Lower demand in Europe led to reduced profit for O-I in Q3, the company announced. These results were offset by higher operating profit in all of its other regions. Net earnings were US$ 92M (US$ 119). CEO Al Stroucken said: "On balance, our operations performed well this quarter, boosted by more demand in the Americas and cost reductions across the company. As planned, our actions to balance EU production with lower demand resulted in a decline in operating profit. We are expecting higher year-on-year profit in South America due to stronger demand and efficiencies driven by our new furnace in Southern Brazil. However, we will continue to balance production with lower demand in Europe, and this will likely lead to lower Q4 2012 earnings." In the next few years the company plans to increase the efficiency of its EU operations with investments and by investigating facilities with higher costs.
