Ball Maintains Global Leadership Position on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

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Sep 10, 2015, 08:43 ET

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Sept. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Corporation has been named the industry leader for container and packaging companies on the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for the third consecutive year. Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) maintained its best-in-class position on both the DJSI World Index, and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America (DJSI NA).

"Achieving placement on the prestigious Dow Jones indices for sustainability is significant and we're proud to be listed once again," said John A. Hayes, chairman, president and CEO. "At Ball, sustainability is both a core value and a long-term investment. Congratulations to each of our employees around the world who drive Ball's culture of sustainability and its progress."

The DJSI World Index tracks the performance of the top 10 percent of the 2,500 largest companies on the S&P Global Broad Market Index^SM that lead the field in terms of sustainability; while the DJSI NA tracks the performance of the top 20 percent of the 600 largest Canadian and United States companies. Ball earned industry-leading scores in the environmental and social dimensions and scored particularly well on criteria integral to its Drive for 10 vision such as operational health and safety, operational eco-efficiency, product stewardship and stakeholder engagement.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM, an investment specialist focused on sustainability investing, invited over 3,400 companies to respond to approximately 100 questions on economic, environmental and social issues with a focus on industry-specific criteria that have a material impact on companies' ability to generate long-term value. This analysis is complemented by an additional examination of media coverage, stakeholder commentaries and other publicly available sources.

"We embrace opportunities that promote long-term thinking and shared value creation because of the important role they play for our customers, our employees and the communities they live in," said Bjoern Kulmann, Ball's director of sustainability. "Examples include a new iteration of Ball's revolutionary ReAl technology, which allows us to provide aluminum aerosol cans to our customers that weigh 15 percent less compared to a standard aluminum aerosol container, and Cut/4 CArboN—our 2020 target to cut the carbon footprint of our beverage cans by one-fourth."

Ball also engages in multiple stakeholder platforms such as the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, IMPACT 2030, and The Recycling Partnership in order to collaboratively drive sustainability. Ball Aerospace also plays a role for sustainable development by providing earth-observation and climate satellites to scientific government agencies."

For more information on Ball's sustainability efforts and an overview of all external sustainability assessments, please visit www.ball.com/sustainability.

About Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2014 sales of $8.6 billion. For more information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99 in our Form 10-K, which are available on our website and at www.sec.gov. Factors that might affect: a) our packaging segments include product demand fluctuations; availability/cost of raw materials; competitive packaging, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve productivity improvements or cost reductions; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; customer and supplier consolidation, power and supply chain influence; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; political instability and sanctions; and changes in foreign exchange or tax rates; b) our aerospace segment include funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts; c) the company as a whole include those listed plus: changes in senior management; regulatory action or issues including tax, environmental, health and workplace safety, including U.S. FDA and other actions or public concerns affecting products filled in our containers, or chemicals or substances used in raw materials or in the manufacturing process; technological developments and innovations; litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; uncertainties surrounding the U.S. government budget, sequestration and debt limit; reduced cash flow; ability to achieve cost-out initiatives; interest rates affecting our debt; and successful or unsuccessful acquisitions and divestitures, including, with respect to the proposed Rexam PLC acquisition, the effect of the announcement of the acquisition on our business relationships, operating results and business generally; the occurrence of any event or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of our definitive agreement with Rexam PLC in respect of the acquisition; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us related to the definitive agreement with Rexam PLC; and the failure to satisfy conditions to completion of the acquisition of Rexam PLC, including the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

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