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The North American tariff war kicked off by US president Donald Trump on Sunday has spooked investors in Australian glass bottle and aluminium can producer Orora (ASX:ORA), which has operations in Mexico and the United States.
Shares in Melbourne-based Orora are down 5.91 per cent at the time of writing at $2.23, representing a loss in market capitalisation of almost $189 million.
This percentage decline is roughly three times the drop in ASX All Ordinary shares of 1.68 per cent, with the Materials, Consumer Discretionary, Industrial, Health Care and IT sectors the hardest hit following Trump's signing off on tariffs of 25 per cent for imports from Mexico and Canada, and 10 per cent for products from China.
Orora completed the US$1.2 billion ($1.96 billion) sale of its North American business Orora Packaging Solutions (OPS) to Veritiv Corporation in December, but the group still maintains a strong footprint on the continent.
An Orora spokesperson has told Business News Australia the group is working through the implications of tariffs given the exact details have only just been announced.
"Through our Saverglass business, Orora sells some products in the USA that are manufactured in Mexico. We operate one glass manufacturing facility in Mexico and, following the sale of the OPS business last year, do not have any manufacturing presence in Canada or the USA," the spokesperson explains.
"Orora has the benefit of being able to mitigate risk in specific geographies through our global glass network, which spans 12 manufacturing plants across four continents."
The spokesperson clarifies that Australian and New Zealand operations only manufacture cans, and that Saverglass products manufactured in Mexico that are imported into the USA account for less than 5 per cent of group revenue.
"It’s important to note that we don’t know at this stage how long these tariffs will remain in place and whether or not they will change. We will continue to leverage the flexibility of our global glass network," the spokesperson says.
The group's glass decoration facility in Mexico is one of three that it operates globally, with the other sites being in France. Trump has also threatened the European Union with tariffs.
At Orora's annual general meeting (AGM) in October, chair Rob Sindel described 2024 as a year of transformation for the group, reshaping its portfolio to focus on sustainable beverage packaging following decisive actions such as selling the fibre business in 2020, optimising and then selling OPS, investing significantly in the cans business, and acquiring premium spirits and wine bottles manufacturer Saverglass in 2023.
"These decisions were the building blocks for a highly focused beverage packaging business," he said, noting that after selling OPS the business would be much "simpler and concentrated" with a market-leading presence in Australasian Cans and as a global leader in premium bottles.
"The expected net proceeds strengthen the balance sheet providing options to invest in organic growth and also support future shareholder returns," he said at the time.
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