Aptar (ATR) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Fri, Oct. 30, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications - Mary Skafidas
• President and CEO - Gael Touya
• Executive Vice President and CFO - Vanessa Kanu

TAKEAWAYS

• Reported Sales -- $1.02 billion, representing a 6% increase driven by broad-based growth across all three segments.
• Core Sales Growth -- 5% for the quarter, reflecting strong demand across the portfolio and the impact of input cost pass-throughs.
• Adjusted Earnings Per Share -- $1.52, a 6% decline from $1.62 in the prior year period, primarily due to higher interest expense and a higher effective tax rate.
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin -- 21.3%, decreasing from 23.2% as a result of lower high-margin emergency medicine sales and margin dilution in other segments.
• Pharma Core Sales -- 1% growth, but 8% growth when excluding the $65 million full-year headwind from emergency medicine destocking.
• Beauty Core Sales -- 8% growth, driven by demand for prestige fragrance, color cosmetics, and hair care dispensing systems.
• Closures Core Sales -- 11% growth, supported by strong demand in the beverage and food markets and innovation in easy-squeeze pouch dispensing.
• Pharma Adjusted EBITDA Margin -- 36.4%, an 80 basis point decline attributed to unfavorable product mix from lower naloxone sales.
• Beauty Adjusted EBITDA Margin -- 11.4%, a 70 basis point decline reflecting operational challenges in North America.
• Closures Adjusted EBITDA Margin -- 15.5%, a 60 basis point decline caused by a 120 basis point dilutive impact from indexation pass-throughs.
• Injectables Core Sales -- 9% growth, reflecting continued demand for elastomeric components used for biologics and GLP-1 therapies.
• Consumer Healthcare Core Sales -- 13% growth, driven by strong demand for dermal solutions and nasal decongestants.
• Beverage End Market -- 19% core sales growth, led by increased sales for bottled water and concentrates.
• Russia Deconsolidation Charge -- $61.2 million pre-tax loss, recorded after the company lost control of its subsidiary due to external administrative control.
• Cash Deconsolidated -- $30 million, representing the cash held by the Russian subsidiary at the time of deconsolidation.
• Q4 Adjusted EPS Guidance -- $1.39 to $1.47, assuming a 1.12 euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate.
• Quarterly Dividend -- $0.50 per share, representing a 4% increase from the previous $0.48 per share.
• Share Repurchases -- 234,000 shares for $30 million during the third quarter, with $420 million remaining under current authorization.
• Capital Expenditures -- $192 million year-to-date, with full-year guidance maintained at $260 million to $280 million.
• Leverage Ratio -- 1.49x, supported by a cash balance of $204 million at the end of the third quarter.
• Adjusted Effective Tax Rate -- 23.4% for the quarter, compared to 20.8% in the prior year period.
• SG&A Expenses -- $160 million, an increase of $11.4 million due to higher professional fees related to the CEO transition and pension cost transfers.
• Food End Market -- 9% core sales growth, driven by demand for sauces and condiments dispensing closures.
• Prescription Core Sales -- 7% decrease, though growth was 6% when excluding the impact of emergency medicine.

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RISKS

• Kanu stated, "As previously reported, that subsidiary, which is currently primarily Closures, is not material to the company's ongoing revenue and earnings," regarding the deconsolidation of Russian operations following a loss of administrative control.
• Touya warned that the margin performance in North American Beauty operations is below expectations and noted that the necessary transformation will take time.
• Touya noted that the baseline for future naloxone sales remains uncertain, and the company will rely on customer feedback through the first quarter of 2027 to determine growth trajectories.

SUMMARY

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) reported third quarter results that reflected the impact of a significant CEO transition and the deconsolidation of its Russian operations. Management reported that the underlying Pharma business remains resilient, showing 8% core sales growth when excluding the anticipated destocking of emergency medicine products. The company confirmed that the $65 million headwind from naloxone sales is expected to lap in the fourth quarter. While top-line growth was observed across all three segments, profitability in the Beauty segment was hampered by ongoing operational challenges in North America. Management stated that its strategy moving forward involves improving execution discipline and focusing on high-growth therapeutic areas such as biologics and central nervous system diseases.

• CEO Touya stated, "The technology is not yet commercially available and is being developed and industrialized through an exclusive collaboration with Bausch + Lomb," regarding the new Beat the Blink ophthalmic technology.
• The company announced a research collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital to advance the science of nose-to-brain delivery for therapies targeting neurological diseases.
• Management reported that one next-generation lower carbon metered dose inhaler program has moved into regulatory review in Europe.
• Aptar Pharma launched Premia Precision, a new quality standard for elastomeric components designed for high-value injectable therapies, including GLP-1 medicines.
• The company acquired PULMOTREE to add non-propellant liquid inhaler technology to its respiratory platform.
• The Closures segment benefited from the conversion of tub-based condiments to pouch dispensing, highlighted by a new launch for Hormel Foods' Wholly Guacamole.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Annex 1: A set of regulatory requirements in the European Union and beyond that governs the manufacture of sterile medicinal products.
• CNS: Central Nervous System, referring to therapies targeting diseases of the brain and spine.
• Core Sales: Sales performance excluding the effects of foreign currency translation and material acquisitions or divestitures.
• Elastomeric: Material used for high-performance sealing in medical applications, such as stoppers and plungers for injectables.
• GLP-1: Glucagon-like peptide-1, a class of drugs used for type 2 diabetes and obesity management.
• Indexation Pass-Throughs: Contractual adjustments that allow a manufacturer to pass on changes in raw material or input costs to customers.
• Metered Dose Inhaler: A device that delivers a specific amount of medication to the lungs, often used for asthma or COPD.
• OSD: Ophthalmic Squeeze Dispenser, a technology for dispensing preservative-free eye treatments.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Aptar's 2026 Third Quarter Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Introducing today's conference call is Ms. Mary Skafidas, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications. Please go ahead.

Marry Skafidas: Hello, everyone. Good morning, and thanks for being with us on our call today. Joining me on today's call are Gael Touya, President and CEO; and Vanessa Kanu, Executive Vice President and CFO. Our press release and accompanying slide deck have been posted on our website under the Investor Relations page. During this call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures are reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and the reconciliations are set forth in the press release. Please refer to the press release disseminated yesterday for reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures discussed during this earnings call.

As always, we will post a replay of this call on our website. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Gael.

Gael Touya: Thank you, Mary, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to join you today for my first earnings call as CEO of Aptar. I will touch on the quarter briefly and then turn it over to Vanessa to add more details. Our results in the quarter demonstrate the underlying strength of our businesses with 5% core sales growth across all 3 segments and adjusted earnings per share at the higher end of our guidance range. Our adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.3% remain within our long-term target range, despite emergency medicine destocking and the associated mix impact. In Pharma, while the anticipated reduction in emergency medicine sales continue to affect our growth rate, the underlying business remains strong.

Results were driven by broad-based demand across a number of end markets in each of our divisions. This breadth is important. Our Pharma growth opportunities are not dependent on one product or one therapeutic category. It reflects the depth of our portfolio, innovation pipeline and the increasingly important role Aptar plays with customers across the drug development cycle. Our ambition is to continue moving forward, becoming the partner of choice for our customers through our technology, scientific expertise, services and regulatory capabilities. Beauty also delivered a strong top line growth in the quarter with strong demand from a number of end markets, including prestige fragrance and color cosmetics. But looking at the profitability, I want to be clear.

Sales growth alone is not our objective. Our goal is to convert the strong demand for our products into more consistent profitability. We have excellent technology, strong customer relationships and leading positions in attractive categories. At the same time, the margin performance, mostly in North America is not where it needs to be. Closures also delivered double-digit core sales growth, reflecting strong demand in beverage and food and continued momentum from innovation. From a margin perspective, without the decrease from the impact of indexation, Closures would have been within their long-term adjusted EBITDA target range, and Vanessa will talk further about that. Across Aptar, my priorities remain straightforward: profitable growth, execution and disciplined capital allocation.

Pharma is a pipeline business, and many of you have asked us to provide more visibility into that pipeline. So I want to spend a few minutes highlighting some of the key developments we have seen over the last several months. These opportunities span different technologies, customers and therapeutic areas, and they are at different stages of development. Some will take time to contribute, but taken together, they provide a clearer view of how we can extend our leadership positions and create new avenues of growth. Let's look at some concrete examples. In ophthalmic, we continue to see attractive opportunities to build on our strong position in eye care.

Earlier this year, we introduced Beat the Blink, designed to improve dosing precision and the patient experience. The technology is not yet commercially available and is being developed and industrialized through an exclusive collaboration with Bausch + Lomb. Since then, we are encouraged by an early clinical study of Beat the Blink, which showed strong patient acceptance and preference for the solution. This innovation demonstrates how we are bringing together our drug delivery, formulation and human factors expertise to address unmet patient and consumer needs. In our ophthalmic pipeline, I want to point out that we are starting to see biologics in clinical testing across areas such as limbal stem cell deficiency, macular degeneration and dry eye disease.

Biologics are starting to be disseminated through different routes of delivery beyond injectables. This is another area where we see meaningful long-term growth potential. Overall, we see ophthalmic as an attractive area for continued innovation and future growth. Prescription to over-the-counter switches can be an attractive growth opportunity for Aptar as broader consumer access can translate into higher volumes for our dispensing solutions. A recent example is acne treatment, where our device is supporting its transition from prescription to OTC in the U.S. It also reflects the growing intersection of pharmaceutical innovation and consumer skin care. Switching to nasal drug delivery, we recently announced a research collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital focused on advancing the science of nose-to-brain delivery.

The goal is to make this emerging pathway more predictable and data-driven and to help pharmaceutical companies assess molecular classes earlier and accelerate the development of therapies targeting neurological and central nervous system diseases. This builds on decades of Aptar expertise in nasal delivery and is expected to strengthen our position in an area where we see meaningful long-term opportunity. Nasally delivered therapies continue to progress across several therapeutic areas. We have Phase III programs in pain management and severe allergic reactions. Phase II programs include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, other neurological diseases and therapies focused on the prevention of respiratory viral infections and emergency treatment.

Earlier-stage opportunities further broaden the pipeline across schizophrenia, nausea, concussion, Alzheimer's and dementia and migraine. We also see longer-term potential in pain and anesthetics, addiction, depression and other novel therapeutics. These developments demonstrate how the pipeline is maturing, with program advancing through clinical development and moving closer to potential approval and commercialization. We have also seen development related to vaccines with our LuerVax intranasal delivery system and Spray Divider now carrying the European conformity mark, enhancing our ability to support customers developing intranasal vaccines. In inhalation, we continue to expand our capabilities in next-generation pulmonary drug delivery.

We recently announced a 3 years collaboration research with Macquarie University focused on high-dose dry powder delivery of biologics medicines using our orbital inhaler platform. This is yet another example of biologics projects in our pipeline being disseminated through a route of delivery beyond injectables. We are also expanding our respiratory platform through the acquisition of PULMOTREE, adding its Kolibri non-propellant liquid inhaler technology. Together, these initiatives are intended to broaden the range of complex therapies we can support and create opportunities for long-term growth. We are also supporting the transition to our next-generation lower carbon metered dose inhalers.

One program using our valve technology has progressed through Phase III into regulatory review in Europe with the potential to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of a widely used respiratory therapy while maintaining comparable efficacy and safety. Beyond the pipeline, we continue to invest in manufacturing capabilities to support customers as these markets grow. This quarter, we expanded our Pharma operations in Mumbai, India, strengthening our supply chain resilience and our ability to serve customers in the region. In Injectables, we launched Premia Precision, a new quality standard for elastomeric components designed for complex and high-value injectable therapies, including biologics, GLP-1 medicines, for instance. It brings together tighter quality controls, advanced contamination and defect management and 100% automated vision inspection.

Earlier this week, we announced a collaboration with Stevanato Group to advance system-level solutions aimed at helping customers make earlier, more informed packaging decisions for complex biologics and other injectable therapies. This is Aptar Pharma's first collaboration as part of the integrated system-level framework launched in July for injectable drug development. These developments are meant to position Aptar Pharma for the future. We are continuing to deepen our differentiation across all delivery routes, where our technology, services, scientific expertise and patient understanding position us as the partner of choice for our customers. Turning to Beauty. We are focused on driving growth by bringing differentiated premium solutions to leading brands across key beauty categories and geographies.

Recent wins include the first launch of our patented fragrance refill technology with Bvlgari's Le Gemme Tygar Travel Spray in Europe, our premium cosmetic pump for Helena Rubinstein's Powercell Serum and our custom pump for SK-II Facial Treatment Serum in China. These launches highlight the strength of our innovation pipeline and our ability to translate customers partnerships into attractive growth opportunities. In Closures, we continue to support the conversion of tub-based condiments to easy-squeeze pouch dispensing. A recent example is Hormel Foods' Wholly Guacamole, featuring our closure with SimpliSqueeze valve.

Our SimpliSqueeze valve technology is also used in the personal care market for ease of dispensing products in the shower as found on the new inverted Dance Body Wash by IP One in Thailand. Finally, our continued partnership with McCormick, which is focused on elevating their spice portfolio, led to the launch of a distinctive 2-color easy open closure for spices in Mexico. As you can see from our highlights, we believe we have strong businesses, excellent customer relationships and differentiated technologies. My focus is on initiatives intended to translate those strength into consistent financial performance and long-term value creation.

I'm encouraged by what I've seen in my first weeks as CEO, but I'm equally clear about where we need to improve. We are focused on staying close to our customers, continuing to invest behind our best growth opportunities and bringing greater accountability and operational discipline to how we execute to improve profitability. With that, I'll turn the call over to Vanessa to take you through the quarter in more detail.

Vanessa Kanu: Thank you, Gael, and good morning, everyone. Before we get into the results, I want to acknowledge our 8-K filed in late September regarding our Russian subsidiary that is now under administrative control. As previously reported, that subsidiary, which is currently primarily Closures, is not material to the company's ongoing revenue and earnings. As a result of the loss of control, we have deconsolidated the Russian subsidiary effective September 21, 2026. We recorded a combined charge of $61.2 million before tax and $60.4 million after tax or $0.94 per diluted share. The charge consists of a $58 million loss on deconsolidation, which included approximately $30 million of cash held by the subsidiary, along with related receivable reserves and legal costs.

This charge has been excluded from our adjusted earnings. Now turning to top line results. Our reported sales increased 6% to just over $1 billion and core sales increased 5% compared to the prior year period, driven by growth across our segments and the impact of pass-throughs of higher input costs. Let me provide additional details on sales growth by segment, starting with Pharma. Our Pharma segment's core sales increased 1%. Excluding the impact of the anticipated emergency medicine headwind, core sales grew 8% in the quarter, demonstrating the underlying strength of our portfolio. As previously discussed, emergency medicine sales are expected to decrease by approximately $65 million for the full year 2026.

This destocking is expected to lap in the fourth quarter. Looking across our key pharma markets, starting with our proprietary drug delivery systems, prescription core sales decreased 7%. Excluding emergency medicine, prescription core sales increased 6% with central nervous system and asthma and COPD therapies driving growth in the quarter. Consumer Healthcare core sales increased 13%, driven by strong demand for nasal decongestants and dermal solutions. Injectables core sales increased 9% with continued strong demand, primarily for elastomeric components used for GLP-1, biologics and vaccines. We also continue to see strong pipeline activity across Annex 1, GLP-1 and biologics projects.

And for our Active Material Science Solutions, core sales increased 4% in the quarter with growth in oral solid dose and probiotic sales. Turning to Beauty. Core sales increased 8%, driven by higher demand for dispensing systems across prestige fragrance, color cosmetics and hair care markets. Pass-throughs of higher input costs contributed approximately half of the core sales growth. Looking at Beauty's 2 largest end markets, fragrance, facial skin care and color cosmetics core sales increased 5%, primarily due to strong sales growth in Prestige fragrance pumps and color cosmetics. Our turnkey indie beauty business continued to perform well, benefiting from the growth of indie brands.

Personal Care core sales increased 11% as we continue to see good demand for hair care, shower gels and baby care applications. Beauty generated strong core sales growth, albeit lower margins reduced the flow-through to profitability. And turning to Closures. Core sales increased 11% compared to the prior year period, reflecting strong product sales growth in addition to the pass-through of higher input costs, which contributed approximately half of the segment's core sales growth. Across Closures' 2 largest end markets, food core sales increased 9%, primarily due to continued demand for our sauces and condiments dispensing closures.

Beverage core sales increased 19%, primarily driven by increased sales for bottled water and concentrates with additional support from strong tooling sales in the quarter. Now moving from sales to profitability. Consolidated gross margin declined by 120 basis points year-over-year, primarily due to lower sales of high-margin emergency medicine products and lower gross margins in Beauty and Closures. We expect the emergency medicine destocking impact to lap in Q4 2026. SG&A increased in absolute dollars by approximately $11.4 million to $160 million, and as a percentage of sales, increased slightly from 15.5% in Q3 2025 to 15.7% in Q3 2026.

The increase was attributed to a number of current period dynamics, including higher professional fees, largely associated with our CEO transition, an allowance for credit loss related to our Russian receivables and the pension cost transfer, which from an accounting perspective, increased SG&A, but is offset by a curtailment gain that is classified in other income. These current period increases offset productivity savings we continue to generate across the business. From an EBITDA perspective, we achieved adjusted EBITDA of $217 million, a decrease of 2% from the prior year and delivered an adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.3% compared to 23.2% in the prior year.

Breaking that down by segment, Pharma's adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 36.4%, an 80 basis point decline from the prior year. The margin decline was anticipated and driven by short-term unfavorable product mix arising from the decline in high-margin emergency medicine sales, while royalties and productivity initiatives continued to contribute positively. Beauty's adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 11.4%, a decline of 70 basis points year-over-year, including unfavorable mix and ongoing challenges in our North American operations, which, as Gael indicated, we are focused on improving, but it will not be a linear progression.

Closures' adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.5%, a 60 basis point decline from the prior year, driven by the margin dilution effect of indexation pass-throughs, which impacted margins by 120 basis points. Without this impact, the segment's adjusted EBITDA margin would have improved by 60 basis points due to favorable product mix, mainly from higher-value beverage dispensing. Turning to earnings per share. Adjusted EPS was $1.52, a decrease of 6% compared to the prior year's adjusted EPS of $1.62 at comparable exchange rates, which was primarily due to lower adjusted EBITDA, higher interest expense and a higher effective tax rate. Turning to our year-to-date performance. Reported sales increased 8% and core sales increased 2%.

Strong growth in Consumer Healthcare and Injectables offset the emergency medicine destocking, while Beauty and Closures also saw growth on a year-to-date basis. Adjusted EBITDA declined slightly to $619 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin declined by 180 basis points to 20.4%. Adjusted EPS was $4.13, which decreased 10% compared to the prior year, including comparable exchange rates. Turning to free cash flow. Free cash flow year-to-date was $198 million, comprising cash from operations of $390 million, less capital expenditures net of government grants of $192 million. Year-to-date, we have returned $272 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. Over the last 9 months, we have repurchased 1.3 million shares for $180 million.

As of September 30, we had $420 million remaining under our existing share repurchase authorization. Additionally, our Board of Directors have authorized an increase in our quarterly dividend by 4%. Exiting the quarter, our balance sheet remains strong with a cash balance of $204 million and a leverage ratio of 1.49x. With that, let me turn to our outlook for the fourth quarter. We anticipate fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $1.39 to $1.47. At the midpoint, this reflects expected growth of 17% from prior year Q4, including comparable exchange rates. This assumes an effective tax rate range of 17.5% to 19.5% and the euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate of 1.12.

For the full year 2026, we continue to expect capital investments to be in the range of $260 million to $280 million and depreciation and amortization expense to be between $310 million and $320 million. With that, I will turn it over to Gael to provide a few closing comments before we move to Q&A.

Gael Touya: As we look to the remainder of the year, we expect Aptar to finish on a strong note, driven by Pharma. We anticipate continued growth across a number of Pharma end markets, led by robust demand for consumer health care dispensing systems and elastomeric components for injectables. Additionally, the segment will no longer be affected by the emergency medicine destocking headwind. We expect Pharma margins to improve year-over-year as productivity initiatives continue to gain traction and operational efficiencies take hold. We remain excited about the strength of our Pharma pipeline and the opportunities it creates for future growth.

Across nasal, inhalation, ophthalmic and injectable drug delivery, our technologies and services are supporting programs that span a broad range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, respiratory conditions, pain management and macular degeneration and other eye diseases. As these programs progress through development and towards commercialization, they reinforce the long-term growth potential of our Pharma business. Our Beauty and Closures segments are both supported by differentiated dispensing solutions and strong customer partnerships. Beauty has strong momentum in Prestige fragrance supported by high-value dispensing solution. In Closures, we remain encouraged by the positive response to our beverage applications that continue to drive customer adoption. We believe Aptar is well positioned for both near-term performance and long-term value creation.

Before I open the call to questions, I wanted to highlight that we recently announced the appointment of Virginie Maes as President of Aptar Pharma effective January 1. Virginie brings deep global pharma and medical experience and a strong customer and growth orientation. She will build on our strong foundations as we deepen customer partnerships and pursue the significant growth opportunities across our Pharma portfolio. And with that, I'd like to open the call to questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Ghansham Panjabi with Baird.

Ghansham Panjabi: I'll just ask my 2 questions upfront, both specific to Pharma. First off, on 3Q, just the margin dynamic year-over-year, down 80 basis points, which is quite a bit better than the trend line during the first half of the year. So I would love some color as to what drove that. And then second, as it relates to the emergency medicine destock, is that still tracking in line with plan, i.e., will there still be a residual impact on 4Q? And do you have confidence that, that will be done, if so, by the fourth quarter with no residual into 2027?

Gael Touya: Ghansham, thanks for the question. I will take the second one, and Vanessa will bring you some color regarding margins. So yes, we are trending where we said we're going to be trending. So the $65 million negative impact with the naloxone destocking, emergency medicine being naloxone. And as we run to Q4, I mean, the destocking impact will be behind us. So trending where we say we're going to be trending. So the question will be where is going to be the baseline moving forward? And we're going to know this by Q1, I mean, 2027. There is no official data you can buy. So we are relying on comments and conversations we've got with our customers.

Vanessa Kanu: Ghansham, so on the margin front, absolutely, we had a very strong margin quarter for Pharma, 36.4%. Yes, it was down about 80 basis points year-over-year. Last Q3 was, I would say, abnormally high in excess of 37%. So we were actually quite pleased to see the 36.4%, higher than the top end of our guidance range. And so why was that? We had strong pharma revenues in the quarter, as you saw from the -- or heard from the prepared remarks, coming in at 8% growth isolating for the emergency medicine impact, and that was broad-based, not necessarily one thing. Royalties are helping to improve things.

And then importantly, I also want to call out because when we had talked about the emergency medicine impact several quarters ago, we also did say that the segment was going to be initiating productivity improvements to help to partially mitigate the impact, and we are seeing those pay off quite well. So I would say all of those different factors contributed to very strong margins, 36.4%, notwithstanding being down slightly from a high in Q3 last year.

Gael Touya: And I will add that if you exclude the emergency medicine negative impact, I mean, the year-over-year margin for Pharma is improving.

Vanessa Kanu: That's right.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Paul Knight with KeyBanc.

Paul Knight: Gael, if EvaluatePharma is to be believed, which it seems to be a credible source, of course, they're looking at a 14% growth rate in the top 10 intranasal drugs. Do you think with this increased higher level of sales in intranasal that your long-term range -- your long-term goal in Pharma of 11% at the top side has got some room above that 11%?

Gael Touya: What we say and share, Paul, is we are pretty comfortable with that corridor, the 7% and the 11%. This is a long-term trajectory. Obviously, some quarters, some years, we're going to be above or under. But I would like to say we are very confident with our pipeline. The pipeline is robust, but not only robust, I'm quite satisfied with the progress programs are making through development. So the robustness of the pipeline, the growing recurring nasal business is quite positive. And when you look at the market fundamentals, I mean, we see market tractions around biologics, the GLP-1, the different SNDD, CNS, central nervous system.

So I'd like to thank you for calling out nasal, because this is a great business. But what is very important is to say we've got a good quality pipeline, and we are really happy with the kind of support we give to big pharma, early-stage biotech company.

Paul Knight: And then lastly, the Stevanato joint venture, when do you expect that to start delivering on revenue? Is it something for next year? Or when do you expect it to become revenue generating with Stevanato?

Gael Touya: So first, we are really happy with that partnership with one of the key leader in the market. This integrated solution is really offering the market, I mean, the right profile for better stability testing and moving through the validation up to approval by the regulatory bodies. So that's going to contribute to the pipeline build and the pipeline conversion.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Matt Roberts with Raymond James.

Matthew Roberts: Looking at prescription medicine, I believe ex emergency, that was up 6% in 3Q, down slightly from 2Q. Maybe you could just talk about any changes quarter-over-quarter, what happened in that category? I think 4Q for Pharma overall faces a tougher comp ex emergency. So basically, excluding emergency, what are your expectations for Pharma and specifically prescription now that the emergency headwind is over?

Gael Touya: Yes. So I'm not reading anything specific from quarter-to-quarter with prescription. I mean our pulmonary business is solid. We are supporting the propellant switch, and we are one of the key partner for different players in the market. Outside naloxone, I mean, the impact, our emergency category has been growing. I could think about severe epilepsy, severe hypoglycemia, anaphylactic shock. This is some of the categories where we see a good growth in the business.

And what is key for us is we continue to be what I call a partner of choice to the ecosystem where on top of our product quality, and I believe we've got the best product portfolio on the market, we can support our customers through formulation development, through analytical testing and regulatory capabilities for them to be approved first time whenever they reach the last stage of their development program.

Matthew Roberts: Appreciate that. Maybe another [indiscernible]. You highlighted North American Beauty as a priority. Maybe you spent time getting reacquainted with that business. Where do you see the biggest opportunity in Aptar's control?

Vanessa Kanu: Matt, we're not sure if it's your connection, but we cannot hear you. Could you repeat the question?

Matthew Roberts: [indiscernible]

Gael Touya: No, it is the same. Are we the only one on the...

Vanessa Kanu: [ Warren, ] are you getting...

Matthew Roberts: I'll try again. Sorry about that.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of George Staphos with Bank of America.

George Staphos: Thanks for the details, Gael.

Vanessa Kanu: You sound so much better, George. You sound great, George. So now we know it's Matt, not us. Yes.

George Staphos: Okay. Well, Matt is better looking and funnier than me. So in any event. So listen -- don't let that go to your head, Matt. So anyway, first question for you, Gael, we look forward to working with you in the new role. I guess with emergency medicine, I think you said revenue -- the decline you expected this year was $65 million. And I guess then without trying to draw too fine a point on it, what has been the revenue hit so far so that back to Ghansham's question earlier, we could gauge how much is left in terms of the destock for this year and into the first quarter, you said, Gael, we could gauge the trajectory.

Do you expect that e-med, emergency medicine, the margin on that business will be comparable to what it had been prior to the destock? And then I had a follow-on.

Gael Touya: So thanks, George. I don't think so. I think the naloxone market moving forward. So first, we need to understand what is the best line and we're going to get a better visibility by Q1. But I don't think -- I mean, the growth rate will be as before the inventory situation. And why? Because in 1 to 2 years, the market transition from prescription to over-the-counter and public market interest from prescription to generic, this is something that we have never seen before. Life cycle management in the pharma is taking years due to the emergency situation. I mean the government has been pushing strongly to fast track generics and to open large distribution.

And the positive news, you've got far less people dying from opioid overdose. And I believe that the accessibility of naloxone is one of the triggering points. But I think and from the discussion with our different customers, we should see a GDP, GDP plus type growth for naloxone moving forward.

George Staphos: Okay. So lower margin GDP plus going forward. How much is left of the revenue decline in the fourth quarter?

Vanessa Kanu: That's what we've lapsed.

Gael Touya: Yes, we've lapsed.

Vanessa Kanu: Yes, we've lapsed in Q4. And the comments on the margin, so the product margin should be comfortable going forward, but the growth rates, as Gael just articulated, will obviously not replicate what it was historically.

George Staphos: All right. My second question, Gael, you talked about leveraging the strengths of the company and effectively getting those strengths to the bottom line, I'm paraphrasing to a greater degree. Obviously, if I'm not characterizing that the way you want it, please correct me. But if that's true, what are you going to do differently than your esteemed predecessors to get performance to the bottom line to a greater degree, and in particular, in Beauty, which has been not performing at the targeted levels for nearly 10 years. What's going to change?

Gael Touya: Okay. George, thanks for the question. Let me take a step back and frame it that way. You know that I'm reengaging with the business at large. I've been a Beauty guy for years, but that was years ago. Beauty has a fantastic business, long-term relationship with customers. They've got leading position in many business categories, and they've got a fantastic talent base. At the same time that in Europe, which is the largest beauty part of the business, I mean -- and in Asia, we are well within our long-term targets. I mean we've got a major issue being in North America, where I'm with you, I'm not satisfied with the performance of North America.

This being said, we've done a deep dive. We nearly completed the diagnostic. We understand the issues, and we have a plan for. Now that will be execution with discipline and accountability. But something that is quite clear. That's not going to be a quick fix. I mean that's not going to be a linear improvement. We have to do a transformation, and that's going to take time. What I might be pushing way more of the organization to and maybe because of my 9 years in Pharma, quality and operational excellence is a must to have.

So this performance mindset by setting your expectation, by having the right level of accountability and making sure that we commit to deliver on what we are doing is an imperative. And in Pharma, you know better than I do. I mean, we are working in a very compliant environment with very tight specification and safety of supply and quality of supply is a must to happen. We need to get the same mindset in Beauty and especially in North America.

George Staphos: Okay. Appreciate that. We don't make light of it. We know it's a tough job. We just push numbers around on a spreadsheet and respect everybody's efforts there.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Matt Larew with William Blair.

Matthew Larew: I wanted to ask on Injectables, up 9% core against a tough comp and now the sixth straight quarter, at least in the high single digits. You talked a bit about GLP and Annex 1. Just curious if you could also comment on the new product launch that you mentioned today and how you're viewing your product offerings and the capacity you have and what that means about growth going forward for Injectables.

Gael Touya: Okay. So a lot of questions. Thank you, Matt, for the questions. So number one, very satisfied with our Injectables business. You know that we shared that we will be in the high single digit and low double digits. So I'm very satisfied with the performance of Injectables this quarter. We've got a strong pipeline. We've got, I would say, the technical capabilities and the technical offering to really satisfy customers looking for biologics, Annex 1 requirements, the right level of quality and expertise in order to make sure that they're going to go through market with the right partner. And from a capacity standpoint, you know that we largely invested years back to globalize our business.

I mean we are now a global player with footprint in the U.S., in China. We increased capacity in Europe. And I mean, thanks to that capacity increase, I mean, we've got the ability, I mean, to face the market demand. And you referred to GLP-1. We are satisfied with GLP-1. But I'd like to say that we are not depending on any single blockbuster growth -- blockbuster drug, sorry, to match our long-term target. We are not predicated on any one drug. And I would like to say that we like to hit singles or doubles, rarely a home run, even though we like home run, but I'm satisfied with the breadth of our portfolio in the Injectables space.

Matthew Larew: Okay. That's great. And then if I could take a step back on Pharma overall. So the decade prior to kind of the Narcan unwind, that business CAGR'd in the 8% to 9% range, so sort of the midpoint of your long-term construct. Now on a TTM basis, Pharma is up 7% ex-Narcan, 2 straight quarters of 8% growth. You gave some nice transparency today on the pipeline. You just talked through the Injectables opportunity. Is there anything that we should be thinking about for why it wouldn't get back to that 8%, 9% plus range going forward? I mean everything we heard today, I think, speaks to that trend returning.

Gael Touya: Yes. So the 7%-11% corridor is a long-term target of us. And we've been well within this corridor. We've been some years below. I remember the time of COVID back in 2021 has been challenging for us. And we have been way above -- and so I'm confident with that long-term target. So what is critical to understand, it's not a five-week quarter of every year. Like any kind of business, we're going to get periods where we're going to face slower growth and period of more accelerated one. So the Pharma business is a pipeline-driven one. And you know that around 90% of our business is repeat growing business.

And once this program reach commercialization, I mean, they can continue contributing to the growth over time. And our pipeline-driven pipeline conversion is adding an additional layer of growth. And we are very encouraged to see the breadth and the development and the acceleration of our pipeline conversion. So as program progress, I mean, new therapies are approved, I mean we're going to continue to share those developments and the kind of expanded therapeutical areas we support. So confident with the long-term target.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Rizzo with Jefferies.

Daniel Rizzo: As we're kind of gearing up and get heading into winter season, when would it become apparent that maybe there's some destocking or some of the issues that have cropped up in the past because of a cough, cold season might be cropping up again?

Gael Touya: Yes. We're going to know that one pretty soon. As you can hear, I've got a huge cold. [indiscernible] I've got firsthand drug delivery devices to help me to cure that cold. So, we're going to be in the season. We're going to look at that one. That's why we need to get an agile and a resilient supply chain to face [indiscernible] if we are facing in the Northern Hemisphere, a severe cold season. We're going to know, and we are tracking and we are staying very closely connected to our customers.

Daniel Rizzo: Okay. And then if I missed this, I apologize, but did you -- have you given a kind of a TAM for the eye care market or for what you see as your part of the eye care market? Because it seems like a pretty exciting opportunity.

Gael Touya: Yes. We are excited due to the -- first, the number of initiatives we've got in our pipeline. There's a real conversion from, I would say, preserved formulation to non-preserved formulation. And whenever you go for a non-preserved formulation, this is a different game in terms of compliance, in terms of quality. And we're happy to support the conversion from preserved to non-preserved with our multi-dose OSD technology. We are excited by the kind of innovation we're going to bring to market. And we shared with you, we signed a kind of exclusive agreement with one of the leader in the market, Bausch + Lomb, with a very new way to dispense your non-preserved formulation.

So -- and we're going to share more whenever we're going to get more to share. And we've got also pretty excited by seeing first biologics to the ophthalmic space. So we are in the clinical stages for different eye treatment disease. So yes, the ophthalmic part of our portfolio and the critical positions we have will be one of the key driver for the growth of the Aptar Pharma segment.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Justin Bowers with Deutsche Bank.

Justin Bowers: Look forward to working with you. So I appreciate all the comments on the Pharma pipeline. And I was just curious for the acne product that you mentioned transitioning from prescription to OTC. Has that hit the market? Or when is the timing for that to hit the market? And then part 2 would just be around emergency medicine and your comments around that being a GDP, GDP plus business. Is that something that happens over the next 12 months? And is there an OUS opportunity for that product line as well?

Gael Touya: Okay. So 2 questions. The first one around the acne treatment. I mean we're pretty excited with that one because we're going to move from a prescribed status drug to an over-the-counter. And we've seen this happening in different therapeutical areas. I mean, years back with our allergy rhinitis product, they moved -- companies like Glaxo and so on, moved one day from prescribed to OTC. And if product is doing well, I mean, you've got way more product accessible for end users. So we are pretty excited about that one on a broad base. I cannot share the name of the customer for confidential reason, but we are pretty excited about this one.

The number 2 question around the naloxone and the GDP plus type growth. We have to really be close to our customers and all the customers, the originator and all the generic players, to get their feedback and how do they see the market. And that's really critical because you cannot buy any IQVIA data or Nielsen type data, it doesn't exist. So we have to rely on our customers. At the same time, you know that federal funding continues to support naloxone purchasing and distribution on top of substance use prevention or treatment and recovery programs.

So there's fundings into the ecosystem to keep on supporting the accessibility of the naloxone product at large and at scale in the U.S. So GDP plus is our best estimate as of today, and we will get a better understanding by Q1 2027.

Justin Bowers: And one follow-up for Vanessa, if I may. Gross margins have improved sequentially since 4Q '25. Is that the right way to think about it for 4Q '26 as well, from 3Q?

Vanessa Kanu: Yes. Good question. The gross margins have improved sequentially as our overall bottom line results, as you would have seen. I wouldn't necessarily project that into 4Q necessarily. We do actually have some seasonality in 4Q. The seasonality has been a little bit obscured by the impact of emergency medicine of late. So if you look at last year's Q4, the overwhelming factor there was emergency medicine. But typically, Q4 for the company is a seasonally softer quarter. And so I would expect to see that in the results. But of course, we've baked all of that into our guidance.

And as I said in my prepared remarks, we're expecting that improvement in Q4, margin -- year-over-year margin improvement in Q4 as well as [indiscernible] improvement in Q4. Midpoint of our guide is about 14% year-over-year growth and about 17% on a like-for-like currency basis. So good, strong quarter. And obviously, lapping EM is a big part of that and just underlying strength in the rest of the portfolio.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Anojja Shah with UBS.

Anojja Shah: I just wanted to ask, in North America Beauty, was there any impact from tariffs? Is that part of the issue with margins? I don't know if you have any core components that you're importing from Europe, but I just wanted to ask about tariffs.

Gael Touya: Not so much. So I'm not ready to share all on the specifics today about North America, but I could give you some better color on where we are focusing. So it really comes to 2 things. The way we compete on that market and the way we execute. The way we compete, I mean, we are subscale in certain markets that are growing and that are quite profitable. I mean, such as the indie brands. So Fusion did well in the quarter, but we need to scale up that one. And we've lost certain market share, I mean, with certain customers. So it's going to take time.

And the way we execute, I mean that's really for us to raise the bar and making sure that we plan better, we produce with more efficiencies, we improve our quality and we build a more agile and resilient supply chain that is more than key for all the customers. So that's not going to be a quick fix once again. That's not so much tariff related because we are in the region for the region. And by the quarters and by focusing on delivering their results, I mean, we are expecting to see improvement. But once again, that's not going to be a short and quick fix.

Anojja Shah: Right. That's very helpful. And just one modeling question. So Q3 corporate cost was quite a bit higher than we modeled, and you mentioned some reasons for that in the prepared comments. But should we keep it at that level for Q4? Or does it come back to a more normalized level? And then also if we could get an early read for that line for '27, that would be helpful as well.

Vanessa Kanu: Yes. So for Q4 -- sorry, Q3, I did call out, as you indicated, we do have temporarily higher costs associated with our CEO transition. We've got some pension expense items, all impacting Q3 corporate costs. I would say that is temporarily elevated. I'm not necessarily going to guide on one line item for Q4 relative to the overall, but the increase we saw in Q3 should be temporary.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of George Staphos with Bank of America.

George Staphos: First question, not that it's a comparison issue year-on-year, but the tax rate sequentially dropped quite a bit. Vanessa, what's driving that? And should 23%, whatever you've been at, be the more normal range into next year, number one? Number two, Gael, recognizing you're not ready to talk about Beauty and your plans there yet or your tactics, when should we be able to ask you what you'll be doing as an enterprise differently, what the plans will be? And if I could sneak a third one in very, very quickly. Just Premia Precision, what drove that move? And how are you implementing it across the organization?

Vanessa Kanu: Thanks, George. I'll start with your question on the tax rate. As you know, we can have some quarterly variation in our tax -- our effective tax rate. Obviously, the actual statutory tax rates don't change quarter-by-quarter, but the effective tax rate does -- can have some variation. So for Q4 specifically, we're able to -- we're anticipating being able to recognize the benefit of some previously unrecognized tax losses. So that's really what is creating that. And you have seen -- we have seen this from time to time where we've had certain quarters where we're able to recognize the benefit of a tax asset. But in terms of long term, how should we think about the ETR?

I do think that in that sort of 21% to 23% range is really what our long-term ETR is and ought to be. But of course, we do get one-off quarters where we're a little bit below. And then in terms of the guide, the 18.5% in the middle is really not that different from Q4 last year, which also had the benefit of a tax valuation allowance release.

Gael Touya: So George, for your second question, I mean, 2 months in the job, and we're engaging with the business. I can tell you that we will have more to say about our broader strategy for Beauty at the appropriate time. For today, what I would like to share, we've got regions well within our long-term target, Europe and Asia, but we've got a challenging situation, and I can get the frustration from you. I'm frustrated as well, but we know where to go. We have to execute on that one. And when I'm reengaging with the business at large, I mean, I'm happy with the feedback from customers. I've seen a lot of customers, and they want more of Aptar.

They are telling me, "Guys, you've got best solutions for our most complex delivery challenges. We like your innovation. We want more of you." So I'm very encouraged by this one. And in due time, we'll come back to you with a proper answer, George.

Operator: We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Gael Touya for closing remarks.

Gael Touya: Okay. Thank you very much all. So before we end the call, I wanted to take a moment to leave you with why I'm coming in that job with deep confidence in the opportunity we've got for Aptar. We expect to finish 2026 strong, as you've heard, and we will end, definitely, the year in a better place than where we started. And I believe we have all the ingredients to build on that momentum. First, Pharma is a phenomenal business. We've got approximately 90% generally growing repeat revenue. We've got strong customers position, and we've got a very solid and robust pipeline.

We have expanded well beyond our traditional markets like nasal saline and allergy rhinitis, into areas such as CNS, central nervous system, all the emergency medicine, ophthalmics, neurological disease, but also thanks to our elastomeric components, our services and the many solutions focusing on improving patient outcomes. And importantly, I mean, emergency medicine destocking, and the naloxone part of the business will no longer be the same headwind. If I look at Closures, our innovation pipeline is on the right track with an opportunity to continue improving profitability. And in Beauty, North America remains our biggest and largest area for improvement, while globally, we see attractive opportunities. So across the portfolio, our approach is very clear.

We focus where we have a differentiated position and the right to win. We will continue to focus to be the partner of choice for our customers and get back to the basics of execution with discipline, accountability and sense of ownership at every level of the organization. So we know where we can win. We know where we need -- what we need and where we need to improve, and we know what we need to do. We have the technology. We've got the customer relationship. We've got the pipeline, and we have the talent. The opportunity is simply in front of us. Now it's about execution. Thank you very much.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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