Rexam Plc, the world's biggest maker of drinks cans, predicted an active 2002 due to price rises in the US. The optimism came as it unveiled a forecast-beating rise in profit for 2001. The world's fourth biggest consumer packaging firm, which makes cans for Coca Cola, said prices would rise around 4% on its approximate GBP 1bn of sales to the American drinks market. Once an industrial and building materials conglomerate, Rexam sold around 75% of its business in the late 1990s to focus on consumer packaging, and brought American National Can - which makes around 40bn drinks cans a year - in 2000. Rexam, valued at nearly £2BN, which also makes plastic tubs for foods and glass phials for perfumes, said profit before tax, etc rose 8% to £218M for the year ended December 31.
