Owens-Illinois, Inc. (OI) reported encouraging results for the fourth quarter and full year 2009. During the fourth quarter of 2009, EPS was $0.49, up from $0.45 in the fourth quarter of 2008. Reported EPS was slightly above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.47. Full-year 2009 EPS was $2.93, down from $3.80 in 2008, while it was above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.91.
Net revenues during the fourth quarter and full year 2009 were $1.9 billion and $7.1 billion, respectively. Fourth quarter revenues were above $1.7 billion in the year-ago quarter, while full-year revenues were down from $7.9 billion in 2008. Fourth quarter sales benefited from improved price and mix. However, during 2009, Owens was negatively affected by unfavorable foreign currency translation effects and 10% decrease in global shipments.
Fourth-quarter operating profit was $195.6 million, up from $157.0 million in the prior-year quarter. The increase was primarily attributable to the improvement in sales due to price and mix and a $26 million favorable foreign currency translation effect. Glass container shipments declined 5% from the fourth quarter of 2008.
Owens continues to implement its strategic footprint alignment initiatives. The company is focused on reducing fixed costs by shutting down less efficient furnaces and machine lines, closing high-cost factories, and moving business to production lines and plants with surplus capacity. Owens has permanently closed down a total of 21 furnaces since the inception of the strategic footprint alignment initiative in 2007, including two furnaces in South America and one furnace in North America in the fourth quarter. Year-to-date, the company has reduced its fixed costs by $121 million through these efforts.
Net debt was $2.80 billion, down $157 million from the prior year. This reduction in net debt was possible due to the generation of $372 million of free cash flow in 2009. We believe Owens is in a good position to meet its capital requirements and fund its ongoing investment in organic growth initiatives.
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