John A. Hayes Appointed Executive Vice President of Ball Packaging Europe

BROOMFIELD, Colo., May 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Corporation announced today that John A. Hayes has been appointed executive vice president of Ball Packaging Europe. He also will remain a vice president of Ball Corporation.

Hayes will be involved in overall management of Ball Packaging Europe, which produces aluminum and steel beverage cans at 12 locations throughout Europe. It is part of Ball's international packaging segment.

Hayes has been vice president, corporate strategy, marketing and development, since 2003. He joined Ball Corporation in 1999 as senior director, corporate planning and development. Prior to that he was a vice president with Lehman Brothers in Chicago.

"John Hayes has made many important contributions to Ball Corporation's success in recent years, including a lead role in the 2002 acquisition and subsequent smooth integration of what is now Ball Packaging Europe," said R. David Hoover, chairman, president and CEO of Ball. "He knows the business well and will be a valuable member of the strong management team we have in Europe."

Hayes will report to Hanno C. Fiedler, chairman and CEO of Ball Packaging Europe, until Fiedler's retirement at the end of 2005. Fiedler will become chairman of the supervisory board for Ball Packaging Europe GmbH and remain a member of the Ball Corporation board of directors following his retirement. Jan Driessens, president of Ball Packaging Europe, plans to retire in mid-2006. While Driessens wishes to retire from full-time employment at that time, he will remain a consultant to Ball Packaging Europe.

"We appreciate the fine work Hanno Fiedler and Jan Driessens have done and will continue to do for Ball Packaging Europe," Hoover said. "They will work closely with John Hayes during the coming months and be available to us further in the future as well. We continue to be impressed with the excellent quality of the management team and entire employee group of Ball Packaging Europe."

Ball Corporation is a supplier of metal and plastic packaging products, primarily for the beverage and food industries. The company also owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which develops sensors, spacecraft, systems and components for government and commercial markets. The company employs more than 13,200 people and reported 2004 sales of $5.4 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release contains "forward-looking" statements and other statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," and variations of same and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking 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 the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially in Exhibit 99.2 in the most recent Form 10-K. These filings are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; availability and cost of raw materials, particularly the recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; industry productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions; the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; international business risks, including foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that might affect aerospace segment include: funding, authorization and availability of government contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with segment contracts. Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; regulatory action or laws including environmental and workplace safety; governmental investigations; goodwill impairment; antitrust and other litigation; strikes; boycotts; increases in employee benefits and labor costs; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or management's evaluation of the company's internal control over financial reporting.