CCL Completes Sale of its North American Custom Manufacturing Division

Stock Symbol: TSX - CCL.A and CCL.NV.B

TORONTO, May 17 /CNW/ - CCL Industries Inc., a world leader in developing
and providing specialty packaging and labelling solutions for the consumer
products industry, announced today that it has completed the sale of its North
American CCL Custom Manufacturing Division to KCP Income Fund for
approximately Cdn $273 million in cash. This transaction transforms CCL into a
pure specialty packaging company. The proceeds from the sale will fund the
continued expansion of CCL's higher growth Label and Container businesses
through further acquisitions and technology improvements. The Company may also
repay debt, and repurchase stock.
The North American Custom Manufacturing Division generated sales of
Cdn $604.6 million in 2004 and accounted for Cdn $26.6 million of CCL's
consolidated operating income. With the sale completed, CCL's annualized
revenues will still be in excess of Cdn $1.0 billion including revenues
generated by Steinbeis Packaging, the label acquisition completed in January
2005.
Mr. Donald Lang, CEO and Vice Chairman stated, "This completes the
dramatic transformation of CCL that we started five years ago, with CCL now
emerging as a pure specialty packaging company focusing on our high growth
Label and Container businesses. We were pleased to report significant income
growth in the first quarter of 2005 compared to the first quarter of 2004 of
18% and 55% in the Label and Container divisions, respectively. This
performance coupled with the positive contributions of ColepCCL and Steinbeis,
ongoing operational improvements and the continued strength of the personal
care market, bode well for continued success in 2005. Based on these positive
factors, we anticipate earnings before unusual items for 2005 to exceed the
Company's 2004 performance."
Donald Lang added, "The sale of our North American Custom Manufacturing
business is consistent with our objective of redeploying our resources to
shareholder value-maximizing initiatives and also reduces our risk profile by
diversifying our exposure to the U.S. currency. This divestiture also
significantly improves CCL's balance sheet to support the continuation of the
Company's growth strategy."
Management believes this initiative will help position CCL to achieve
valuations for its common shares that are more comparable with its publicly
traded North American specialty-packaging peers. CCL anticipates recording an
after tax gain on this disposition of approximately Cdn $100 million or Cdn
$3.00 a share.
The Company is also pleased to confirm the appointment of Geoffrey Martin
to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer, expanding his
responsibilities to include all operations of the new CCL. Donald Lang is
appointed to the new role of Vice Chairman of the Board and retains his
responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer. Both appointments were announced
in April in conjunction with the announcement of the sale of the North
American Custom Manufacturing Division.

CCL Industries Inc. (TSX CCL.A and CCL.NV.B) provides state-of-the-art
packaging solutions, including specialty aluminum containers, plastic tubes
and closures and innovative product labelling, to some of the world's largest
producers of consumer brands, helping them to get their products to market
quickly and cost- effectively. CCL develops and provides specialty-packaging
solutions for producers of leading consumer brands in personal care, cosmetic,
pharmaceutical, household and specialty food and beverage products. With
headquarters in Toronto, Canada, CCL directly employs 4,000 people and
directly operates 38 production facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.

"Statements contained in this Press Release, other than statements of
historical facts, are forward-looking statements subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to
differ materially from statements made. These risks and uncertainties are
detailed from time to time in CCL's public disclosure documents or other
filings with securities regulatory bodies. These forward-looking
statements are made as of the date hereof and CCL disclaims any intention
and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise."

For more details on CCL, visit our web site - www.cclind.com