| | | | | | |
| | Three Months Ended March 31, |
($ in millions) | | 2022 | | 2021 |
| | | | | | |
Cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities | | $ | (804) | | $ | (477) |
Cash flows provided by (used in) investing activities | | | (46) | | | (348) |
Cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities | | | 715 | | | (54) |
Cash flows used in operating activities were $804 million in 2022, primarily driven by working capital outflows of $1 billion, pension contributions of $104 million and a donation of $30 million to The Ball Foundation, partially offset by cash generated from net earnings, excluding gains related to the sale of our remaining equity method investment in Ball Metalpack. In comparison to the same period in 2021, and after adjusting for the impact of capital expenditures, our working capital movements reflect an increase in days sales outstanding of 11 days, an increase in inventory days on hand of 14 days and an increase in days payable outstanding of 5 days for the three months ending March 31, 2022, all of which reflect increased aluminum prices and seasonal inventory build during the first quarter of 2022.
Cash flows used in investing activities were $46 million in 2022 primarily driven by $362 million of capital expenditures, partially offset by $298 million received for the sale of our remaining equity method investment in Ball Metalpack.
Cash flows provided by financing activities were $715 million in 2022 driven primarily by net borrowings of $877 million from our short-term and long-term credit facilities, partially offset by net share purchases of $97 million and common stock dividends of $65 million.
We have entered into several regional committed and uncommitted accounts receivable factoring programs with various financial institutions for certain of our receivables. The programs are accounted for as true sales of the receivables, without recourse to Ball, and had combined limits of approximately $2 billion and $1.7 billion at March 31, 2022, and December 31, 2021, respectively. A total of $892 million and $308 million were available for sale under such programs as of March 31, 2022, and December 31, 2021, respectively.
Contributions to the company’s defined benefit pension plans were $104 million in the first three months of 2022 compared to $162 million in the same period of 2021, and such contributions are expected to be approximately $127 million for the full year of 2022. This estimate may change based on changes to the U.S. Pension Protection Act and actual returns achieved on plan assets, among other factors.
The company has approximately $1.7 billion of capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment contractually
committed as of March 31, 2022, and intends to return approximately $1.75 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends.
As of March 31, 2022, approximately $232 million of our cash was held outside of the U.S. In the event we need to utilize any of the cash held outside the U.S. for purposes within the U.S., there are no material legal or other economic restrictions regarding the repatriation of cash from any of the countries outside the U.S. where we have cash. Management believes the company’s U.S. operating cash flows and cash on hand, together with its availability under long-term, revolving credit facilities, uncommitted short-term credit facilities and committed and uncommitted accounts receivable factoring programs, will be sufficient to meet the cash requirements of the U.S. portion of our ongoing operations, scheduled principal and interest payments on U.S. debt, dividend payments, capital expenditures and other U.S. cash requirements. If non-U.S. funds are needed for our U.S. cash requirements and we are unable to provide the funds through intercompany financing arrangements, we would be required to repatriate funds from non-U.S. locations where the company has previously asserted indefinite reinvestment of funds outside the U.S.
Based on its indefinite reinvestment assertion, the company has not provided deferred taxes on earnings in certain non-U.S. subsidiaries because such earnings are intended to be indefinitely reinvested in its international operations. It is not practical to estimate the additional taxes that may become payable if these earnings were remitted to the U.S.
Share Repurchases
The company’s share repurchases, net of issuances, totaled $97 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $5 million of repurchases, net of issuances, during the same period of 2021. The company’s share repurchases are completed using cash on hand, cash provided by operating activities and available borrowings.