Greif Inc, a maker of industrial packaging products, posted a 39 percent fall in quarterly profit, hurt mainly by lower sales at its industrial packaging segment.

For the third quarter, the company posted net income of $39.7 million, or 68 cents per Class A share, compared with $64.6 million, or $1.10 per Class A share, a year ago.

Excluding items, it earned 88 cents per Class A share.

Revenue fell 31 percent to $717.6 million. Industrial Packaging net sales decreased 30 percent to $594.2 million while Paper Packaging net sales were down 32 percent to $120.2 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 86 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $779.7 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

For fiscal 2009, the company expects earnings of $3.25 to $3.50 per Class A share.

Greif expects restructuring charges of about $78 million during fiscal 2009. Year-to-date restructuring activities included the closure of 16 facilities and the elimination of more than 2,000 positions, the company added. Shares of the Delaware, Ohio-based company closed at $48.20 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Divya Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup)