Crown Holdings 3Q profit falls 5 percent

Crown Holdings 3rd-quarter profit falls as dollar strengthens and sales drop

• On 8:11 pm EDT, Wednesday October 14, 2009

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Crown Holdings Inc., a maker of food and drink packaging, said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit fell 5 percent as the stronger dollar reduced sales and it booked a $35 million restructuring charge to close three plants.

Philadelphia-based Crown earned $108 million, or 67 cents per share, in the three months that ended Sept. 30. That is down from the $114 million, or 70 cents per share, the company earned a year earlier.

Without the one-time cost for the plant closures, Crown said it earned 81 cents per share, which is a penny higher than the 80-cent-per-share consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell 4 percent to $2.28 billion from $2.37 billion, missing analysts' average forecast of $2.34 billion.

Crown shares fell $1.11, or 3.8 percent, to $28.10 in aftermarket trading after closing Wednesday up 46 cents at $29.21.