Profits of £285m but Rexam still cautious

REXAM, one of the world's biggest makers of drinks cans, was cautiously optimistic for 2010 yesterday after last year's profit met expectations and volumes stabilised in some markets.

The firm, which has been reducing expenditure and slashing debt, will remain focused on cost-cutting in what chief executive Graham Chipcase said would continue to be a challenging trading environment.

He said: "Looking at the outlook for 2010 … uncertainty persists as to the strength of any global economic recovery. However, volumes in parts of our business do appear to be stabilising."

Rexam, whose customers include Coca-Cola, Pepsi and SABMiller, posted underlying pretax profit of 285 million for the year to 31 December, compared with 328m in 2008.

The group said it had reduced net debt to 1.8 billion from 2.6bn a year ago, aided by a rights issue in August, and that a restructuring plan announced in 2009 was on schedule to deliver 45m of cost savings in 2010.

The FTSE 100 company said its closures business, which makes lids for bottles, remained under pressure as it announced a further plant shut-down in the US.