REX.L Share News (REX)

Pre-tax profit fell 11.9 per cent in the full year to December 31st at FTSE 100-listed consumer packaging company Rexam.A difficult year in the healthcare products packaging section weighed on the results, with healthcare operating profit down 26.3% to £48m.By contrast, beverage can volumes rose 6% and organic operating profit increased 5% to £456m.Overall, sales increased 2% to £4,312m. Underlying profit before tax rose 1% to £418m and underlying earnings per share jumped 5% to 35.5.The dividend per share rose 6% to 15.2p.Graham Chipchase, Chief Executive Officer of Rexam, commented on the results, saying: "In 2012, we made further encouraging progress. Beverage cans traded well driven by the global growth in specialty cans and a strong recovery in our market share in the US. "We saw good growth in all our regions with volumes up 6% and organic operating profit increasing by 5%. We are continuing to invest in new lines and capacity to support our future growth. However, as previously highlighted, healthcare had a difficult year largely due to one of our customer's products coming off patent."MF