Group, the glass and metal packaging giant led by Irishman Paul Coulson, swung into a $766 million loss last year as it wrote down the value of its North American glass business and absorbed large transaction costs, including from the spin-off of its drink cans unit.
The company also booked $415 million of transaction-related and other costs last year, including an accounting charge relating to the reversal last August of its beverage cans division into a New York-listed cash shell. Ardagh retains a 75 per cent in the US-listed company, which has been renamed as Ardagh Metal Packaging .
Group revenue rose to $7.58 billion last year from $6.73 billion in 2020, amid rising demand for sustainable packaging and as the company passed on rising input costs, including energy, where possible to customers. Ardagh itself floated in New York in 2017 after an initial public offering that saw stock market investors take an 8 per cent stake in the business. Most of these opted late last year to exchange their Ardagh shares for units in AMP, resulting in the parent group being delisted.