty methodical on adding new capacity, looking at to customers, all the things the Street likes to hear. But when we take a step back and we look at your projected free cash flow, you've been buying back shares, surprised most of us, I think, for the second quarter. which has been a theme for the last 2 years. How are you thinking about capital allocation from here? Is there any update on the dividend you'd like to give? Or how aggressive you'd like to be outside of growth initiatives? Just any other things you'd like to share as an update.

I mean, obviously, it's something we talk about at every board meeting and what is the best use of the cash to generate as much shareholder value as we can. Like I think the -- those without saying the fortunate problem we have is we have a lot of cash. So we'll again look at as we get towards the end of the year with the Board, what an appropriate dividend level or what we want our dividend policy to be.

I think we took a big step at the beginning of this year to bring the dividend up to a level that more appropriately reflects our confidence in our future cash flow generation capabilities. And from time to time, Chris, we may spend $450 million in capital. We may spend $600 million in capital. But that doesn't really move the cash -- free cash flow around that much from year-to-year. It's more about taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. And the first thing to do is to service our customers and be present when our customers need us. And from there, all manners of success should follow.

So a good question, and I apologize for not giving you a more specific answer, but there's a lot of cash there. And the main thing is to be -- as Kevin said earlier, we're going to be really disciplined about what we do with the cash.

Our next question is from the line of Mike Roxland of Truist.

First one, Tim, just you mentioned earlier -- in response to a question that you think North America volumes will probably be up in 2027. What gives you a pause -- is it a tougher comps from World comp America 250? I mean what are you thinking when you think about '27, the volume growth there that volumes wouldn't be up and you used the word probably, which implies some caution.

Well, I think certainly, the World Cup was worth a few hundred million cans in Q2 if we want to just throw a dart and try to pick a number you've got to try to overcome that. The only thing that will give you a positive if growth slows, I mean we had -- I think we had a market in Q2. Tom gave me the information the other day, I think we had a market in Q2. We feel like the market was up 3% or 4% in Q2, 3.5%, Tom telling me in Q2, which is that's a pretty strong performance for beverage cans, which is largely a mature market, obviously, with some modicum of growth. Some of that will be World Cup driven. And so you're always looking at how much growth we're going to have. If we if we return to more historical levels of growth, be it 0 to 2 or 0 to 1 versus 2 to 3, then as business moves around, and we pick and choose who which business we want based on profitability, we could be flatter or up. That's all we're saying.

Got it. But nothing as you stand here today, we tend, that gives -- when you think about your book of business for '27 there's a reason for concern.

No. Listen, there's wins and losses every year. We've got some wins. We've got some losses. But in total, we're going to be flat to up.

Just 1 quick 1 on food can volumes. You mentioned down 3% on top comps. I think you mentioned you called out 9% growth in 2Q '25. Is there -- aside from comps, is there anything else that negatively impacted volumes during the quarter?

No, it was a pretty strong quarter. More important than the second quarter is obviously the third quarter. So obviously, as all the crops come in from harvest. And -- but now the business is operating really well. About 40% of the business now is pet food. So that's a very stable business. cats don't know if it's August or January, right? They eat the same all year around. And on the human side, a really nice mix of fresh pack and other products. So just a really sound business that -- we've taken a lot of great strides, and the team has made great efforts and built a really, really good business over the last decade.

Our next question is from the line of Hillary Cacanando of Deutsche Bank.

On the free cash flow guidance, you revised the wording to say at least $900 million versus approximately $900 million last quarter. Is that just due to higher earnings? Or is there something else driving the upside, like working capital or CapEx timing or something else?

It's largely just the earnings increase. Working capital, it's a little early to say where we're going to be -- it's really the back half of the year is what determines where working capital ends up for the year, but we haven't changed any other expectation capital, still $550 million. Working capital still we use right now. So -- but we'll fine-tune that number as we move through the year, but we feel really good about the cash flow at this point. And I think as we look at our capital allocation strategy, we should be able to buy close to $200 million worth of stock back in the second half.

Oh, great. Yes, that was going to be my next question. So that's $200 million. And then just on the fleet can volumes, I know you said it it's down 3%. You just mentioned that it was strong. Can you just break down between -- you said 40% was pet food, but was pet food also down 3 -- like was it -- were they down both down 3%? Or was Pet food stronger than the human food or vice vice versa?

On a year-over-year basis, our pet food volumes would have been stronger than human. But that will -- the on the human side, I don't think we have any concerns. That's just a comp issue versus the prior year.

Our next question is from the line of Arun Viswanathan of RBC Capital Markets.

Congrats on the very strong results there. Pleased to see that it was pretty broad-based as well. So I guess on that issue, as you move into the second half, looks like you did take up your guidance by the Q2 beat. But just kind of wanted to get your thoughts as you're exiting the quarter. What kind of momentum have you maintained in the different regions? Do you see some of those strong volume growth numbers continuing. Yes, maybe we'll just start there.

So I'll take the volume, and then we're going to let Kevin talk about what Kevin needs to talk about. As I said earlier, I think North America remains strong, but it's only July, and we'll see how the consumer deals with ongoing inflation and other higher costs. And obviously, even as inflation cools a little bit, the impact on the consumer becomes greater as they drain their bank accounts.

So we'll see how the business holds up in August, September, October, but it feels like it's still going to be firm certainly, July has been very firm. No slowdown yet seen in Europe. But again, we'll see how the business matriculates into the fourth quarter through the end of the year. And as I said earlier, Asia up double digits in the first half and realistically, we're only expecting high single digits in the second half.

So not going to apologize for high single digits, but it's a little lower than the first half. And then, Kevin, do you want to talk about some costs and some other things.

Yes. So yes, I mean, Arun, I think Tim said it earlier, as we look out into the back half of the year, the war in the Middle East is going to cause a little bit of a headwind for us. We look at Brazil, where we had a really, really strong fourth quarter it's going to impact us. And when we look out for the projection, and we think about what happened in the second quarter, the one thing we don't have going forward is the World Cup.

So when we took it all together, we came up with the increased the low end of the guide by $0.40, and we increased the midpoint by 30. The beat in the second quarter wasn't much more than that. So maybe there's a little conservatism in there, but we wanted to kind of balance -- we wanted to balance the -- give you a balance perspective for the rest of the year.

Yes. Okay. And then you mentioned inflation impact on the consumer. So in our observations, it does appear that the beverage customers -- the companies are still continuing to promote and they're favoring volumes over price in this cycle. I mean, is that a fair characterization? And then that -- do you think that's still sufficient to overcome tough comps as you move into '27 because that would probably be our last kind of concern here is that you'll start facing some tough comps as you move into next year.

Well, I'm glad you only have one concern. I'm concerned about about 8 million things. But as you state the companies are promoting more, as I said earlier, one of the large retailers has a number of rollbacks across beverage and food products, and that generally bodes well for our volumes. So much of the national grocery runs through that chain.

As we said earlier, as we look at conservatism in the back half of the year or even in the next year, the -- as we looked at somebody asked the question, what we expected our volumes to be how much does the market continue to grow and how much can the consumer continue to absorb. But -- and as we also said earlier in times when the consumers are stressed, they typically -- or they generally in the past have consumed more at home, and that generally bodes well for canned products.

So I think when we take it all in, while perhaps you may think we're being a little conservative in the second half, it doesn't mean we're not still really positive on our business.

Our next question is from the line of Josh Spector of UBS.

Congrats on a solid quarter. I wanted to follow up on North America and just ask if you have any view around inventories in the system at all. So I mean it looks like you guys outperformed the market. I don't know if you would attribute that just to your mix and say that's what has kind of gone out. But when we're looking at the sellout from the retail and distribution channels, it does look like the sell-in was higher. So is that playing any role in maybe your conservatism or thoughts on 3Q? Or is that largely normal in your view?

Very normal that as we come out of major holidays, be it Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day that there's sometimes a little slack in the retail system. But not a -- it's not something we've forecasted in, no.

Our next question is from the line of Jeff Zekauskas of JPMorgan.

You're planning to expand -- build a new facility in India. What's capital cost or like that, is it $250 million or $350 million, you're new to India. Can you talk about that prospective investment?

Yes. I got this is Jeff. Jeff, so new plant largely cost around $250 million to build. You're putting 2 high-speed lines in a plant. The plants that we install really around the world are all built the same way, the same format, structure, capabilities and $250 million depending on land costs and construction costs, but you're largely right around that number.

And are the contractual structures the same for India as they would be in Europe or the United States. And -- do you have -- is your idea that there would be commitment for almost the entire volume or for half the volume? How do you see that?

Yes. So Jeff, normally, when you build a greenfield projects, you have commitments for the large majority of the volume somewhere like India, you might get commitments for 70% or a little bit higher. And then you set yourself up as you make more cans and the market's growing, you support the growth. I mean we typically get long-term contracts that anchor the economics of building the plant in India. So we're building a plant anywhere really around the world.

And do you know exactly where you're building it or Northern India is a general approach? Or specifically, have you found a site?

The answer is yes and yes, and we not disclose that yet because we're still negotiating land cost.

Our next question is from the line of Edlain Rodriguez of Mizuho.

First of all, I want to know like what beverage is Kevin making at 9 a.m. that comes in a can. And two, again, 2Q was better than your expectation. What was so different from your internal model? For us, it's the other segment that exceeds performance versus what we were looking at -- just wanted to get a better sense of the earnings power of that segment. So we do a better job modeling it?

Okay. All right. I'll answer your first question here. In terms of what beverage of drinking, well, one is the middle or beginning of the day, and two, you look at our products that we sell, 80% of our products are in nonalcoholic are not alcoholic. So you could probably assume I'm drinking a nonalcoholic beverage where we're at today. If you ask me that question, maybe a 5% or $5.30, I'd say it's probably in the other 20% of our business.

Edlain, just on the surprise to the second quarter, a little bit for us and certainly for you, as Kevin said earlier, the large majority of the beat in other maybe at least 2/3 of the beat and other had to do with our can making equipment business. And that can be from quarter-to-quarter a little lumpy. And so it's sometimes difficult for us to project as well as for you to project, but it's a business that we recognize as we build and as we ship.

And there is can growth still happening around the world. It's not all of our can growth. We supply many can companies around the world, including some of our direct competitors here in the United States as they have projects. We have world-leading equipment for several pieces of the equipment on a beverage can line. The other surprised we would have had would have been in the North or the Americas Beverage segment. I don't believe we forecasted 5% volume growth. That was probably a couple of percentage points higher than than we had forecasted. So that would have been the other surprise for us.

Okay. Another quick follow-up on that. The [indiscernible] leverage to volume doesn't seem to flow through either in the Americas or in Asia. Again, 5% volume growth, double-digit volume growth, but the earnings growth is at much lower than that. Maybe some of it is because of the lag in input cost recovery. Will it get better going forward [indiscernible] take you to cover those costs?

In Asia, it's all around probably an incremental $4 million to $5 million from higher cost related to the Middle East crisis that either will subside or we'll build that into our pricing model for next year. Fortunately, we had enough growth to overcome that and still have positive earnings momentum in the quarter. North America, we had a number of cost increases this year that we knew we wouldn't fully recover in our pass-through models, i.e., PPI, not enough to fully capture all the cost increases as well as the negative mix associated with lower sales in Brazil compared to the other regions in the Americas segment.

Our next question is from the line of Ketan Mamtora of BMO Capital Markets.

Maybe just coming back on capital allocation. You talked about expectations for share repurchases in the back half. Can you talk about sort of how you are thinking about M&A opportunities? -- what is most interesting, which regions? And sort of just broadly how are you all thinking about that?

I would tell you that from an M&A perspective, as we sit here today, certainly not contemplating any large M&A, frankly, not contemplating any M&A hesitant to say that because if we buy something for $20 million, I don't want you to get all upset. But but no M&A currently being contemplated. The uses of cash will be, as Kevin described, for the balance of this year, as we go into next year, where we would anticipate -- as we sit here today, another $900 million to $1 billion of free cash flow next year as well. We would anticipate perhaps a refreshed dividend policy subject to discussions with our Board of Directors and beyond investments in our business, continued share repurchases.

Got it. That's helpful. And then just coming back to what you mentioned earlier in response to the last question around pass-through of the nonmetal costs. Is there a way for us to think about sort of rough ballpark order of magnitude, sort of what that amount could be on the nonmetal side.

Yes. So hesitant to want to answer that question only because we don't like to give away too much of our cost model or pricing model, so I'm going to pass on that.

At this time, there are no questions on queue.

Thank you, Michelle. As that was our last question, we thank you all for joining us, and we look forward to speaking with you again in October. Bye now.

Thank you. And that concludes today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, Al, and good morning. With me on today's call is Tim Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you don't already have the earnings release, it is available on our website at crowncorp.com. On this call, as in the earnings release, we will be making a number of forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary from such statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary is contained in the press release and our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K for 2025 and subsequent filings.

Earnings for the quarter were $1.56 per share compared to $1.65 per share in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.86, up 11% compared to $1.67 in the prior-year quarter. Net sales for the quarter were up 13% compared to the prior-year quarter, reflecting a 5% increase in global beverage can volumes, $234 million from the pass-through of higher raw material costs and $74 million from favorable foreign exchange. Segment income was $405 million in the quarter compared to $398 million in the prior year, reflecting higher beverage can shipments in Europe and Asia-Pacific, partially offset by lower volumes in Brazil and lower cost recovery in North American Beverage.

Second quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per diluted share are projected to be in the range of $2.10 to $2.20 per share, and full-year is projected to be $7.90 to $8.30 per share, with a $0.05 headwind in the second quarter and a $0.10 headwind for the full year due to the conflict in the Middle East. The adjusted earnings guidance for the full year includes Net Interest Expense of approximately $355 million, exchange rates at current level with the euro at $1.17 to the dollar, full-year tax rate of approximately 25%; depreciation of approximately $330 million; non-controlling interest expense, approximately $145 million, while dividends to non-controlling interest are expected to be $110 million.

Share repurchases are expected to be approximately $600 million. We maintain our 2026 full-year free cash flow guidance of approximately $900 million after $550 million of capital spending to support our growth projects in Brazil, Greece, Spain, and India. The company's net leverage was 2.7x at the end of the first quarter, reflecting seasonal working capital build. The company expects year-end net leverage to be approximately 2.5x, in line with our long-term target.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning to everyone. As Kevin just discussed and as reflected in last night's earnings release, the company had a firm start to the year with earnings per share up 11% over 2025. Global beverage unit volumes were up 5% in the quarter on the back of strong demand across Europe and Asia-Pacific. And when coupled with 3% North American food can volume growth, that offset volume declines in Brazil and higher input costs in North America. The conflict in the Middle East continues to create volatility across energy, transportation, and direct materials, such as aluminum and coatings. The biggest direct impact to Crown has been in the Middle East, where religious tourism has been significantly reduced and some customers have not been able to export.

Although Crown's March month shipments in the Middle East were up 19% over the prior-year, as our operations in Saudi and Jordan supported the UAE. All Crown plants remain operational with adequate supplies of materials, although for safety purposes, we have curtailed operations in Dubai from time to time over the last 2 months. As Kevin just discussed, we've included a full-year $0.10 per share headwind, with $0.05 a share in the second quarter and $0.05 a share in the second half, to account for increased costs related to ocean freight, energy, and direct materials.

We are also mindful of building inflationary pressure on consumers, although can demand remains strong globally, owing to its many favorable characteristics. Turning to the operating segments. In Americas Beverage, sales increased by 16% in the quarter, primarily reflecting the pass-through of higher material costs. Unit volumes in the Americas were up 1% to the prior-year first quarter, with North America up 1% and Brazil down 5%. Income was down about 10% in the quarter, in line with expectations, owing to volume-mix effects, Q1 cost timing, and higher cost inputs not recovered through our contractual pricing formula.

We do expect the delta to prior-year to narrow significantly in the second quarter. The aluminum beverage can market in North America is steadily growing across multiple categories due to new product launches and convenient packaging. We expect strengthening demand into what should be a very tight can supply situation this summer, with our current full-year growth estimate unchanged at 2% to 3%. In Brazil, we forecast second-quarter volume to be down, with the full year showing modest volume growth.

European Beverage volumes advanced 7% in the quarter, with growth noted throughout Northwest and Southern Europe and the Gulf states, leading to a 28% increase in segment income. Capacity remains tight across Europe, again, leading to what should be a very tight can market this summer. As previously discussed, we have 2 expansion projects underway in both Greece and Spain to support future growth. Income in Asia-Pacific advanced 10% in the quarter on the back of 17% unit volume gains. Growth was notable across Vietnam, Cambodia, and China, as results from our commercial adjustment strategy, combined with recent cost-reduction programs, begin to bear fruit.

Volumes across Transit Packaging held up well during the first quarter with equipment, plastic scrap, and film offsetting most of the declines in steel scrap and protective. Margins were down compared to the prior-year as input-cost inflation ran ahead of our price recovery. We do expect to begin to recover cost inflation in the second half of the year. First quarter volumes in North American Food Can advanced 3%, and when combined with better results in food closures and beverage can equipment, Income and Other increased $18 million in the quarter.

So just to recap before opening the call to questions. Global beverage volumes advanced 5% in the quarter and demand looks to remain strong for the balance of the year, despite inflationary pressures on consumers in what should be very tight market conditions across both North America and Europe. Food can volumes up 3%, following 5% growth in the prior-year first quarter. Earnings per share up 11% to $1.86. We returned in excess of $250 million to shareholders in the first quarter, and in the last 5 quarters, have repurchased approximately 6% of outstanding company common stock. Our balance sheet remains strong, cash flow is significant, which will allow for the continued return of value to shareholders.

And with that, Al, I think we are now ready to take questions, please.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will be coming from George Staphos of Bank of America.

I just want to give you a quick question first, and congrats on the progress so far. Did the supply chain issues, as they were building give you any volume opportunities? You pointed to in the release that you're able to leverage your network globally. All your peers have global networks, too. But did any of that make for maybe some extra volume that you maybe weren't considering to start the year if some of your peers were having issues elsewhere? And then the volumes have been very strong. You talked about it being tight into the summer, and that's terrific. Having said that, you're coming off tough comps already. We had very strong growth in the fourth quarter. Are there any factors out there that would suggest maybe there's a little bit of pre-buying going on in terms of this volume demand? And then I had a follow-up.

Okay. So, let me -- the first question, George, I think we feel pretty confident that the answer to your first question is not yet. That is, if there is going to be a tight raw-material supply situation vis-a-vis the aluminum supplier fire that is causing some aluminum disruption to some of our peers, if there is a benefit to that, we have not seen it as of yet. I think what I would characterize is that this was always going to be, I believe, a tight summer situation in both North America and Europe, notwithstanding the North American aluminum outage.

So our network -- so we're all global -- well, I'm careful how I say this. I don't mean this in the way it's going to sound. We're the only ones that are really global, George, in that we have an Asian -- a fairly large Asian footprint that we can supply and support other regions from when need be. And we will see that into the second and third quarter, depending on the length of the Middle East conflict and the Strait of Hormuz blockage, where some suppliers cannot ship to India, we will pick up some cans into India from our operations in Southeast Asia.

So that will occur potentially in Q2 and possibly even into Q3. That would be one area. Now, when we talked about leveraging the global network, it's more towards reflecting on the immediate circumstances and danger that was present in the United Arab Emirates and specifically in Dubai, where there is Crown and one other can manufacturer amongst a whole host of manufacturing companies that were threatened with drones and missile strikes. We were able to leverage from the other operations in the Middle East.

And obviously, we're able to reroute and redirect aluminum supplies from Asia and/or the Middle East, or European suppliers in and out of the Middle East to other locations. So, that was the basis of that comment. And since I just spoke for so long, you're going to have to remind me your second question, I apologize.

No worries. And I should have mentioned, I hope everyone is safe, both at Crown and your suppliers, everyone in your circle with what's been going on in the Middle East. The question was, look, volumes have been strong for a while. Volumes were strong in the first quarter, up 5% globally. Any concerns on your side that this is pre-buying? Why, why not? And then I had a follow-on that I'll piggyback.

Hard to know. You know the North American market, George, as well as we do. You can cover in the space as long as we've been at Crown. The customers are -- you want to talk about just-in-time, they keep absolutely 0 inventory. So they basically receive deliveries from us, and they go right into the can washer and into the filling line within minutes, right? We have 15-minute delivery windows that we're expected to deliver into so they don't get shut down. So, I don't think there's a lot of pre-buy because they don't keep a lot of inventory, and they've got direct delivery right to the stores. So in Europe, could there be a little pre-buy? Maybe with some of the beer customers.

But again, the soft drink guys is not keeping a lot of inventory. And the growth in Asia has been -- if we just take a step back and talk about Asia real quick, there has been growth in Asia for the last several years, mid- to high-single-digit range. We elected not to participate in that for reasons surrounding value. We got our cost structure where we want it. We think we have the lowest cost structure of any producer in Asia. And we think we're now well positioned to afford us a different commercial strategy, and that's what you saw in the first quarter. So, I don't think there's been any pre-buy. I could be wrong. I mean there could be some on the margin, but nothing large enough, George, to move the needle.

A quick one, and I'll turn it over, just to be fair. And I'll leave some other beverage cans for the rest of the team. On Signode, any green shoots at all? I know you said you suggested that the margin was a function of timing of pass-through relative to your cost inputs. And obviously, we'll take that at face value. You're seeing some pickup in volume, but when do you expect we're going to see, along with green shoots, kind of a pickup in margin there? Because that's ultimately trapped earnings at some point that could leverage to the benefit.

Thanks for the question. So data -- January data looked pretty promising, although I saw consumer sentiment the other day, I don't know if it's University of Michigan or who publishes it, but it was just dreadful. And I think the last 2 months have been bad, and I think we're at the lowest level ever, is what I read the other day. Having said that, volumes have held up fairly well on the commodity side, although there has been some margin squeeze.

And on the equipment and tools side, where the margins are much higher, there has been volume loss over the last couple of years. Now, in the month of April, we have seen order inflows at much higher rates, 10% to 20% higher than this time last year. That typically takes about 90 days for it to manifest itself into deliveries. So, we are hopeful. I don't tell you that because I'm promising you anything. But if we're looking for a green shoot, orders received in the month of April look pretty promising across equipment and tools. So, we're hopeful for a stronger third and fourth quarter.

Our next question will be coming from Phil Ng of Jefferies.

Tim, you mentioned the bev-can market is going to be quite tight in the summer months in North America and Europe. Certainly, there's some supply-chain dynamics at large. How comfortable are you in terms of meeting that demand if the market comes in a little better than, call it, low-single-digit growth in the U.S. as well as Europe? Give us some context of your ability to potentially meet that demand.

Well, we're -- only because it's early in the year, and as I said, we're mindful of the inflationary pressure building on the consumer. We've left our growth expectations for volume in North America at 2% to 3%. We certainly have some room to do a little better than that. I'd like to wait to see how the second quarter unfolds and how the consumer reacts to what they're faced with, which is higher energy across the board, whether it's their home heating, electric bill for air-conditioning, and/or their gasoline bill. So, we can go a little bit above 2% to 3%, but let's be clear, Phil, we have limitations as well. We, like every other can supplier, have a limited amount of capacity.

And if the market goes gangbusters, which feels very strong now when you look at the categories over the last 52 weeks with the exception of beer in cans, beer is only down 1.1%. Every other category is up low- to mid-single-digits, with the exception of energy, which is up almost 20%. So, it feels like the consumers, and then our customers recognizing that the consumers favor the positive characteristics of the can, things are really positive for the can right now. But we do have limitations, but we'll do our best to sell every can we can at the right price and satisfy the market. Certainly, contract customers come before spot customers.

The reason why I ask is because, I mean, your volumes for 1Q looked a little muted. Certainly, you got tougher comps in Brazil. But it sounds like you have the runway to support that demand. As we kind of think about how the year unfolds in March and April, how have trends actually been trending, whether it's North America, Europe, Asia, and Middle East? I mean, certainly a lot of uncertainty on the macro-front.

Yes. We got off to a slow start in January. I mean the month of March, I think, was the highest shipment month ever for the company, which is surprising that it happened in March, not like a May month. Yesterday was our highest shipment day ever in the history of the company. This is North America, so things are pretty firm right now. March was a strong month and April is going to be maybe not as strong as March, but April typically is a soft month, and it's going to be a strong month. Brazil, we had a pretty difficult comp. I think we were up like 11% last year in the first quarter in Brazil.

And not to place too much on the comp because I do think conditions in Brazil are different than conditions in North America right now. I think the Brazilian consumer, not as resilient as the North American consumer. So, I think we are post-Carnival and getting into their winter months; we'll see how the market in Brazil reacts. And hopefully, the Brazilians and the Mexicans go deep into the tournament. We're pulling for both the Mexicans and the Brazilians to go as deep as possible. That will be really positive for can demand in both of those countries and even among the Hispanic and broader Latino population across the United States.

And one last quick one for me. You talked about how just given some of the supply-chain in Asia, that could be an opportunity for you shipping to places like India. Certainly, that could be an uplift on demand. Is there anything we should be mindful in terms of costs associated with that? Is that something you just pass on to the consumer, and that would be accretive to EBITDA and EBITDA margins? Or how should we think about that opportunity that could be a good guide in 2Q and 3Q?

Yes. Listen, I think if you sell more cans, you're going to make more income, right? You're going to make more earnings, more EBITDA. Percentages move around a little bit, as you know, with the pass-through of higher material costs; so you always have the denominator effect. But if there's an opportunity for us to ship 50 million to 100 million cans into the Middle East from Thailand and/or Cambodia, Vietnam, and the customers need support, we're ready and able to do that.

Our next question will be coming from Ghansham Panjabi of R.W. Baird.

Tim, just going back to commodity costs; obviously, a big increase in oil, aluminum, and pretty much everything else over the last couple of months. It sounds like you're still embedding a pretty intact volume outlook for 2026, apart from what you called out in the Middle East. But last time, we had inflation a few years back. It was very tough for your end markets, in the developed markets in particular. So, I guess what gives you confidence in the implied resilience this go-around? I know there's some distortion with the World Cup, but then the emerging-market consumer, I would have to imagine is much more sensitive to fuel prices, et cetera. So, just going back to the question on confidence on volumes.

Yes. So the big inflation that we have right now is principally in North America, and it owes to the Midwest premium. We don't see that as much in that level of inflation in Asia and Europe. But your question is a good question; it's why we left our volume expectation unchanged from what we provided to you in February. We're always mindful of this. And you're right, it was the second half of 2022, Kevin and I went back and we looked at it. The big shock then was there was a rapid increase in LME from, let's say, $2,500 to $4,000 a ton. LME has been more or less bouncing around $3,200 to $3,500 right now. It's been really the Midwest premium that's kind of in the proxy to absorb the tariffs.

But having said that, as you've said and as we've said earlier, pressure on the consumer from broader inflation, and specifically energy-related inflation, is there. But I just -- what we see right now, what we're feeling right now, what the customers are asking for right now, at least through the end of the second quarter, it doesn't look like it's going to slow down. Now, if your question is, could we have a shock like we had in the third quarter of '22, I think it's possible; it just doesn't feel like it's going to happen this year.

Yes. No, I was just going to ask for the non-reportable segment, the step-function in profitability. Was there anything one-time-ish that drove that? I know you called out strength and beverage can equipment and also North American food cans. And then finally, on India, can you just frame how big the market is from a unit standpoint and your current position in context of the greenfield capacity you announced?

So, the market, roughly 4 billion to 5 billion units and growing 15% to 20% per year. We supply very little into the market right now. We used to -- before there were can-plants there, we supplied almost the entire market from Dubai. But -- so we have very little supply other than what we're shipping in now from Asia to cover some of the Middle-Eastern supply. And then we're adding 2.2 billion units over a couple of years here, so with a large customer under contract already. So, we feel pretty good about that market. Was there a first part of the question that I missed? No, I think that was it.

Non-reportable step-function.

Non-reportable, I'm sorry. Bev-can equipment, I think we tripled the income in the quarter compared to last year, albeit off a lower base. Food cans, again, as I said, growing 3%, and utilizing more capacity, and we had some new -- we brought new capacity on over the last several years, so utilizing that new capacity and a really balanced mix among seasonal vegetables, non-seasonal human food, and pet food. Pet food making up 40% to 45% of our mix nowadays, so a really good mix.

And then Food Closures. Surprisingly, Food Closures is performing quite well among nutraceuticals, other nutrition drinks, and some human food, if you think about condiments and chutneys, things like that. So, spread out. Could there have been some minor one-off? Maybe not much more than a handful, Ghansham, but if you're trying to understand the impact of metal-carryover, maybe a handful, if even that. It's not that much.

Our next question will be from Chris Parkinson of Wolfe Research.

Given all the moving parts in Asia over the last few years, and I know you've dramatically improved your operating base, can you just give us some insights on how you think about the sustainability of the inflection on a go-forward basis? It seems like there's still some mixed results on a country-by-country basis, but I'd love to hear your perspectives.

Yes. Well, I don't know that we have any mixed results on a country-by-country basis. Volumes were strong throughout the division -- the segment, rather -- particularly strong in Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. As I mentioned, we have a number of large customers that we're partnered with, some in joint ventures, some not in joint ventures. As I said in February, we agreed among all of us here at Crown that we were going to take on a new commercial adjustment strategy to go out and grab more volume, and it seems to have worked.

There's been a fair amount of consolidation among the Chinese beverage-can suppliers, so it does appear that there is a slight firming in China right now, and we'll see how that progresses. But, as I said to Ghansham's question, there's been growth in Asia for the last several years. We've elected, by and large, not to participate in that because it was at prices that we said were not worth participating. That has changed a little bit.

And so now we're participating again. Keeping in mind, we make 16% to 17% Operating Income; it's a pretty healthy segment for us. So, I'm always -- I saw your note, Chris, earlier in the week. I'm always puzzled when people say they're disappointed when we're making 17% in the packaging industry. Most packagers would like that. So that is a division that we're -- we have high hopes for, and we continue to support, and we think it will continue to be a really good asset for the company into the future.

Great. And just as a follow-up, obviously, you've gone through your expansion in Brazil, Greece, Spain, India. And at the same time, it seems like the developed-market side of it, the U.S. and broadly in Western Europe still seems pretty tight. Are there any other aspirations in terms of adding additional lines that you're considering? Is now the right time? Do you foresee others taking the progress, just given the constructive SD through the end of the decade? Just any quick perspective on that, and then I'll be happy to pass it over.

So we -- as you rightly point out, we have -- with Greece and Spain, we have some Western European expansion. Obviously, that's not Northwest, but it is Western Europe, if you will. Spain is in Western Europe; Greece is in Southwest Europe and Brazil. North America, I guess your question is probably most specific around North America. At this time, we do not see the need for Crown to expand capacity in North America. That obviously could change depending on the market and specific circumstances, but for the time being, no.

Our next question will be from Matt Roberts of Raymond James & Associates.

On Americas segment income, for 1Q, could you help parse out what was a function of lower volumes in Brazil versus weather in North America versus general inflationary pressures? And on those inflationary pressures, how does 2Q compare to what you saw in 1Q in Americas? And how quickly are you able to offset those raws pressures with regards to freight, energy, or coatings?

Yes. So, you're generally well aware of the formula price we use, using PPI as a proxy to recover our non-metal costs on an annual basis. The PPI has been somewhat benign -- the PPI adjuster has been somewhat benign over the last couple of years. So a little bit of a building pressure that perhaps last year, we skirted away from it, but this year kind of caught us -- we kind of knew this was going to get us this year. And so you've got labor goes up every year, you've got the coatings fellows are facing pressure all the time, especially right now with the Middle East crisis. Warehousing costs for us in the first quarter this year, about a handful or a touch more, only as we try to warehouse more cans early on to meet what we expect to be strong summer demand.

We had a little situation -- a little timing situation whereby we use some Chinese metal in some locations, and the Chinese government in January or February of last year removed the VAT refund on exported aluminum. So, we had 1 or 2 months comparison this year that we didn't have last year. And then as you point out, the mix, obviously, depending on the customer and depending on the size of the can, the profit mix in Brazil sometimes is a little better than the profit mix in North America. So, it's a whole bunch of things. And the second part of your question, as we said in the prepared remarks, we will significantly reduce the delta between last year and this year in the second quarter, maybe not fully, but it certainly won't be $26 million.

I don't know if you want to quantify it, but maybe I'll take a second. The January, February winter cost-headwinds, was there a certain amount in 1Q from that?

I'm not sure I want to quantify it. I would tell you that January volumes were down about 6%, and I think February volumes were up a few percent as well. So, it was a tough few weeks in there where we had difficulty transporting. We had difficulty getting our own people to factories.

And if I could sneak one more in quickly. Kevin, share repurchases, I think that was -- I think you said $600 million, I believe it was $650 million before. Any change there? Is that future CapEx in regard to India, just some more dry powder? Anything that we should be aware of...

No change. It really -- the number is approximately $600 million. We have a little room to go higher than that, so it was just putting a number out there, Matt. So no change.

Our next question will be from Anthony Pettinari of Citigroup.

With the $0.10 hit from the Middle East, is that primarily hitting your Europe segment where, I guess, those assets sit? Or is it spread across the company? And then is there any kind of assumptions around -- you talked about ocean freight, energy, direct materials, those costs staying at current levels, maybe the conflict resolving at some point and then maybe coming down or maybe going up further? I'm just wondering if there's any kind of color you can give around the assumptions around that $0.10.

Most of it will be in the European segment. Depending on ocean freight, we could have penny in the United States as we bring metal into the United States -- into parts of the Americas business, not the United States, but parts of the Americas business from China. And certainly, ocean freight as it relates to the Asian business because we do move cans and materials around Asia as well. So -- and then energy, if you think about diesel and some of the industrial gases, LPG, LNG, et cetera, into Asia, many of the markets are subsidized where there's little impact to us, but there are some markets that are not subsidized. So we have forecast a bit of a headwind in the Asian, maybe $0.01 or $0.02 in Asia as well.

And just generally, I mean, directionally, you expect these costs to maintain at current levels towards the end of the year or some relief?

Well, I think your leading assumption is probably correct; even if the conflict resolves itself, we're going to see elevated costs for some period of time. And we will -- obviously, we're working on plans right now to minimize the cost and/or share costs with customers right now. But your assumption is correct. Costs will remain elevated for some period of time. They will ultimately fall back depending on demand and industrial activity, but we like you, expect them to remain elevated.

And then just one quick one on non-reportable. You obviously had a really strong first half or first -- 4Q, 1Q in North American food cans. And you talked about some of the reasons behind that with pet food and growing faster in the market. As you look to the second half, do those comps get tougher? Or is there anything from like a timing perspective? I'm just wondering the trajectory in North American food cans and if you lap any kind of customer wins or if there's anything we should be mindful of in terms of modeling that maybe more in the back half of the year?

I don't think there's any notable customer wins on the food-can side or the closure side. I think it's -- we have 2 customers that are growing. So they have wins and because they're Crown-contract customers, we, by default, get their win. That will -- it's a good question. Second quarter, I think we expect earnings and other to be up in the second quarter and maybe the comps get a little bit more difficult in Q3 and Q4. So you're not likely to see the big out-performance in Q3 and Q4 that you see in Q1 and then a little smaller in Q2.

Our next question will be from Josh Spector of UBS.

It's Anojja Shah sitting in for Josh, [indiscernible] that food-can question. We're seeing fertilizer prices increasing quite significantly this year right ahead of Planting Season. What does that mean for the Pack Season this year? Do you think that means the yield, they'll plant less and have less of a yield this year?

Well, they'll plant as much as they think they can sell and they'll plant as much as what the demand from the retail or the wholesale markets tell them that they have to plant. I don't know -- to be honest with you, I don't know if they hedge fertilizer or not. But I do think we're going to see a stronger period of food-can and at-home consumption here as inflation begins to pull up the consumer. So, as President Obama once said, maybe it's time people start eating their peas again.

So, one of my favorite lines from President Obama, I don't think that our customers will necessarily plant less. They are -- by and large, the food industry has become much healthier over the last decade. Consolidation has helped them do that. They are broadly specialized among certain kinds of vegetables, soup, pet food. I mean, pet food, again, fertilizer has something a little to do with pet food, not much. But -- so I don't think they're going to plant less, no.

Okay. That's helpful. And then just switching over to Mexico...

One thing I would say is that if you're hearing that in the market, you follow the cattle cycle, the cattle cycle is at a 75-year low, principally because of drought conditions in the Midwest. So when we talk about human-food versus feed-grains and feedstocks, there could be a difference in how much feedstock is planted versus human stock.

And then switching over to Mexico. Can you just talk about -- I think your volumes backing into were probably pretty strong in Q1, which is a little surprising to me because they just put that second sugar tax in. Maybe we could just get an update on what happened in Mexico in Q1 and then what you're expecting for the rest of the year?

So, I think we're -- Mexico up about 4% in the first quarter, kind of expecting a flatter year, to be honest with you. So we'll see how the year goes. But both glass and metal did well with cans up 4%. But we are currently modeling Mexico to be flat year-over-year.

And the sugar cap?

We're mostly a beer supplier in Mexico.

Our next question will be from Arun Viswanathan from RBC Capital Markets.

I guess, apologies if I missed this, but maybe you guys can offer your thoughts on the tariffs and the potential impact, especially the 232 tariffs. Just wondering, I know that you guys have already absorbed some of the -- or the Midwest Premium has already kind of increased the cost of the can. But any further impacts you expect here from -- and then also on the steel side, is there any impacts there that would potentially impact food-and-aerosol? And how do you see that playing out as far as demand?

Other than the Supreme Court striking down some of the Liberation Day tariffs, 232 and 301 largely unchanged, right? Demand remains pretty strong in both food cans and beverage. I don't see any near-term impact. Tariffs generally, my feeling about tariffs is they're not helpful; it's a distortion. The Administration is picking one industry over several other industries to be a winner. If they think they're saving 300 jobs at a steel mill, they're putting at risk 50,000 jobs across a whole host of other industries, so not helpful.

But it is what it is, and we dealt with this in the first Trump Administration, and we'll deal with it again. It's poor policy by any measure. So -- but I don't think he's going to listen to a CEO of a can company if he's going to listen to anybody. So -- but we sold you wrong. The good thing for us is that the can -- if you think about food cans, still offers the best bargain, the best benefit, some of the highest nutrition levels of any packaged food or fresh food to the consumer, especially in times of inflation. We feel good about the product and the product line we're in.

And on the beverage-can side, I think, by and large, younger generations are embracing the can. Like I say, my father's generation was a can drinker, I was a bottle drinker and now my kids are can drinkers, and they are the drinkers of the future. So it looks to be -- things look to be pretty positive. There are a lot of things to like about the beverage can, and I think the consumers are grasping that, and that's positive. So we've not seen any near-term nor do I see any long-term damage currently as it relates to tariffs.

And then I guess just as a follow-up, just wanted to get your thoughts a little bit more on North American Beverage. So where are you guys, I guess, on the PPI? I know that there is maybe a drag from that this year, but does that kind of subside and maybe reverse next year, especially given some of the inflation that we're seeing? And I guess, does that mean that you noted you weren't going to put any capacity, but do you think next year, you could kind of grow in that low-single-digit volume and then segment income would be maybe above that, just given a reversal of PPI?

Let's say, we hope you're right. I think it's really early to talk about next year. We're only in April. So, I'm going to pass on that.

Our next question will be from Hillary Cacanando of Deutsche Bank.

So could you just remind us how pass-throughs are designed in your contracts? How long are the lag? How much are passed through, and any hedges that you may have on the ones that are -- the portion that's not passed through?

Generally, I'll say generally because it's not the same in every region of the world, but in the big markets, we have total pass-through on LME premium and conversion of ingot to can-sheet. So on metal, think about the metal as pass-through and many of our customers elect to hedge aluminum, but we pass through. formula for passing non-metal costs through on an annual basis, we pass through a percentage of the PPI index and/or CPI again, depending on the region of the world.

Not a perfect proxy for our costs every year, but it's designed to capture some of the increase. We do pass through freight and energy across many contracts. But non-freight, non-energy, if you think about labor, which goes up every year and then other direct material costs like coatings and other system costs like warehousing, from time to time, the PPI is either more or less than our actual cost. This year, our actual cost -- input costs are a little higher than the formula we had January 1. So...

And in terms of capital allocation, you mentioned really no change this year. As we look out further, do we expect any changes in terms of CapEx, you have greenfield that you're planning? Any changes in buyback plans as we look further out?

Well, I think we're going to -- we have the great fortune of being in a packaging company, being in a can company, and we have the great fortune of having a portfolio of businesses that generates a lot of cash flow. And your hope and our hope is that we're not foolish with that cash flow. But we are going to invest to grow our business from time to time. And where we have greenfield and/or brownfield opportunities, we look to do that to support our customers' growth objectives. Beyond that, currently, beyond our own capital needs, as we declared, we're going to pay a dividend, and we're going to buy back shares. And Kevin, do you want to talk about shares or.

Yes. Look, I think as Tim said, the first thing we're going to do is invest in the business. After that, we're going to pay the dividend, which we just increased. And then with remaining cash that's left over, we'll repurchase stock. We'll do it somewhat on a program basis, but also when we feel that there's good value, we'll be opportunistic and buy a little more within each of the quarters. So look, our plans haven't changed. I think on a long-term basis, we'll average somewhere around $500 million of capital a year, which gives us plenty of money to pay the dividend and buy back stock.

Our next question will be from Mike Roxland of Truist Securities.

Tim, not trying to beat a dead horse over here, but just wanted to grab your thoughts on consumer elasticity. You mentioned that consumers have been resilient thus far, but it does sound like some of the larger CPG customers are all planning to raise prices this year. And obviously, consumers are, as you mentioned, are contending with elevated costs. How do you think about consumer demand in the next 12 months relative to possibly higher prices from your customers as well as increasing cost that consumers are facing?

Listen, I agree with you. There's only so much the consumer can absorb before they have to start making choices. And one thing they're not going to do is not put gas in their car because they have to get the work. So, we know that the choices that they make that they have to make first before they buy Packaged Goods. Fortunately, for us, people have to eat and drink. And as I said earlier, Canned Food offers, by and large, the best value for a family to prepare nutritious food on a daily basis. So, we're always concerned about demand, but we're less so concerned about that.

On the beverage-can side, again, you start making choices, you don't go out to dinner so much. Maybe travel is lower. I don't know. I'm looking at the price of airfares these days with jet fuel. Maybe people don't travel so much and they stay closer to home. And generally, we do much better with consumption when people stay closer to home. But it does feel as we sit here today, and I know Ghansham was circling around the same question earlier. So, I take the point. We are equally as mindful as you are about the pressure on consumers. But as we sit here today, it feels like we're going to be into a very strong summer.

And then just one quick follow-up. You mentioned in the comment not too recently that you're working on plans to mitigate costs and/or share costs with your customers. Can you provide any more color around what those initiatives are, surcharges and the like? -- anything you can elucidate on in terms of sharing costs with customers?

Yes. I don't want to discuss too much of what our strategy and/or plan would be in that regard. But there's a limit to how much any company or anybody within a Supply Chain can absorb. And depending on how long costs stay elevated and how elevated they are, there are different conversations that need to be had. That's all the point -- that's all that point meant.

Our next question will be coming from Jeff Zekauskas of JPMorgan.

You talked about catching up to higher raw material costs in your Transit business. Do you buy much polyethylene in that polyethylene prices in March maybe were up $0.10 a pound, and in April, maybe they'll be up $0.30 a pound. So there seems to be a rising dynamic there. And for Kevin, in cash flows from financing activities, there was an other net use of cash of $107 million. What was that? And are there any positive offsets to that later in the year?

Okay. Jeff, I'll address the financing item. Basically, that $100 million, a little bit less than that related to our North American Securitization Program. At the end of the year, as we sell receivables, we end up collecting more on the receivables that we sold. And as a result, we have to repay the bank. I fully expect that amount to basically reverse itself and be closer to zero by the end of the year.

And then to your first question, Jeff, you're right, there is -- there are rising input costs all over the Transit business. We don't have a lot of resin-based -- we have some resin-based, not a lot of resin-based businesses within Transit, but there's rising costs everywhere, whether it's steel, paper, resin. And we just have to -- we have to do a better job of maintaining and expanding margins in the business.

Our last question will be coming from Edlain Rodriguez of Mizuho.

I mean, Tim, you talked about that potential impact on the consumer because of inflation. What do you think you could see the most impact? Is it in Southeast Asia, where it probably coming under most pressure? Is it in Europe? What do you think you could see the most impact in terms of the consumer being impacted by inflation as much?

I think the markets you would expect would first be markets like Brazil, Mexico, maybe Southern Europe, maybe parts of Asia, although there's so much growth in Asia right now that it feels like we're going to grow through this in Asia. I think the only thing I worry about in Europe, I don't know how big the tourism season will be in the Southern Europe this year. Airfares are really high. People are stretched anyway. Do they postpone the European vacation or not. So we'll see. But again, everything -- the demand we have right now in Europe is extraordinary. We don't see it slowing down.

We probably, at the beginning of the year, would have expected mid- to higher volumes in Europe for the year, maybe they were -- we haircut our assumption now to 4%, but we're still expecting growth, and the 4% might be too low as well. Let's not kid ourselves. Things are pretty firm. Brazil feels like it's -- there's a weakening in Brazil right now. And they had some elections. So, we'll see how the market reacts. It's also wintertime, so it's hard to gauge it, and we'll see if the World Cup bolsters it.

In Mexico, we do expect -- we had a pretty strong start to the year, principally in beer, and we'll see how that holds up, although we are expecting a flatter performance in Mexico. As Ghansham pointed out earlier, 4 years ago, even in North America, the consumer bought at higher prices across the board when inflation shot up. And -- could we see that again here in North America? We could, although again, conditions feel really firm right now. And it just doesn't feel like we're in the same place as we were in 2022. I think you said that was the last question. So that concludes today's call. As always, we thank you for joining us, and we'll speak with you again in July.

Once again, that concludes today's conference. Thank you, everyone, for participating. You may now disconnect, and have a great day.

Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings' Fourth Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, El, and good morning. With me on today's call is Tim Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you don't already have the earnings release, it is available on our website at crowncork.com.

On this call, as in the earnings release, we will be making a number of forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary materially from such statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary is contained in the press release and in our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K for 2024 and subsequent filings.

Earnings in the quarter were $1.31 per share compared to $3.02 per share in the prior year quarter, which included a $2.32 per share gain from the sale of Eviosys. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.74, up 9% compared to $1.59 in the prior year quarter. Net sales in the quarter were up 8% compared to the prior year quarter, reflecting a 3% increase in global beverage can volumes, $189 million from the pass-through of higher raw material costs and $58 million from favorable foreign exchange. Segment income was $420 million in the quarter compared to $428 million in the prior year, reflecting strong performance in European Beverage, offset by lower volumes in Transit Packaging.

For the year, the company delivered record adjusted EBITDA of almost $2.1 billion compared to the prior year record of $1.9 billion in 2024. The improvement was driven by strong commercial and operational performance across the beverage and tinplate businesses.

The company generated record free cash flow of $1.146 billion in 2025 compared to the prior year record of $814 million in 2024. The $332 million improvement was largely driven by the 8% improvement in EBITDA and lower pension contributions. The company maintained its net leverage target of 2.5x, which we achieved at the end of September of 2025, and that is down from 2.7x at the end of 2024.

We delivered on our commitment to return excess cash to shareholders with $191 million of shares repurchased in the fourth quarter. For the year, the company returned $625 million to shareholders, consisting of $505 million in share repurchases and $120 million in dividends compared to a total of $336 million in 2024. Looking ahead, we remain committed to compounding earnings, investing in the business, maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning excess cash to shareholders.

For the quarter -- excuse me, first quarter 2026, adjusted earnings per diluted share are projected to be in the range of $1.70 to $1.80, with the full year range projected to be $7.90 to $8.30 per share. The adjusted earnings guidance for the full year includes: Net interest expense of approximately $350 million to $360 million, depending on the timing of share repurchases; exchange rates at the current levels with the euro at EUR 1.17 to the dollar; full year tax rate of approximately 25%; depreciation of approximately $330 million; noncontrolling interest expense of approximately $140 million; while dividends to noncontrolling interests are expected to be $110 million.

We currently estimate 2026 full year free cash flow to be approximately $900 million after $550 million of capital spending to support our growth objectives, including capacity expansions and facility upgrades in Brazil, Greece and Spain. We expect net leverage -- we expect to maintain our net leverage at our targeted level of approximately 2.5x.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning to everyone. As reflected in last night's earnings release and as Kevin just summarized, the company delivered another solid quarter to complete an outstanding year. The company performed well across virtually every metric, generating more than 20% earnings per share growth while also achieving our long-term leverage target of 2.5x.

Fourth quarter global beverage can unit volumes were up 3%, helping to deliver level global beverage segment income against a very strong prior year fourth quarter. Operationally, the team's performed very well to minimize the impacts from tariffs and the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.

Volumes in Americas Beverage were up a bit more than 1% in the quarter as North American gains of 2.5% were offset by a 3% decline in Brazil. For the full year, volumes in North America were flat, while Brazil was down 3%. Compared to a very strong prior year, the segment delivered record income of over $1 billion on the back of exceptional operating performance and positive mix. When adjusted for the pass-through of higher aluminum costs, margins were within 30 basis points of last year's fourth quarter. As we look ahead to 2026, we expect North American volume gains of 2% to 3%, but offset by inflation and start-up costs.

European Beverage volumes increased 10% in the fourth quarter, with shipments remaining strong across the Mediterranean and the Gulf states. For the full year, volumes were also up 10%, generating record segment income more than double what it was only a few years ago. With the can continuing to win share, we expect further growth in volumes and income in '26, more than offsetting start-up costs in Greece and Spain.

Sales unit volumes across our Asian operations were down 3% in the fourth quarter, owing entirely to the border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. While consumer purchasing power across the region remains subdued in the face of ongoing tariff concerns, we expect that our low-cost regional structure will allow for commercial adjustments to drive volume growth in 2026.

As expected, income across Transit Packaging was down in line with lower industrial activity. Plastic and steel strap volumes held up well, while higher-margin equipment and tool offerings continue to be impacted by ongoing tariff adjustments. Despite overall industrial softness and tariff headwinds, the Transit business continues to generate significant cash flow while at the same time continuing to earn double-digit to low teens margins. With the focused cost reductions and operational improvements made over the past several years, the business is well positioned for future income growth when industrial demand returns.

Our North American tinplate businesses benefited from 5% food can volume growth, offsetting softness in steel aerosols during the fourth quarter. For the year, income and other was up 80% against an easy prior year comp and supported by food can volume growth and improved operating performance across newly installed capacity. In 2026, we expect further gains largely driven by strong food can demand and increased can-making equipment orders. With net leverage at our long-term target of 2.5x, we remain focused on responsibly investing to support our partners' needs to grow their businesses, and we also remain committed to paying a dividend that grows over time and returning the capital to shareholders through disciplined share repurchases.

So in summary, '25 was another year of improvement for the company. Margins across our businesses remain healthy and demonstrate our ongoing focus on earning appropriate returns on capital employed. With a strong balance sheet and substantial free cash generation, the company remains well positioned to consistently deliver value to shareholders.

And with that, El, we are now ready to take questions. Okay. Maybe we're the only ones here?

El, we're ready to take questions.

Apologies for that, I was on mute. [Operator Instructions] Our first question will be coming from George Staphos.

Congratulations on the progress. Free cash flow, aside from being a record for you all was, I think, one of the strongest free cash flows we've seen in the sector, maybe top 5 for the last 10 years. So congratulations on that.

I guess, first thing that we had for Americas EBIT for the outlook for this year, Tim, you said, if I heard you correctly, North America is going to grow 2% to 3%. And then you mentioned it would be offset by inflation start-up costs for '26. So in total, should we expect Americas EBIT to be flattish up a little down a little versus 2025? Our view is it will be relatively flat, but I want to hear what your thoughts are there?

And then second question, then I might have a follow-on. Did you mention specifically what you expect European volume to be growing at this year based on your intelligence at this juncture? And if you had that and could share, we would take that.

Okay. I'll take them in order, George. So I think Americas Beverage, we expect income in the segment currently to be down a touch. And that will just be the ongoing inflationary impacts from labor tariffs, what have you, combined with some start-up cost in Brazil for the new line in Brazil offsetting the volume gains that we mentioned that we see in North America, 2% to 3%.

European Beverage, to your question, we did not give you a forecast for volume growth. I'm hesitant. We had 10% in '25. If you want to pencil in 4% to 5%, let's start there. And we'll see how the year progresses. But things look very strong in Europe right now as you're hearing in the marketplace, not only from us, but from others. And we'll see how the year progresses, but we're very bullish on Europe.

I appreciate that, Tim. If we think specifically about North America and Europe and whenever you talk about end market questions, a lot of times, it winds up being all of the above. Are there particular end markets though or events you think will help to drive the volume? World Cup, America250 was mentioned on another call. What do you think will be an important driver of the volume growth you see in both regions in 2026? And if you could comment on what's happening.

Starting with Europe. Europe doesn't have the beer problem that we seem to have in North America. So we continue to see beer growth in cans, conversion from glass to cans. And we do see -- to the extent there is new filling capacity installed, it's more likely being can filling capacity installed as opposed to plastic filling. So when you look at all the other products, soft drinks and other, we see the substrate shift continuing to accelerate can demand across Europe. And so that would be the answer to your question, almost all products.

In the United States, again, what we're looking at is energy being very strong. We're not a big player in energy, but where we do participate in energy, our customers are doing well. Flavored alcohols doing exceptionally well and sparkling water doing well, with carbonated soft drinks appearing to hold their own in cans. And at some point, beer is going to return to flat or growth. So again, not a very big market for us in North America. But when it does -- we're actually quite big in beer in Canada, I shouldn't say that. But -- and Canada doesn't have the same problems as the U.S. So again, spread across numerous products and/or end markets.

But to your point, I don't know if America250 really drives much, but certainly, the World Cup will, especially as it's based in the United States, and there's so much focus globally in the U.S. anyway. And being in the same hemisphere as South America and Mexico, I think we look forward to that as well.

Got it. My last one, I'll turn it over. Again, free cash flow is a record. Next -- this year, obviously, you've called out, understandingly, maybe down a bit. As we look forward, do you think you can grow free cash flow in line, maybe pick the middle of the 2 ranges, call it, $1 billion between what you did last year and what you'll do this year in guidance? Do you think you can grow from that level in line with volume? Or you think we've more or less reached kind of a plateau because the growth that you'll see in volume will require investment spending? How should we think about your ability to get free cash flow to the bottom line given the volume growth that you see in the sector?

I think Kevin -- Kevin's staring at me, I think that what Kevin would tell us is that $1 billion seems like a reasonable and sustainable free cash flow number as we look to the future with a moderately reduced capital number. We're looking at $550 million. But if we think about $450 million to $500 million on an ongoing basis, that supports fairly good growth opportunities into the future, that $1 billion is not unreasonable.

So you should be able to grow off that level then if you hold the CapEx where it is and you get the volume growth?

Yes.

Our next question will be coming from Phil Ng of Jefferies.

Congrats on the strong quarter. Tim, it was helpful to give us some perspective that perhaps this year, you're seeing some start-up costs around Brazil and I guess, some timing nuances around inflation. But when we look out to 2027 and beyond, appreciating you generated record margins, should we expect operating leverage in this business? How should we think about that going forward, especially with some of these costs winding down perhaps in 2027?

Yes. Listen, I think one thing we've done really well over the last 6, 7 years is convert new capacity into margins that you would expect or even margins that were beyond your expectations. I think our focus has been on trying to earn returns on capital that we employ. We don't necessarily need to have every account to feel good about ourselves. We're not looking just to fill factories up. We're not looking to just be big, we're looking to be profitable. And I think we've managed to do that well over the last several years.

The whole issue about leverage -- it's a nice term. I always -- I'm curious what it means when we hear the term. But our goal is to continually generate more income. As you know, Phil, that sometimes percentage margins are a little bit misleading from 1 year to the next only because of the pass-through of raw materials. And you should expect as long as aluminum stays elevated, for percentage margins to contract a bit because of the denominator effect.

But the goal is to generate more absolute margin and more cash flow as we go forward. And I don't see any reason why if we look out over the next 5 years compared to the last 5 years, we shouldn't be as similarly successful as we were over the last 5 years.

Okay. Great color, Tim. In terms of Brazil, a little softer in 2025, one of your competitors talking about perhaps some destocking in the channel to start the year. Help us think through what you're seeing on the ground from a Brazil standpoint? Certainly some excitement around the World Cup, but also in an uneven macro environment, are you seeing any trade down into like refillable glass like we've seen in past cycles?

Well, there has been less consumption, combined with a move back towards large 600-milliliter bottles that are shareable among people when they're out. Listen, the economy in Brazil is -- I shouldn't say the economy. It's probably -- I don't know enough to say that. But we do know the consumer is a little weaker than we would like.

Now having said that, and you've heard us say this over time, we don't get overly concerned from 1 quarter to the next or even 1 year to the next in Brazil. It's another market that's been exceptionally robust for the can industry. I think we've all done really well. And as we look at any 3- to 5-year period, at the end of that 3- to 5-year period, do you believe you're going to be in a better place than you were 3 or 5 years ago? And we believe yes.

So I don't -- I know your focus is on trying to forecast immediate and then maybe 18 months out, and we have a longer focus than that. But we're -- we still remain very positive on Brazil, and it will come back. And it is a market where the can is really well positioned across beer. We continue to see that doing well.

And I may have missed it, Tim. Did you give us your outlook for 2026 for Brazil from a growth standpoint?

Did not. I think it's probably a bit too early to say that. But let's -- if you want to -- it's early, but if you wanted to use 3%, you could use 3% for the industry and for Crown. We'll see how the market develops.

Our next question will be coming from Ghansham Panjabi of Baird.

Thanks, operator. I guess going back to the North American beverage outlook of 2% to 3% volume growth for '26 for you specifically, is that also your assumption for industry growth for the year? And then just related to that, where are you on capacity utilization in North America relative to the bit of growth that the industry saw last year or at least over the last couple of years? Just curious as to where you stand on capacity.

So I think the -- Ghansham, the market in '25, probably up 2% to 3%, maybe 2.5%. I think as we look to 2026, again, it feels like the market should be up 2% to 3%. I think capacity in the industry is tight. I know we are tight, notwithstanding perhaps there is some capacity coming online. I still think that with the growth we see, 2% growth on a $120 billion can market is 2.5 billion cans. That's a can plant with 2 lines at full operating speed, so it should absorb any new capacity coming online. So I expect the market is going to remain tight.

Okay. And then as it relates to CapEx, I mean, 2023, roughly $800 million CapEx. Last 2 years, half of that, let's say, roughly $400 million, and we're targeting $550 million for '26. Is this the new baseline as it relates to how you think about the future? This year, obviously, you're spending money in Europe and Latin America. Will that morph into the U.S., 2027 onwards?

And then just -- I'd love to hear your thoughts as it relates to the affordability of the can as well, right? Obviously, aluminum is up significantly. Plastic prices have done very little, if not go down. And so the divergence between the two, how does that affect your thoughts as it relates to the, let's say, the competitiveness of the can?

Yes, I wouldn't -- I think I wouldn't read too much into the $550 million this year. I think we have -- we have a situation in Europe where we need capacity, and we need capacity to service customers in the Mediterranean, Greece, Spain. And we have a pretty strong position there. We're oversold in the region, and it's -- we just have to -- the Greece project is -- we're on site with a Greek plant where we're going to remove 2 old, slower lines and put 2 high-speed lines in. We pick up a fair amount of capacity, and we'll put another line into the plant in Northern Spain. And that's basically the service markets where we're oversold.

Do we have other opportunities that we're looking at? Sure. We'll see how they manifest. But to your question about North America, I don't see -- never say never. But as we sit here today, I don't see any need for new capacity for Crown in North America over the next year or 2.

The affordability of the can, from production through delivery to the consumer, it still should be the cheapest and most effective way for our customers to deliver product to the consumer. Now having said that, the -- aluminum is up a lot. I can't -- you can't make heads or tails over what's going to happen with tariffs long term. And certainly, the punishment that we're putting on some of our trading partners, specifically Canada as it relates to aluminum. And the need for primary aluminum to come out of Canada, we have not enough primary production in the U.S., if any.

So like a lot of things in the new world, Ghansham, when we're talking about sustainability, we're forcing the cost of sustainability on the consumers. And we'll see how long consumers and retailers want to stay in line with their sustainability goals, and -- or are they just checking the box and are they going to go back towards products that are less sustainable. But I think right now, we don't -- we're not overly concerned as we look at volumes for '26 and '27 as it relates to the cost of aluminum. Demand appears to be very firm.

Our next question will be coming from Matt Roberts of Raymond James.

Firstly, what level of buybacks are assumed in the guide? And I know you have incremental CapEx, but still strong free cash flow generation. So is there any preference in leaning towards M&A, maybe in cans or otherwise, if there were, hypothetically speaking, any transformational opportunities out there?

All right. So Matt, in terms of what we baked into the guide, cash flow is $900 million, assume dividends to shareholders and minority partners are 200 -- a little less than $250 million, so that gets $650 million. We've assumed we would buy $650 million of stock, some each quarter, leaving us room to be opportunistic if we see a buying opportunity.

And Matt, on the second part of the question, I think the goal of every management team should be to improve its company. It's a portfolio of businesses. Now having said that, and at the risk of insulting analysts, investors and our other cohorts in the packaging space, we do not see any opportunities across packaging that would meaningfully improve Crown as a company. Therefore, our best use of our cash is investing in ourselves by returning cash to shareholders in the form of share buybacks.

And maybe for my follow-up on a qualitative basis, also at risk of insulting others in packaging. We've certainly seen other peers have had abrupt management changes of late. And your operations and stock performance certainly don't seem indicative of that. But in light of that, how do you think of succession planning or perhaps going against the grain of changes we've seen in packaging C-suites of late?

Well, I think one thing that helps an organization do well is stability. We've had the -- like Crown -- like all companies, we've had our ups and downs over decades. I have the privilege and the good fortune to lead an exceptional group of professionals at Crown. I'm -- I think I'm only the fourth CEO in the last 70 years. I think that stability says a lot about the organization and the culture we have at Crown.

We do have a number of internal candidates when the Board decides they're tired of me. And we have a number of highly trained and experienced professionals in the can industry that are certainly prepared and ready to lead this organization going forward. But I think stability is very important, and I think we've been very fortunate at Crown to have stability for so many years.

Our next question will be coming from Chris Parkinson of Wolfe Research.

So just a pretty quick question on Asia, just filling out the geographic landscape here. You've improved your cost position pretty dramatically in terms of your asset base there. And yet, there have been competitive challenges in Indonesia, skirmishes in Thailand and Laos. Just as it stands today, how do you assess the growth of that market? And understanding it's not going to be the next month or 2, I'm not asking you to call that, but just you think about that market over the next 2 years or so versus how you used to think about it in terms of like the ultimate profitability potential, what would the update be there?

Yes, Chris, I don't -- not to be flipping, but we can get growth anytime we want it. We just go into the market and make commercial adjustments. We can get all the growth we want. It's a constant evaluation as to what sort of commercial adjustments are necessary to get growth. And do those adjustments and growth improve the business long term. Could be short-term pain or not, but do they improve the business long term or not?

And -- so that's a constant evaluation we do, but there's plenty of growth available in the Asian market. We do have a very low cost structure across Asia. I think most of the companies we compete within Asia are private companies and/or companies that don't publicly report. But I would venture to say that our margin profile in Asia is the envy, and therefore, the target of many other Asian companies. Having said that, we are very large, well positioned and low cost. So we can flex commercially to grow business, and we'll look to do a little of that this year in Asia.

And just drilling down a little bit more in Europe. Is the growth that -- you mentioned you're bullish and kind of, I guess, sort of penciling in at least the mid-single digit, that 5-ish percentage growth rate. When you take a step back and look at Southern Europe versus the U.K. versus Northern Europe, are there any material differences in terms of the growth rate in terms of how it's hitting your business? Or is it essentially the same growth rate in all subregions across the board?

Well, there are some markets we're not in. For example, we're not in Scandinavia. We have 1 plant in Eastern Europe. We're not very big in Eastern Europe, and we're not in Benelux. So I can't really comment so much on the growth rates in those markets.

I can tell you that we do know that margins are different in those regions, specifically in those regions that are different from Scandinavia, Benelux, et cetera. And they're different from Southern Europe and into the Gulf states. But you've heard us from time to time in the past talk about tourism as it affects our business since we're so strong in Southern Europe. We had a very good year this year, and we foresee another very strong year across Southern Europe and in the Gulf states in '26.

But regionally, we're set up a little differently than the competition. But having said that, the entire market is doing well, and we expect everybody to do well across Europe.

Our next question will be coming from Mike Roxland of Truist Securities.

Tim, can you just talk about what you've seen thus far in terms of demand in January and early read on February?

Well, I think everything as we expected, I think perhaps the weather may have impacted some shipments. Tractor trailers don't do real well on icy highways. But February has started off, looks like it's more than fully recovering any shortfalls that were in January. So as expected.

Got it. Maybe January a little bit weaker due to weather, things out of your control, but February doing better. Have you recovered any of that lost volume in January, in this month thus far?

Yes, I think that's what I just said. I think February is more than recovering.

And then just on food can demand, obviously, I think you called out 5% food can growth in the quarter. What are you expecting for 2026? Do you expect to grow above the market? Are you gaining share in food cans? Any color you can provide around that?

I think that our customer set and specifically, our weighting to pet food gives us an opportunity to grow a touch above market. I think really, we and only one other company produce pet food cans at any size for the market. So we and the one other company are the beneficiaries of pet food growth, and pet food certainly growing more than human food in cans.

Our next question will be coming from Stefan Diaz of Morgan Stanley.

Maybe just to begin, for the investments in Brazil, Greece and Spain, I guess, how is that ramp going so far? And then as we think about 2026, what type of volume pull-through should we expect from these investments? Or does incremental volumes from the investments really show up more in 2027?

These are mostly 2027. These -- the startups here won't happen until the back half of the year. So little this year, some start-up costs as we do training and other things, recruiting people, second quarter, third quarter into the fourth quarter and most of the volume next year.

Okay. Great. Makes a lot of sense. And then -- it wasn't too long ago that investors were sort of worried about overcapacity and potential price pressures in North America. One of your competitors signaled that they were pretty much tapped out of capacity in the region. You came out today saying that you don't think you need to put more capacity in North America over the next 1 to 2 years. I guess, number one, how do you see utilization rates in the region? And then two, does Crown have capacity to potentially pick up some business if demand is a little better than forecasted?

Listen, I think we don't see any need to put any capacity. And we have a playbook that we're operating with that we want to generate a lot of cash flow. We think there's a great return opportunity there if we generate a lot of cash flow. That implies keeping capital at reasonable levels. We have opportunities in other markets perhaps that generate better and quicker returns right now than North America. And it does not appear that we need to put any capacity in North America. We have a little bit of open capacity, not that much. We certainly couldn't take a sizable customer on. And the opportunities elsewhere give us better opportunities.

So having said that, utilization is tight. It doesn't mean others won't put capacity in, but we don't need to chase it. So I think we're happy with the statement we made that we don't see the need for Crown to put any capacity over the next couple of years into North America.

Our next question will be coming from Josh Spector of UBS.

It's Anojja Shah sitting in for Josh. I just wanted to go back to Europe for a while. Could you give a little more detail on what you're doing in Spain? And what's driving that kind of growth? Because if I recall correctly, I think you -- in the last 5 years, you've added capacity to 3 different plants there. And maybe you can ballpark the current can per capita rate there versus, say, the U.K., just so we get a sense of how much runway there is?

Actually, we'll see if Tom can come up with a per capita can rate. Spain is not the largest can market in Europe. It's probably the second largest can market in Europe after the U.K., and -- so we -- I think probably -- maybe 7 years ago, we built a plant in the Valencia, a new high-speed 2-line plant. The plant in Agoncillo in the north of Spain in the Bilbao region that we're adding the line to now used to be a steel can plant, 2-line steel can plant, slower, older lines. We ripped the steel lines out. We put a new aluminum line in, and now we're doubling the plant. We also make cans in that facility.

And then in Seville, we have a 2-line aluminum plant as well. So yes, a lot of capital put into the market, but it's a market that we enjoy pretty good relationships with two very large global customers. And what makes our success is their success, and we continue to support their success by investing.

Okay. Great. And then for my follow-up, Mexico recently raised the sugar beverage tax quite significantly, I think, starting this year. Can you remind us -- I know a lot of your portfolio there is beer, but can you remind us what your soft drink exposure is there? And what impact do you expect this to have this year on your volume?

Yes. I think that the majority of our business there is beer, soft drinks for us on the order of 10% to 15%, the balance mainly being beer.

Our next question will be coming from Arun Viswanathan of RBC Capital Markets.

Congrats on the successful 2025. I guess, first off, in North America, so you discussed the strength in energy, your position there. You said CSD is kind of holding its own, and beer will come back. And there's also some commentary in Canada that you offered. I guess we've been hearing that one of your large CSD customers is interested in regaining some share. So I guess, maybe you can just comment on your position with your customers in North America. Do you feel like you're well positioned in CSD? Are you hearing any commentary from your customers about promotions and increasing those promotions to drive volume? A couple of years ago, they were really focused on price. But I'm just curious with the rising aluminum prices and Midwest premium, if now, they're starting to get worried about this demand holding up and if they would require greater promotions to really continue to drive that demand in that 2% to 3% range?

Yes. Listen, I think you're going to -- if you watch the Super Bowl this weekend, you're going to see two really slick commercials. I don't know how many times they're each going to run them, but one of the major beer companies and one of the major soft drink companies are going to run some really, really slick commercials that are really well done. And in the case of the soft drink company, it focuses and showcases the can as the package in the commercial.

So clearly, they spent some time. And I got to -- I'm not an advertising executive. But I got to tell you, these two commercials are exceptionally well done, and I'm going to assume the consumers are going to receive them very well. And hopefully, that kickstarts even more can consumption as we go through the rest of the year.

Okay. And then I guess I'll ask on Transit as well because we haven't talked that much about it. But what's the outlook there? I mean, obviously, very macro-driven. But is there anything else that you guys can do? You've taken out a lot of cost, but is there consolidation? Or is there anything else in the market that you think could be interesting from -- and could drive maybe a little bit better volume outlook for Transit?

Well, again, we can drive volume anyway we want. We can go cut price. We can make bolt-on acquisitions. We can do a lot of things. What we've chosen to do in this business is have this business generate as much cash flow as it can for the organization in excess of $250 million a year, with very little resources being given to this business.

Now if we're going to have an honest conversation about our Transit business, our Transit business generates margins even in a down cycle that are in excess of many of these other so-called high-value packaging franchises that you guys all write about. So if we want to have an honest conversation about valuation and where this business sits in relation to other packaging companies, this business is, in our view, performing exactly as we need it to do. Very little resources being given to it, generating exceptional cash.

Issue with that, Arun, that wasn't directed at you. That was just a general comment.

Our next question will be coming from Anthony Pettinari of Citigroup.

Sorry if I missed this, but is it possible to put a finer point on the dollar impact of the start-up costs in Brazil, Greece and Spain? And then in terms -- I guess, in the -- in terms of timing, I think you said those projects or the cost would be sort of second half-weighted. Just wondering if you can confirm that?

Projects, second half weighted. Most of the start-up costs second half weighted, we'll start to hire and train people in Q2. So there is some cost there. Not numbers we typically call out. Just telling you that they're there, and it's part of doing business. If you want to grow your business, get used to it. It's just -- it's a part of the cost. We're -- not a number we ever put too fine a point on. You can calculate this number a variety of different ways, but they're costs that are there, and it's a cost of doing business in a growing environment.

And then switching to Asia. I think you indicated that the Thailand-Cambodia conflict is basically responsible for -- I don't know if you said all of the shortfall or the majority of the shortfall. And I'm wondering if you could just provide any additional detail on that? And then in terms of sort of the state of play in terms of that issue impacting volumes like right now, where are we? And do you maybe at some point, lap that? Because I think the conflict sort of started last year and then sort of stopped. Just wondering if you can put any finer point on that?

Yes. We'll lap that sometime in the third quarter. It's just a land dispute, one side arguing that they own 15 miles of border that the other side, they own. It's -- I don't know enough about it. And certainly, it's inappropriate for me to comment on what two governments are discussing. But it was responsible for more than our shortfall, especially in the Thai business.

Our next question will be coming from Silke Kueck of JPMorgan.

I'm sitting in for Jeff this morning. In Europe, with the expansion that you're doing, just like 1 billion cans coming on in Greece and maybe like 1 billion cans like the line in Spain, and your base capacity is maybe 15 billion or 16 billion. So is there like a world where you're -- based on like the capacity that you're bringing in Europe, growth in Europe is higher than 4% to 5%, like maybe more like high single digits? Or that's too optimistic?

Yes. I think I caught what you said. I think our base capacity in Europe is probably bigger than the number you quoted, if I heard you quote 16. But listen, I think the capacity we're bringing online, the installation happens this year, but the through learning curve, you don't get the full run rate of that capacity for 18 to 30 months.

So as you think about adding 5% or 6% capacity to a portfolio or a footprint, you're really looking -- you don't really need to fill it out immediately because you don't produce that immediately, it gets produced over -- it gets grown into over 18 to 30 months.

Our last question will be coming from Edlain Rodriguez of Mizuho.

Just one quick one, Tim. So when you look at the portfolio right now, if you're looking at the industry fundamentals, both beverage can and Transit, like what are and what do you see the most opportunities and challenges?

I think that the biggest challenge anybody has -- we've done -- we and the industry have done exceptionally well for the last 5 or 6 years. And I think the challenge as you -- for all of our managers as they lead the businesses is to not get complacent, is to keep pushing forward and to do better. So that's number one.

I think number two, trying to find the right balance between supporting our customers' growth objectives and ensuring that what we have to do to support their growth objectives returns fair value to us. And as an industry, we've done a little better over the last 5 or 6 years with that. I still think there's more we can do to return more value to our company and our shareholders in line with supporting our customers' growth objectives.

Certainly, we do see beverage cans growing globally. The intersection between growth and increasing profits is always one we look for. And so we're constantly focused on that as opposed to just trying to get bigger. And I do believe that ultimately, these industrial markets are going to return. We get some clarity on tariffs. So if we can just stop changing what we say about tariffs, if we just had -- whatever they're going to be, if they just would be what they're going to be and they don't change every day, then I think companies and purchasing managers across the industrial space could have a little bit more confidence in where they're going. And having said that, when that does happen, we do see significant upside to the Transit profitability profile just given the amount of cost we've taken out over the last several years.

Okay. Okay. Great. And one last one, capital allocation. Stock is not too far for me, it's all-time high, I believe. Like, is share buyback still a good use of capital in your view?

Well, I think Kevin and his team will use a disciplined approach when and how we choose to buy back shares. Depending on where interest rates go, you can make the argument that you want to continue to pay down debt. I think the -- one of the challenges with paying down debt is it's really hard to make adequate returns when your leverage is too low. So 2.5x is a nice place to be. It feels like a sweet spot to be with leverage to generate as best return as you can, and we'll be intelligent as we use the cash flow that we generate when we're buying back shares.

Thank you, Edlain. So El, I think you said that was our last question. So we thank everybody for joining us, and we look forward to speaking with you again in a few months. Bye now.

And that concludes today's conference. Thank you, everyone, for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Crown Holdings Third Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Clothier, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, sir, and you may begin.

Thank you, Al, and good morning. With me on today's call is Tim Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer. If you don't already have the earnings release, it is available on our website at crownport.com. On this call, as in the earnings release, we will be making a number of forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary materially from such statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to vary is contained in the press release and in our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K from 2024 and subsequent filings.

Earnings for the quarter were $1.85 per share compared to a loss of $1.47 per share in the prior year quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.24 compared to $1.99 in the prior year quarter. Net sales in the quarter were up 4.2% compared to the prior year, reflecting a 12% increase in shipments across European Beverage, the pass-through of higher raw material costs and a favorable foreign currency translation, partially offset by lower volumes across Latin America.

Segment income was $490 million in the quarter, compared to $472 million in the prior year, reflecting increased volumes in Europe and strong results in our tinplate businesses as well as continued operational improvements across the global manufacturing footprint.

For the 9 months ended September 30, free cash flow improved to $887 million from $668 million in the prior year, reflecting higher income and lower capital spending. The company repurchased $105 million of common stock in the quarter and $314 million year-to-date. When combined with dividends, we've returned more than $400 million to shareholders this year. The company achieved its long-term net leverage target of 2.5x in September and remains committed to a healthy balance sheet while returning excess cash to shareholders in the future.

The company continued to perform well in the quarter, with year-on-year improvements in segment income, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. We have seen limited direct impact from tariffs, and remain attentive to the indirect effects that tariffs have had on the global consumer and industrial demand. Considering our strong performance to date, we're raising our guidance for the full year adjusted EPS to $7.70 to $7.80, and project the fourth quarter adjusted EPS to be in the range of $1.65 to $1.75. Our adjusted earnings guidance for the full year includes modest changes to the following assumptions. We expect net interest expense of approximately $350 million. Exchange rates assumed the U.S. dollar at an average of $1.13 to the euro, noncontrolling interest expense to be approximately $150 million and dividends in noncontrolling interest are expected to be approximately $140 million. Remaining unchanged, we expect full year tax rate of 25%, depreciation of approximately $310 million.

We now estimate 2025 full year adjusted free cash flow to be approximately $1 billion after $400 million of capital spending and net leverage to remain close to our long-term net leverage target of 2.5x.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning to everyone. I'll be brief, and then we'll open the call to questions. As Kevin just summarized, and as reflected in last night's earnings release, third quarter results were better than expected. Consolidated earnings per share advanced 13% as the strength of our balanced portfolio drove higher segment income and cash flow, in turn, lowering interest costs.

Strong demand in European Beverage and an improving cost structure across the U.S. tinplate businesses combined to offset weakness across Latin America.

Two items to remind everyone of. First, delivered aluminum reached $2.10 a pound last Friday. That is up $0.74 a pound or 54% in the last 10 months, primarily from the increased United States delivery premium. We contractually pass through aluminum, so the increased denominator effect will reduce percentage margins, not absolute margins. And this is primarily a North American issue and it had about a 1.25% impact on Americas Beverage margins in the third quarter. Second, as most of you are aware, we operate our Brazilian operations through a joint venture. As Brazil profits go up or down, the minority interest that you see on the face of the income statement will also go up or down. The lower minority interest that you see in the third quarter are the result of the lower Brazilian income, which is reported in the Americas Beverage segment income.

Following numerous quarters of above-market growth, including 10% in last year's third quarter, Americas Beverage volumes were down 5% in the quarter, the result of a 15% volume decline across Brazil and Mexico. The effects of an uncertain and tariff weary Mexican consumer, combined with the coldest Brazilian winter and 20 years, subdued demand. We do expect fourth quarter in Brazil to return the growth and 2026 in Brazil may be bolstered by government initiatives to lower interest rates and provide subsidies to the lower income populations.

And as discussed earlier, the net earnings impact to the company is somewhat muted by the reduction in the Brazilian minority interest.

North American volumes were mixed in the quarter, down 3% after getting off to a slow start in July and August. However, activity rebounded firmly in September, which was up 3% and shipments to date in October have also been strong. For reference, North American volumes were up 5%, and Latin American volumes were up more than 18% in the prior year third quarter.

European Beverage posted a record quarter with income 27% above the prior year on the back of 12% volume growth. As has been the case throughout the year, growth was recorded in each region of the segment as the can continues to gain share across Europe, while in the Gulf states, the emergence of local brands is driving outsized growt.

Margins across Asia remained above 17% in the quarter despite lower Southeast Asian volumes of 3% as Asian industries and consumers alike, feel the pinch of higher tariffs to their economies.

Transit Packaging income remained level to the prior year as increased rap shipments and continuing cost efforts offset the impact of lower equipment activity. The industrial markets remain challenging, but the transit team is executing well to control costs and generate cash.

North American food can benefited from firm harvest demand and efficiency improvements to recently installed capacity. Combined with a lower cost structure and aerosol cans and increased activity in can-making equipment results in other significantly exceeded the prior year third quarter.

In summary, performance across the portfolio resulted in another strong quarter. Segment income up 4% and earnings per share up 13% against a very strong prior year third quarter. European Beverage reflects the ongoing benefits from overall market growth and substitution. North American food continues to gain from new capacity brought online over the last 2 years. The balance sheet is strong. And when combined with robust cash flow, the company remains well positioned to responsibly return cash to shareholders.

And lastly, before we open the call to questions, we've had an exceptional year in 2025 as the entire Crown family continues the mission to serve our brand partners, and we sincerely thank them.

So with that, El, we are now ready to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of George Staphos of Bank of America.

Congratulations on the progress. I guess the first question I had, Europe, you grew 12%, as you stated, share gains, I think, from a pack mix standpoint and underlying market growth. Can you give us a bit more color, in particular, should we worry at all about pre-buying lapping tough comps at some point? How long do you see Europe growing at, maybe not 12%, but what's been the historical rate, given what's been very, very strong growth through the first 9 months? And then I have 1 or 2 follow-ons.

Okay. So good question, George. It will allow me to say something that I do want to get out on the call as well. So the third quarter of last year, I think Europe was up 6%, up 12% this year. And George, you've been around a long time like I have. Maybe I have more gray hair, but you know that 6% and 12% is not the history of the can business, right? The can business is a low-growth business with pockets of outsized growth requiring discipline. Cash flow is quite high, and it gives you the opportunity to generate a lot of value. So anybody expecting the company to grow 12% quarter after quarter or expecting us to grow earnings per share 20% year after year, that's not what the can industry is, right?

It's certainly much more stable than that. And -- but having said that, I don't think we would ascribe any volume growth that we had this year in Europe to pre-buy. I think, as we've said before, and I know repeatedly, Tom and Kevin have told you before, the long-term growth rate in Europe has been in the order of 4% to 4.5%, 4% to 5%. We've got a couple of open years in there, perhaps when the Germans outlawed cans and some other things. But for the most part, over the last 20 to 25 years, it's been pretty consistent in the amount of growth. And I'd just point out that while the segment was up 12% in the quarter, Continental Europe was up more than the Middle East. So this was a European-driven growth phenomenon, and I think it's largely to do with growth itself, underlying growth and substitution, as we've discussed before.

Okay. I appreciate that, Tim. Second question, as we think about the year and certainly what looks to be an up fourth quarter versus where we were where consensus was, how is -- how are you thinking about the Americas EBIT overall? At 1 point in time, you mentioned $1 billion of EBIT, I think if I'm correct, as being aspirational. Can you talk about what the outlook is for the year? If you can talk a little bit about in terms of the third quarter or however you want to frame it, what the profit impact negatively was from what you saw in Mexico and Brazil and how that's woven into the $1 billion?

And then lastly, and other, and I'll turn it over, was there any pickup from spread? Or is it purely cost reduction and your volume increase that drove the performance?

Right. So you're going to have to stay on the line, George, because you asked a bunch of questions.

The first 1 was long. So repeat the -- just give me started on the first 1 again.

Basically, the $1 billion of EBIT [indiscernible] is still the case and Brazil and Mexico kind of what impact did they have? And then...

Yes. So $1 billion, I was prepared to again tell you this morning, it was aspirational. Kevin had reminded me this morning that it looks like we will get there this year.

Brazil, Mexico, Mexico, we own 100% of our operations, George. Brazil is a joint venture. If you look at the difference in minority interest, which is, what, $12 million to $15 million, if you want to say the impact of Brazil itself was more than $20 million in the quarter and the impact from Mexico -- Mexican cans, glass was flattish to slightly up in the quarter. Mexican cans was also an impact of about $5 million or $6 million in the quarter. So more than the total decline in Americas Beverage came from Mexico and Brazil.

Got it. And spreads in metal and then steel on turnover.

So I don't believe at this time, we're benefiting in the third quarter from any spreads in steel. Perhaps there was some spread benefit earlier in the year. But in the third quarter, I don't believe we had any.

Our next question will be from Ghansham Panjabi of Baird.

I guess if we switch to North America, I think you said, Tim, volumes down 3%. That's sort of a mixed start to the quarter ended the quarter much better. What do you think the industry did during the third quarter? And is there anything else just going on in terms of movement as it relates to promotional spending, that's a little bit more episodic. And so you're seeing that as your customers adjust things? Or what do you think is going on in the market?

Tom does his best to estimate the market. Not every going to report data. So we have to make some estimates. As we said, we were down 3% in the quarter, and Tom's best estimate is perhaps the market was up 2% in the quarter. So we will have underperformed the market. Our underperformance is specific to 1 customer that we pruned at the start of the year. So I'll leave it at that. It was a complicated customer, which short runs a lot of label changes. Frankly, the pricing didn't warrant the complexity put on the factories the inefficiencies put on the factory. So we didn't participate -- no longer participate in that account.

What do I think is going on with promotions, well, I'd tell you, in the summer, Ghansham, it felt like they were much more aggressive promoting. I think through the third quarter, even through Labor Day, it didn't feel like promotions. Now we've got folks that are in supermarkets up in the Philadelphia area, and we're down here in the Florida area. So we're not covering the whole country, but it didn't feel like -- when you go to the supermarket and you look because it's 1 thing to for your customers to tell you what we're doing nationally. It's another thing to actually walk into stores and seeing the promotions. It didn't feel like it was very -- they were heavily promoting.

I think the strength in the market, if the market is indeed up 2%, as Tom says, is more about the resilience of the beverage can is more about the experience that the consumer has with affordable pleasures in a challenging environment. I think it's just -- it shows the strength of the can and it shows the strength of our industry. And I'm not trying to be promote it when I say that, Ghansham. I just don't -- I don't see the promotions from our customers driving the growth. I see the consumer -- just the consumer demand for the product right now driving the growth.

Okay. Fair enough. And then just related to that, so just based on what you said about pruning and some of the adjustments in the market, et cetera, what's your base case as it relates to volume specific to North American beverage for 2026? I'm just trying to get a sense as it relates to if there's any spillover from the pruning and so on and so forth?

And then for my second question on Europe, just given the strength, which has been phenomenal for multiple years, how do you feel about capacity in the region, and your specific footprint to align with that growth expectations having changed? Pretty nice over the years.

Yes. So we like our footprint. We're very strong in the perimeter. There are some pockets in the central part of the European continent where we're smaller or not present. The only thing I would tell you is the margin opportunity in those regions have not justified us putting capacity in. I think that -- and we've talked about this before. Because we're on the perimeter and we're closer, we're very strong across the Mediterranean. We do benefit when tourism is up and tourism was up this summer. So it can go either way, Ghansham, but this year, we were the beneficiaries of a strong tourism season. I do think -- again, as I said to George, I don't think that -- and you've been around a long time as well, Ghansham. I don't think anybody should ever anticipate that 12% is a number that you should expect companies in the can business to print every quarter. We may get a quarter or 2 like that every so often. But the growth rate in Europe is -- as you said, it's been very nice. 4% to 5% for 20-plus years, we'll take that for the next 20 years. Capacity, there are pockets of open capacity specific to 1 or 2 regions. But by and large, the market's in pretty good shape. And from time to time, the hope is we're all responsible and we pick our moments as to when we want to add more capacity.

And Beverage North America 2026 volumes?

I think as we've said before, we expect to be up next year.

Our next question will be from Stefan Diaz of Morgan Stan.

Maybe just to begin, can you just give more details on the drivers for the better-than-expected performance in other? I know in the prepared remarks, you said that food cans are strong. Maybe you saw some green shoots in the equipment business. But maybe look on a go-forward basis, how should we think about the earnings power in this business?

Well, it's a -- last year was not a very good year, right? So let's start with the comp was low. I never want to say anything is easy, but the comp was low. We knew coming into this year, we were going to do much better across food and aerosol, food with some volume gains early in the year. And we brought on 3 new lines over the last couple of years. 2-piece lines, and then we have a 3-piece line, 2 3-piece lines that are co-located at a customer facility and all are operating much better now than they were earlier. So volume growth let's say, pet food in Q1, vegetables in Q2, pretty constant volume in Q3, but really a lot of efficiency gain here in Q3 in food.

We did close an aerosol can plant last year, so the aerosol cost structure is much lower, so we're benefiting from that. And I almost used the term green shoots in my prepared remarks, but I thought better of it. Although I will tell you that equipment sales -- equipment and tool sales in can-making are up in Q3, profitability is up. There is growth globally in beverage can and beverage can equipment. It's in a lot of regions of the world that many Americans are not familiar with, but we do operate a global equipment business out of the headquarters in the U.K. And green shoots, I don't know. It might be too early to say that, but I think we're happy with where the business looks like it's going right now.

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then maybe in Signode. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you expected like a $25 million headwind due to tariffs in that business. I mean you were able to grow income there modestly. Is this headwind still the right way to think about 2025? And maybe just sticking with Signode, it seems like revenue declines have been getting better over the previous 2 quarters. Do you think the business is in a position to maybe start growing top line as we look into 4Q and 2026?

Yes. So just on the revenue, remember 1 thing, we also passed through material costs in Signode. And by and large, that's steel, not tinplate steel, but steel and plastics. So as the price of those commodities move up or down, our revenues move up or down. But in total, overall volumes would have been lower. Equipment and tools would have been lower. They are higher value items that get sold and they are higher margin items that get sold offset by plastic strap, which was up nicely in the quarter. I'll wait right now before I say we're at a bottom. I think there are some things that still need to be sorted out with tariffs and everything else before we get too confident on where we think cross-border shipments of equipment are likely to be as we go forward.

Tariffs, Kevin and I looked at this the other day. I would say we said that originally, we expected $10 million of direct tariffs. I think we still expect that through 3 quarters, we're in the $7 million, $7.5 million range. So we expect the $10 million. Indirect, we said $15 million, which was function of lower order patterns from customers given uncertainty and/or increased cost for some of the equipment that we make in Switzerland or Finland that would have to come into the U.S. And we are seeing lower equipment and tool sales that are made abroad that would otherwise come into the U.S. So I think that's still a good number. And as I said, the Transit team is doing a really nice job of managing their cost structure, looking for ways to reduce costs, running more efficiently, running more responsibly. The one thing we have delivered to the Signode franchise since we've owned it now for 7 years is we brought them back to understanding they are a manufacturing company. And as we try to do in our can business, we've put a number of the former can guys into Signode who are helping them understand the positive benefits of efficiency and lower spoilage and lower labor hours to make as many or more units, and I think it's paying off.

So cost structure a lot lower. The opportunity for us to benefit greatly when the industrial markets return is there. I just -- I don't -- it's a little too early to call for that right now.

Our next question will be from Chris Parkinson of Wolfe Research.

Tim, when we think about your global operations, we've seen consistent improvements in operating profitability. Can you just do a quick flyby of how we should be thinking about that in terms of 2026, and where you think you still could be seeing some opportunities, obviously, given that just the asset changes in Asia, obviously, would be one on top of mind?

And then also in the U.S., it just seems like some of your newer facilities over the last 5 years continue to operate a little bit more efficiently. So if you could give us some color there, it would be greatly appreciated.

Yes. Listen, I think we're going to continue to improve operations. I mean it's not a -- the manufacturing team has goals every year, and the goal is to get better every year, and we've described to you before that we typically characterize our plants in 1 of 3 buckets. And if you're in the bottom bucket, you're expected to be in the top bucket prior -- the next year. So it doesn't always happen, but that's the goal, continuous improvement. So from that standpoint, we always expect the manufacturing teams to do a better job. That's their job.

Having said that, 1 thing that will happen as the price of quoted aluminum on the London metal exchange increases, and more specifically, as the delivery premium stays higher for longer, we will have percentage margin impact especially in North America. So that will flow through the Americas Beverage segment. As we pass through 1 for 1, the denominator gets bigger with the same dollar. So you understand the denominator effect. And then we'll see how Mexico and Brazil do next year in the face of a tariff environment that has consumers and customers alike a little uncertain to this point. And I should mention that, across Asia, the tariff environment, perhaps even more impactful than it is in Brazil.

So all in all, margins across our business are pretty healthy. I think in every reportable segment we have, we're well into the double digits. And even Transit is a business right now where demand is low, but they're making above 13%. So we described that as a 12% to 15% business. And historically, if you look across packaging land, 12% to 15% in a low-growth, low-capital-intensive business is really quite nice because you generate a lot of cash and give the management team a lot of flexibility how to return the money to shareholders. So we're quite happy with the portfolio at this point.

Just as a quick follow-up, just when we're thinking about your free cash flow conversion, given your updated number for '25, how should we think about that '26 in terms of priorities now that you've hit your 2.5x leverage target in terms of buybacks and anything else you're considering?

Yes. So Kevin does want to tell you that we probably got a little timing on CapEx slipping into next year, but we're still going to have exceptional cash flow next year. And as we said in the press release, balance sheet is in really good shape. We'll responsibly return cash to shareholders. We might move debt down up or down a little bit, but we're going to be in and around 2.5x, and there's a lot of cash left over to return.

Next question will be from Anthony Pettinari of Citigroup.

Just following up on the last question. So the CapEx that was lowered for this year, I guess, it just shows up in next year. And I don't know if you had any kind of further comments about CapEx, specifically in 2016, just given that North America, Europe seems like the system is probably running pretty full. Or I'm not sure how you'd characterize it, but any color you can give there.

Well, I'll characterize it this way because it's a good question. I would say they're running full enough for everyone to be responsible and have a good margin environment. Now the history of the world, people get greedy and they try to take more than they need to. But the systems are pretty full. And we should find a way to operate and improve. Everybody should find a way to improve. We originally said $450 million of capital this year. We're going to be about $400 million. So if we thought about $450 million and $450 million, maybe next year is in the $450 to $500 million range.

Okay. That's very helpful. And then just switching gears on Transit, how did Transit demand kind of hold up in 3Q kind of relative to the expectations you shared with us over the summer? And as we think about 4Q and finishing the year, I mean, is demand improving? Is it deteriorating? Is it kind of in line with 3Q? Just any thoughts you can give there?

So I would say that, on the commodity side, that is steel and plastic strap, film, all the protective products, actually holding up -- and specifically in India and the United States holding up much better than we had initially anticipated at the beginning of the year. And that's probably driving a little bit of the slightly better performance that we had in Q2 and Q3 than we might have otherwise expected. And it's offset by lower equipment and tools, which is a much higher-margin business. So equipment and tools impacted by the tariffs. And then perhaps in a reverse way, tariffs are going to help our commodity businesses because it just becomes that much more expensive to bring commodity products into the country from overseas. So all in all, I think, holding up as we expected or just a touch better.

Our next question will be from Phil Ng of Jefferies.

Strong quarter, congrats. So Tim, I guess, when we think about North America this year, the market is up. It's a little noisy for you guys, but it sounds like you're seeing good momentum in the fourth quarter. When you kind of look out to 2026, it sounds like you expect growth again. How are you positioned now? I know during the summer months, you were sold out, inventory was pretty tight. Do you think you're going to be in a position to better service that demand next year? And then you made the point that everyone's got decent capacity, you should be able to make good money and profitability. So in that -- in this period of that, I believe there are some contracts that are going to be up for renewal in North America in the next 12 to 24 months. Do you view that as an opportunity to sustain profitability at these levels and build off of it? Or are there some risk factors we should be appreciative?

Well, Phil, the risk factor is that we're in a competitive business. And not everybody has the same goals and aspirations as everybody else. And we operate our business the way we operate our business, and I can't really comment on how other people operate their business. But I think we've done a nice job over the last several years bringing on capacity at reasonable margins and trying to get a return as quick as we can for the amount of money it costs to build and run a can plant. I think that we'll see where the where the market takes us. But as I said earlier, we're not unhappy with our margin profile.

Got it. And then your ability to service that North America demand next year? I was a little tighter this year.

No, we should be okay to service the demand next year. Not an issue.

And then Europe, obviously, really strong growth and to your point, capacity is pretty tight. Same question. Your ability to kind of service that demand and lapping pretty tough comps, appreciating mid-single-digit growth is historically how it's grown. Is that still a good way to think about things when we look out to '26?

Yes. We have -- we bought the German plant sometime early last year, I guess it was, and we're still trying to bring them through the Crown learning curve as opposed to whatever learning curve they felt they were on before, but it is getting better. And that yields more cans as you go through that process. And we are modernizing a facility in Greece. And essentially, we're operating the 2 old can lines currently, but we're building 2 new can lines on the same property. And then when they're done, there'll be much higher speed, obviously, greater output capacity, and we'll take down the old lines when we're done. So we are adding capacity in Europe as we speak. And there are other ways that we're looking at to incrementally add capacity if needed.

Got it. Remind me when do those 2 new plants come online in Greece?

Well, it's 2 lines, not 2 plants.

I'm sorry, 2 lines.

Yes, they should be done sometime early next year.

Our next question will be from Matt Roberts of Raymond James.

Tim, Kevin, take another -- I take another stab here at 2026. But based on the demand you're seeing now, do you continue to expect to build inventory in, and then more broadly, I mean, it seems like at MAX last week, a lot of customers to be showing off innovation or areas of growth. Are there areas of the portfolio where you'd like to lean into more in 2026? Or on the contrary, certain pockets of the portfolio that are becoming more competitive going into 2026 that you'd want to diversify away from to protect price and margin?

I don't know if there's anything I'd say it's becoming more competitive. The business has always been very competitive. So -- and I don't think we really want to lean away from anything. I think the -- Kevin and I were talking earlier, we mentioned earlier to you, the price of delivered aluminum right now at $2.10 a pound. Most of that increase being made up by the increased delivery premium. This is the highest that we ever remember, and it does remind us of mid- to late 2022 when a massive rise in the aluminum price to the delivered aluminum to mid-4,000s a ton did have an inflationary impact across the can business. And the 1 thing that our business survives very well is recessionary environments. Many businesses and demand, you do worry about inflation. So let's see before we get too excited about next year. Let's see what higher aluminum and higher inflation because of aluminum means to not only our customers, but also to the consumers. But nothing that we're going to lean away from. It's just -- you're always mindful of inflation.

That certainly makes sense. And 1 more on Europe. You did note Continental did better than Middle East. Within Continental Europe, was that across the board for the market or more specific to your, call it, the Southern Europe exposure?

For us, it was across the board.

Okay. Where you didn't have tourism, I mean it seems like some travel companies are saying tourism season is getting extended. Was that evident in October? Or does that impact seasonality in that business at all going forward? Or just too minimal all things considered?

Tourism is very big from, let's say, May to September. It is more seasonal than it's not an October phenomenon.

Okay. Appreciate that. Maybe I could squeeze 1 last 1 in. It looks like you have some maturities due in 2026 just to refinance the Euro notes. Plans to address remaining maturities or impact to interest in 2026 for that?

Yes. So Matt, in terms of 2026 notes, if you look at the balance sheet now, we really have cash on the balance sheet to settle those notes and some of them have different call dates. So we'll look at the call dates and take -- address them as they come due. The -- in terms of interest expense for next year, I think it's largely in line with this year, is what I would forecast.

Our next question will be from Mike Roxland of Truist Securities.

Congrats on a strong quarter. Tim, just want to get your thoughts around capital allocation for 2026. given you've had a strong growth this year, increased free cash flow generation, which you just increased with your updated guide now your targeted leverage levels. So how should we think about capital return next year, particularly in light of some of the expansion you mentioned as well that you're pursuing in Europe?

Well, I think you said this year capital is $400 million. We said next year is $450 million to $500 million. That doesn't materially reduce cash flow. But if you want to say, we got $1 billion this year, and you're only happy with $900 million next year, we'll be happy with $900 million next year. We'll see where it comes out. But -- and as we said, the balance sheet is in pretty good shape, and at the end of the third quarter, we're 2.5x levered. Whether we're 2.3x or 2.7x or 2.5x, I'm not sure the world win right now makes a whole lot of difference. I think it gives us the flexibility depending on the share price to be opportunistic, how and when we want to return more cash to shareholders.

I mean I totally get it. I mean do you think given the accelerating free cash flow that you could repurchase $400 million of shares, $500 million worth of shares. Any number that you'd like to just give as a baseline given your strong performance for '26?

I could give you a whole lot of numbers. I don't want to give you a number because you're going to write it down. But -- I mean you can do the math. Clearly, if you want to start with $900 million, if we don't buy back a number like you just said, what are we going to do with the cash? We can either pay down debt or buy back stock. So I don't mean to not give you an answer. I just -- I don't want to say I'm going to buy back a certain amount. And if the price doesn't make sense, we'll see where we get to. But there's adequate cash to allow us, I don't want to say unlimited flexibility, but a lot of flexibility in what we do.

Totally get it. And 1 quick follow-up, just on the CapEx, the $450 million to $500 million. Is that solely related to the 2 lines in Greece and the modernization of the German plant? And is there anything else that we should be mindful of with CapEx? And could that number actually wind up being higher if you decide to pursue other projects?

We also have a plant -- a third line that we're putting in a plant in Brazil that we have talked about earlier. So that's included in there. And there may or may not be one other opportunity that we've not decided on, certainly not announced yet. Thank.

Our next question will be coming from Arun Viswanathan of RBC Capital Markets.

Congrats on a very strong quarter there. I guess, first off, just in North America, I understand that I think your volumes maybe -- I think you mentioned minus 3, industry maybe plus 2. I think you attributed a good portion of that to some customer mix issues by your own intentions earlier in the year. So I guess would you characterize the rest of your portfolio as somewhat in line with the industry excluding that event or maybe ahead or behind? I think you guys are a little bit under-indexed to energy versus your peers. Did that result in maybe a less-than-industry performance? Or would you say that you guys were in line and seeing pockets of strength elsewhere?

No. I think your -- I think the customer prune probably gets us pretty close to flat year-over-year. The -- then there is slight underperformance and you may want to attribute that to under-indexing energy. The other thing I would tell you is that alcohol was stronger in Q3 than we've seen for some time. And as you know, we're under indexed to beer in North America. So that could have attributed some of it as well.

Okay. That's helpful. So then if we consider that maybe you will post some growth, as you noted, in Americas next year, do you expect also continued growth in the other segments as well? I mean European Beverage really stand out performance, but you are going to be facing pretty tough comps there. And then Signode and nonreportables or Transit nonreportables achieved -- appear to have achieved a structurally higher earnings power level. Is that correct? Is that a fair characterization? And can you grow from what you did this year? Or is this year more transitory?

So I think we expect the European business to continue to grow volume and income-wise. I think the can still has penetration available to it across Southern Europe, and it certainly has a substrate shift available to it across the entire continent. Transit, the cost structure is significantly lower than it was a couple of years ago. That business is only waiting for industrial demand to pick up and there is embedded gains in that business. Now as I've said before, whether that's 1, 2 or 3 years away, I can't answer it for you. But the business, from a cost standpoint, is in excellent shape.

Food business, I would say that, as you know, food is not a growth business. So we expect food to be a very stable business. We do see the move from human food in cans shifting more to pet food in cans, and that is ongoing. And we have a very large and stable pet food presence, and we're going to continue to benefit from that. So I think the growth that we're likely to see in the other segment comes from greater efficiencies on stable volumes in food and aerosol combined with some recovery in the can-making equipment business over time.

And I really appreciate that. Just if I could squeeze 1 last in. Just on the Midwest premium and maybe even aluminum in Europe, I know that the percent margin may start to get impacted, but would that inflation also potentially start to impact demand at some point, especially in Europe as you potentially negotiate those price increases? Or how does that work?

So I mean, obviously, we did say North America, we are mindful of inflation -- the impact of inflation on the consumer specific to higher delivered aluminum, which is mostly related to the Midwest premium right now. The delivery premium in Europe is not the Midwest premium, and it's not as elevated as the Midwest premium because they're not dealing with a tariff structure for imported aluminum. So we don't have the same inflationary element notwithstanding the London Metal Exchange price for aluminum. So I don't right now have the same concern with European demand that I do with North American demand.

Our next question will be from Josh Spector of UBS.

First, I just want to ask a quick follow-up on free cash flow and deployment there. I think in response to an earlier question, you talked about paying off some of your debt coming due. Just curious, do you think you need to reduce your gross debt level from here? Or like just trying to think about why do that versus refi and buybacks since next year and how you're thinking about it?

So look, we give you a net debt leverage ratio, which is 2.5x. So the cash on the balance sheet right now is really there to pay off debt that's coming due. It's a net leverage, so it doesn't move. As we think about it going forward, absolute debt levels, we're comfortable with the absolute debt level because it tells us the net debt level because we're at the 2.5x. We do have to address the bonds that are coming due to use the cash and refinance you're effectively levering up at that point. So we're comfortable at net leverage ratio of 2.5x.

We don't expect any levering up to satisfy 2026 maturities. Just to summarize it, I think we're in and around the long-term target of 2.5x. If we took all the cash flow we generated next year and paid dividends and bought back stock, we'd still be levered in and around 2.5x.

Okay. Appreciate that. And just to ask on the Novelis fire that was reported earlier. I mean from this call, it doesn't sound like that's impacting your volumes at all, but curious just does it have any impact for you or your view on what the impact there could be on the industry?

So the direct impact to Crown from that fire is not as large as it is to others, including some of the customers. That does not mean there's not an indirect impact. And Novelis is looking to subsidize lost automobile production with can sheet production. So we are monitoring that. But we're not a -- we don't have a lot of exposure to Novelis in total, but we are mindful of the impact on some of the customers we have that do buy directly from them. We don't see a negative impact to the company over the next several months.

Our next question will be from Edlain Rodriguez of Mizuho.

I mean, Tim, so when you look at share repurchase, I mean again, since earnings last quarter in July, there was like a long down spell in the stock. Was there any thinking of trying to be more aggressive with buying back shares over the past couple of months? Or was getting to the targeted leverage or higher priority?

I don't think -- there was no priority to get to the targeted leverage. I think we've got to the targeted leverage a little earlier than we anticipated probably for 3 reasons. We generated a little bit more cash than we thought we would. Some of that was the result of more earnings than we thought we would have. And then I think currency helped us as well. So we do have a fair amount of debt that's denominated in euros and the euro did devalue a little bit in Q3. So all of that helped us get to that leverage target a little sooner than we thought we would. Whether we got to 2.5x by the end of this year or sometime next year was never really our concern. It was a target, and we had a clear pathway to get there over time.

When we chose to buy back stock was more a function of as we got further through the third quarter and the big season, you get a little bit more comfortable where the season is going to end up. That was all it was.

Okay. And 1 last 1 on Europe again. Again, clearly outperformed even your expectation, I believe. So over the past couple of months as the quarter progresses, what like where were the big surprises like versus what you expected, again, 12% volume growth? And maybe I think you were expecting maybe it could be like half of that a little more? Like what were the big surprising items there for you?

Well, I think we always knew we were going to have a real strong campaign in Europe. We were at a conference in early September. And all we did at that conference was tell people the analyst at this conference put out a note that said the weather in Brazil was really lousy and demand was lousy. And we tried to remind everybody we have other businesses, namely, we have a European business that's going to do really well. So we did expect Europe do really well. But I think it was broad-based, broad-based across our portfolio in Europe, which is, as I said earlier, is a perimeter-based and does benefit from tourism and then we just have a very strong season.

Our last question will be from Jeff Zekauskas of JPMorgan.

In your share repurchase, did you buy your shares rapidly through the quarter. And sequentially, I think your share count is down maybe 150,000 shares. Did you issue shares in the quarter, or is there an issuance number for this year?

There were no shares issued in the quarter. The shares, how many shares do you buy, Kevin?

We bought -- so we bought shares later in the quarter, Jeff, a little over almost 1.1 million.

And they would have all been bought over a couple of week period?

Yes. Yes. And no share ratio, Jeff.

We've no churn. As you look in the fourth quarter, has the European strong volume trend continued?

We expect Europe to be very firm in the fourth quarter as well. As I said earlier, you should not expect 12% every quarter, but long-term compound annual growth rate for the region in the range of 4% to 4.5%, 4% to 5%, that's something reasonable to expect.

And El, I think you said that was the last question. So thank you very much, El, and we thank all of you for joining us, and we'll speak to you again in 2026.

Thank you and that concludes today's conference. Thank you, everyone, for joining. You may disconnect now, and have a great day.