Rexam's (REX) results took a back seat to news that its board has accepted an improved £4.4bn takeover offer from US rival Ball Corporation. The offer values the can maker at 628p a share - a 40 per cent premium to its share price before Ball's initial bid - and promises to create a global leader in consumer packaging.
Flat figures from Rexam - whose customers include Coca-Cola and PepsiCo - threaten to take the fizz out of market sentiment. As flagged in November's profit warning, adverse currency effects and high aluminium prices wreaked havoc on its earnings: they wiped £73m off underlying operating profit, which came in at £418m - a 7 per cent contraction year on year. Rexam also experienced tough trading conditions in the US and Russia, but that was partly offset by an 18 per cent rise in volumes of speciality cans in Africa, Asia and the Middle East as the group's hefty emerging markets investments paid off.