ステパン・カンパニー (SCL) 2026年第3四半期決算説明会：EBITDA 18%増、販売量 7%増

主要なポイント

• ステパン（Stepan Company）の2026年第3四半期の調整後EBITDAは、有機的な販売量の増加、マージンの回復、「プロジェクト・カタリスト（Project Catalyst）」によるコスト削減が全社費用の増加を相殺し、前年同期比18%増の6,630万ドルとなりました。
• 調整後純利益は98%増の2,170万ドルとなり、調整後希薄化後EPSは0.48ドルから0.94ドルに増加しました。報告ベースの希薄化後EPSは、前年同期の0.47ドルに対し0.78ドルでした。
• 有機的な販売量は全3部門で7%増加しました。界面活性剤部門は8%増、ポリマー部門は3%増、スペシャルティ製品部門は20%増となりました。
• 界面活性剤部門が収益の伸びを牽引し、調整後EBITDAは27%増の4,800万ドルとなりました。価格改定および契約に基づく転嫁メカニズムにより、原材料費の上昇が相殺されました。
• フリーキャッシュフローは、2,100万ドルの設備投資と3,200万ドルの運転資本の積み増しを経て800万ドルとなりました。純レバレッジ比率は前年同期の2.7倍から2.4倍に改善しました。
• 経営陣は、2026年通期の調整後EBITDAの成長、プラスのフリーキャッシュフロー、および継続的なデレバレッジを見込んでいます。また、「プロジェクト・カタリスト」による2026年の削減額は約6,600万ドル〜7,000万ドルに達すると予想しており、2年間で1億ドルを目指す目標に向けた当初のマイルストーンである60%を上回る見込みです。

主要財務データ

報告ベースの業績には、主にニュージャージー州フィールズボロ工場の閉鎖、特定資産の廃止、および7月に発表されたグローバルな月給労働者の削減に関連する560万ドルの税引前事業再編費用が含まれています。

事業および業績動向

界面活性剤部門

界面活性剤部門の売上高は15%増の4億8,700万ドルとなりました。販売価格が10%上昇、報告ベースの販売量が3%増加、有機的な販売量が8%増加し、為替効果が売上高を2%押し上げました。

有機的成長は、衣料用洗剤を含む消費財や、建設・産業向け、油田市場での2桁増が牽引しました。農作物生産性関連の需要減少がこれらの伸びを一部打ち消しました。

調整後EBITDAは27%増の4,800万ドルとなりました。北米、アジア、中南米では、有機的な販売量の増加、適切な価格設定の実践、マージンの回復が寄与しました。欧州は、消費財市場の伸びを農作物生産性関連の需要低下が上回ったため、小幅に減少しました。

ポリマー部門

ポリマー部門の売上高は24%増の1億7,900万ドルとなりました。主に原材料費増の価格転嫁を反映して販売価格が22%上昇した一方、販売量は3%増加しました。

北米の販売量は、硬質ポリオール、無水フタル酸、およびスプレーフォームの継続的な成長に支えられ、2桁の伸びを記録しました。欧州およびアジアにおける需要の軟化がこれを相殺しました。

調整後EBITDAは4%増の2,300万ドルとなりました。北米のEBITDAは300万ドル増加した一方、欧州は主にドイツ拠点での規制に伴う定期修理により200万ドル減少しました。アジアは、中国におけるスペシャルティポリオールの需要軟化を受けてわずかに減少しました。

スペシャルティ製品部門

スペシャルティ製品部門の売上高は12%増の2,700万ドル、販売量は20%増加しました。調整後EBITDAはMCTの販売量増加が寄与し、不調なプロダクトミックスにより一部相殺されたものの、5%増の1,170万ドルとなりました。

経営陣によると、拡張されたMCTラインナップは追加の市場セグメントや価格帯をカバーしています。同社には余剰生産能力があり、適切なリターンが見込める水準で反応器の稼働率を引き上げ続ける計画です。

キャッシュフロー、資本配分および事業状況

運転資本変動前の営業キャッシュフローは4,900万ドルでした。フリーキャッシュフローの800万ドルは、売上好調と原材料費上昇に伴う3,200万ドルの運転資本増加、および事業再編に関連する600万ドルの現金支出を反映したものです。

ステパンは900万ドルの配当金を支払うとともに、四半期配当を1株あたり0.01ドル（2.5%）引き上げ、59年連続増配を達成しました。

10月、同社はミルズデール拠点近くの土地を2,850万ドルで売却完了しました。経営陣は、売却益を11月に債務返済へ充当すると説明しました。

テキサス州パサデナの拠点は稼働率約75%〜80%で運用されていました。経営陣によると、同施設は2026年に既に想定以上の受託製造コスト削減効果をもたらしており、今後のスペシャルティ・アルコキシレートの成長にとっても重要であり続けています。

経営陣の見通し

経営陣は、ステパンが2026年通期で調整後EBITDAの成長、プラスのフリーキャッシュフロー、および更なる貸借対照表のデレバレッジを達成すると見込んでいます。

第3四半期における「プロジェクト・カタリスト」の四半期ベースの削減ランレートは約2,300万ドルに達しました。同社は現在、2026年の削減額を約6,600万ドル〜7,000万ドルと予想しており、2年間で1億ドルの税引前削減を目指す目標に向けた従来の60%というマイルストーンを上回っています。

2027年について、経営陣は「プロジェクト・カタリスト」による四半期平均削減額が2,500万ドルを超えると見込んでいます。パサデナでの生産拡大や追加プロジェクトの実施に伴い、削減額は上半期にはその水準をわずかに下回り、下半期には上回ると予想されています。

経営陣は、第4四半期の有機的な販売量伸び率が、第2四半期の6%や第3四半期の7%から減速すると見込んでいます。それにもかかわらず、最初の9ヶ月間で達成された4%の有機的成長については、同社の最終市場と比較して堅調であると評価しました。

リスクおよび注視事項

• 原材料および原油価格の変動性は、中東紛争に伴う混乱を含め、依然として高い水準にあります。経営陣は、第3四半期の原油価格状況を前提とした価格調整の大部分は完了しているものの、いくつかの追加措置が残っていると述べています。
• ドイツでの定期修理が第3四半期にポリマー部門で200万ドル以上の逆風となったのに続き、同社は米国の無水フタル酸設備の保守および定期修理費用が第4四半期に影響を及ぼすと見込んでいます。
• ポリマー部門については、建設、自動車、およびより広範な最終市場での需要低迷により、欧州と中国の弱さが続いています。
• 第3四半期には農作物生産性関連の需要が減少した一方、経営陣は農業業界の厳しい状況と肥料価格を巡る圧力を認識しています。
• 売上および原材料費の増加に伴い、第3四半期には運転資本として3,200万ドルが費やされました。
• ステパンの約8億ドルの固定費ベースに対する2%〜3%の通常インフレは、「プロジェクト・カタリスト」による削減効果の一部を打ち消す可能性があります。

アナリスト質疑応答のハイライト

価格設定およびマージン：経営陣は、界面活性剤部門の年初来の調整後EBITDAマージンが2桁台であり、ポリマー部門は約13%〜15%で推移していると説明しました。見通しは依然として原材料および原油価格の動きに依存しているものの、大半の価格調整措置は実施済みです。

四半期業績のパターン：経営陣は、第2四半期と第3四半期は併せて評価されるべきであると述べました。第2四半期は低コスト在庫の恩恵を受けた一方、第3四半期は正常化した在庫コストと異なる売上構成を反映しました。両四半期を合わせた調整後EBITDAは約1億4,000万ドルでした。

顧客および市場シェアの拡大：ステパンは年初来で300社以上の新規顧客を獲得し、900近くの新しい「顧客・製品」の組み合わせを提供しました。Tier 1の多国籍企業顧客との継続的な取引に加え、Tier 2およびTier 3の顧客基盤が2桁のペースで拡大しました。

地域別の持続可能性：経営陣は、メキシコ、コロンビア、ブラジルにおけるステパンの生産拠点を挙げ、中南米での改善の多くは持続可能であるとみています。また、メキシコはブラジルよりもアジアからの輸入の影響を受けやすい点も指摘しました。

欧州における長期的需要：現在のポリマー需要は依然として不調ですが、経営陣は建物の省エネ・効率化投資により、今後3〜5年間で欧州における潜在需要が顕在化する可能性があると考えています。

決算説明会文字起こし全文

決算説明会の完全なトランスクリプト

経営陣による説明

Operator

Good morning and welcome to the Stepan Company Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Ruben Velasquez, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Stepan Company. Mr. Velasquez, please go ahead.

Ruben Velasquez

Thanks, Sherry. Good morning, and thank you for joining Stepan Company's Third Quarter 2026 Financial Review. Before we begin, please note that information in this conference call contains forward-looking statements, which are not historical facts. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, prospects for our foreign operations, global and regional economic conditions and factors detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. In addition, this conference call will include discussions of adjusted net income, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, net debt and leverage-related metrics, which are non-GAAP measures. We provide reconciliations to the comparable GAAP measures in the earnings presentation and press release, which we have made available at www.stepan.com under the Investors section of our website.

Whether you are joining us online or over the phone, we encourage you to review the investor slide presentation. We make these slides available at approximately the same time as when the earnings release is issued, and we hope that you find information and perspectives helpful. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Luis Rojo, our President and Chief Executive Officer.

Luis Rojo

Thank you, Ruben. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 2026 results. I will share the highlights of the quarter and an update on our key strategic priorities, while Ruben will take you through the financial details. Before reviewing the quarter, I want to recognize our teams around the world for their commitment to safety. Safety remains our top priority and the foundation of everything we do at Stepan. Our safety performance over the last 12 months remained strong. The third quarter was another quarter of earnings growth for Stepan. The 3 segments delivered organic volume growth and increased earnings versus the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA was $66 million, up 18% versus the prior year, driven by global volume growth, margin recovery and Project Catalyst savings. Surfactant adjusted EBITDA was up 27%. Polymers grew single digits, including onetime maintenance turnaround costs at our Germany site. And Specialty Products grew EBITDA single digits, driven by double-digit volume growth. On a consolidated basis, adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.94, nearly double the prior year. Now I want to highlight a few elements of our third quarter performance. First, volume growth. Organic volume grew 7% with growth in all 3 segments. Surfactant organic volume was up 8%, and the growth was broad-based across most of the end markets. Polymers volume was up 3% with North America growing strong double digits.

And Specialty Products delivered 20% volume growth behind a strong innovation plan in our MCT product line. We are pleased with the growth we achieved in several of our key strategic end markets despite ongoing global economic uncertainties and supply chain disruptions. Second, margin recovery and pricing discipline. Raw material cost continues to increase in a volatile environment, including the disruption related to the Middle East conflict. Our pricing actions, together with our disciplined execution of our contractual pass-through mechanism offset those higher costs. Third, productivity and cost out. Project Catalyst continues to deliver savings, and we are now projecting to exceed the 60% target for 2026. Finally, we remain focused on cash generation and balance sheet deleveraging. Our net leverage improved to 2.4x. Free cash flow was positive at $8 million despite a further investment in working capital.

In October, we closed the sale of a parcel of land near our Millsdale site for $28.5 million. The full cash proceeds will be used to pay down debt and continue to deleverage the balance sheet in November. Through the first 9 months of the year, adjusted EBITDA is up 15% and adjusted earnings per share are up 40% versus the prior year. We remain committed to a balanced approach to capital allocation. During the quarter, we continued to invest in working capital. We executed our capital plan across our site, and we paid $9 million in dividends. Finally, we increased our quarterly dividend by $0.01 per share or 2.5%, marking the 59th consecutive year that Stepan has increased its dividend. With that, I will turn the call back to Ruben to walk you through the financial details for the quarter.

Ruben Velasquez

Thank you, Luis. As shared in our third quarter 2026 earnings release, reported net income was $17.8 million or $0.78 per diluted share, up 64% versus $10.8 million or $0.47 per diluted share in the prior year. Reported results include a $5.6 million pretax restructuring charge largely related to the previously announced close of our Fieldsboro, New Jersey site, the decommissioning of select assets at our Millsdale, Illinois and the Stalybridge, United Kingdom facilities and the global salaried workforce reduction we announced in July. Let's move to Slide 6, which shows the adjusted net income bridge for the third quarter of 2026 versus the third quarter of last year. Adjusted net income was $21.7 million or $0.94 per diluted share, up 98% versus $10.9 million or $0.48 per diluted share in the prior year.

The increase in adjusted net income was primarily due to higher surfactant earnings with additional contributions from polymers and specialty products, partially offset by higher corporate expenses and a higher tax provision on the stronger earnings. Adjusted corporate expenses increased by $1 million or 6%, primarily due to higher incentive-based compensation associated with the improved operating performance. Slide 7 shows the total company adjusted EBITDA bridge. Adjusted EBITDA was $66.3 million, up $10.1 million or 18% versus the prior year. This increase was primarily due to higher surfactant earnings driven by sales volume growth and margin recovery with Polymers and Specialty Products also up, partially offset by $1.6 million of higher corporate expenses, reflecting higher incentive-based compensation.

I will now cover each segment in more detail. Turning to Surfactants on Slide 8. Net sales were $487 million, up 15% versus the prior year. Selling prices were up 10%, primarily due to the pass-through of higher raw material costs and targeted pricing actions. Reported volume grew 3% and organic volume increased 8%. Foreign currency translation positively impacted net sales by 2%. The organic growth was led by double-digit increases in consumer products, including laundry, Construction & Industrial and oilfield end markets, partially offset by lower crop productivity demand. Surfactants adjusted EBITDA was $48 million, up $10 million or 27% versus the prior year. North America and Asia earnings improved on organic volume growth in Consumer Products, oilfield and Construction & Industrial, together with margin recovery.

Latin America earnings increased on double-digit organic volume growth, pricing execution and margin recovery. Europe was modestly lower as reduced crop productivity demand more than offset growth in our consumer end markets. Moving to Polymers on Slide 9. Net sales were $179 million, a 24% increase versus the prior year. Selling prices were up 22%, primarily due to the pass-through of higher raw material costs. Sales volume increased 3% in the quarter. North American volume was up double digits, driven by rigid polyols and Phthalic Anhydride, including continued significant growth in our spray foam product line. This growth was partially offset by softer demand in Europe and Asia. Foreign currency translation negatively impacted net sales by 1%. Polymer adjusted EBITDA was $23 million, up 4% versus the prior year as North America's strong volume growth in rigid polyol, spray foam and Phthalic Anhydride more than offset the 5-year regulatory mandated maintenance turnaround costs at the company's Germany site, lower rigid polyol volume in Europe and softer demand in China.

North America EBITDA was up $3 million on volume growth and margin improvement. Europe was down $2 million, primarily due to the maintenance turnaround at our Germany site. Asia was slightly lower on softer demand for specialty polyols in China, partially offset by improved rigid polyol margins. Specialty Products net sales were $27 million, a 12% increase versus the prior year and volume increased 20%. Adjusted EBITDA was $11.7 million, up 5% versus the prior year, primarily due to higher volume in the MCT product line, partially offset by less favorable product mix. Now turning to cash flow and the balance sheet on Slide 10. Cash flow from operations before working capital was $49 million in the third quarter, while free cash flow was $8 million after $21 million of capital expenditures. Free cash flow reflected a $32 million working capital build from accounts receivables, account payables and inventories, driven by stronger sales and higher raw material costs.

Free cash flow included $6 million of restructuring-related cash payments. We ended the quarter with net debt of $536 million. Our net leverage ratio improved to 2.4x from 2.7x a year ago, reflecting continued progress in deleveraging. Improving cash flow and further strengthening the balance sheet remain key priorities across the organization. Moving to Slide 15 and Project Catalyst. Through September, we have recognized $76 million of pretax restructuring charges. The year-to-date cash impact of restructuring is $13 million. Project Catalyst continues to deliver savings in line with our plan. The savings run rate increased to approximately $23 million in the third quarter. These savings were partially offset by inflationary pressures on operating expenses. For 2026, we expect to exceed the 60%, 2-year $100 million pretax savings target. With that, I will turn the call back to Luis for an update on our strategic priorities and Project Catalyst.

Luis Rojo

Thanks, Ruben. Our strategy continues to be anchored in 4 pillars: First, customer-centric innovation to drive top line growth, diversification of our markets and customers with a focus on higher growth end markets and Tier 2 and Tier 3 accounts. Third, operational excellence, including the reliability and resiliency of our manufacturing network and supply chain; and fourth, financial strength through the free cash flow generation, deleveraging the balance sheet and disciplined capital allocation. We continue to make progress against these priorities during the quarter. Surfactants showed consistent and broad-based growth in the third quarter. Year-to-date, we have more than 300 new customers, and we have delivered nearly 900 new customer and product combination in this business with our global Tier 2 and Tier 3 customer base growing double digits.

Additionally, we delivered a strong double-digit growth in North America polymers and our MCT product line. We delivered this growth while continuing to recover margin in an inflationary raw material environment, which reflects disciplined commercial execution. The Middle East conflict has added volatility to fixed costs and supply chains, and we believe we are well positioned to manage that disruption. Our regional manufacturing footprint keeps production close to our customers with a particular advantage in the United States. Our dual petrochemical and oleochemical raw material streams give us flexibility on feedstock management and maximize customer supply. Finally, we continue to improve the reliability and resiliency of our manufacturing network.

Our flagship Millsdale site had a great quarter in terms of production volumes and improving all key operating metrics. Our Pasadena, Texas site continues to ramp up production and deliver the expected supply chain savings embedded in Project Catalyst. Pasadena remains a critical enabler for strategic future growth in specialty alkoxylates. Let's move to Slide 12 for an update on Project Catalyst. As a reminder, Project Catalyst is our comprehensive plan to further optimize our asset base and create a more productive and agile organization to enable balanced growth. We're executing the program safely and in line with expectations. Third quarter run rate savings was approximately $23 million, and we have identified actions that we believe will enable us to exceed the $25 million per quarter goal on average during 2027. We executed the organizational redesign phase of Project Catalyst during the third quarter.

This new organization design is a key enabler for us to deliver our balanced growth strategy, which is focused on top line growth, margin recovery and disciplined cost-out initiatives. To conclude, we believe we are positioned to continue delivering growth in our businesses. Despite the ongoing and significant market uncertainties and challenges, the organization continues to be focused on executing our growth opportunities, productivity plans and cash intervention. With these actions and our strong results through the first 9 months of the year, we believe we will deliver full year adjusted EBITDA growth, positive free cash flow and continued deleveraging of the balance sheet in 2026. This concludes our prepared remarks. At this time, we would like to turn the call over for questions. Sherry, please review the instructions for the questions portions of today's call.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from the line of Mike Harrison with Seaport Research Partners.

質疑応答

Michael Harrison

So really good to see all the pricing that you guys are getting across the 3 segments. I think we're trying to understand a little bit better the margin impact that you're seeing from raw material inflation and how much pricing is offsetting you across the 3 segments. Maybe help us understand where the margin pressure is still a factor from inflation? And should we see further pricing catch-up in Q4? Or maybe when do you neutralize the impact of some of the higher raw material costs that you're seeing?

Luis Rojo

Great question, Mike. And what I will say is this continues to be a very volatile environment when you think about oil prices and raw materials. I think we did a pretty good job in Q2 and Q3. I don't want to focus too much in quarterly numbers. But when you think about on a year-to-date basis and you look at our margins and you see surfactants double-digit margins, I mean, EBITDA margins, you see polymers in the 13% to 15% EBITDA margins. Those are healthy margins, and we will continue to work on productivity to make sure that we have the best value for our customers, right? So right now, with the current oil prices, we believe we are in a good position in several places. There are a few places where we are still making some price adjustments. But in general terms, I think the majority have been done. And again, this assumes the oil prices of Q3. We will see what happens in the next few weeks with the raw material environment.

But so far, I think the margins for the year are going in the right direction, and we are pleased with the work that our commercial team have done, not only to have decent margins, but to be able to grow our volumes 4%. 4% organic volume growth in the first 9 months is almost a record, right? I mean this is a significant amount of volume growth. And we want to make sure that we -- I have talked a lot about balanced growth. And again, I want to continue balancing volumes, margins and of course, cash, but we need to keep our reactors full, and that's what we are after.

Michael Harrison

All right. And then in terms of Project Catalyst, it sounds like the savings there are running ahead of plan for both 2026 and maybe the longer-term run rate into '27. I guess the way we were thinking about it is you'd get about $60 million worth of savings this year and then the incremental $40 million coming next year. But how should we think about Project Catalyst contribution to further earnings growth in '27 versus '26. Is $40 million still a good number? Or could it be higher or lower than that?

Luis Rojo

No. Look, good question, Mike. But as we said today, we are ahead of the 60% target for 2026. So we are -- instead of the $60 million, we are more in the $66 million to $70 million range. And we already are delivering $23 million run rate in the savings in Q3. We believe we can be ahead of the $25 million on average for 2027, right? So that means $2 million, $3 million more versus where we are today. Now that's going to be, again, on average for 2027, which means ahead of the $25 million in the second half, slightly below the $25 million in the first half as we continue ramping up production in Pasadena, as we continue implementing other projects that we have in the pipeline.

So that's the main component of the gradual savings increases in the next 4 to 5 quarters. And remember that we have been very clear that these are the savings from Project Catalyst. We also have the normal inflation in our P&L. You know that our fixed cost base is roughly $800 million. That's public information. And you can factor the normal 2%, 3% on the inflation piece on that base, and we will continue working on productivity, as I said before, to provide the best value that we can to our customers.

Michael Harrison

All right. Just a couple more for me. Apologies if I missed this earlier, but what was the impact of the maintenance costs in Germany in the Polymers business in Q3? And is that cost completely isolated to Q3? Or is there some carryover into Q4 or next year?

Ruben Velasquez

Yes, Mike. Effectively, as you mentioned, we have that turnaround in Europe in our Germany site. That's a turnaround that happens every 4 years. It's regulated, it's mandated. And the impact on the Polymers business for Q3 was $2 million plus driven by that maintenance.

Luis Rojo

Remember, Mike, that we talked last quarter that we had $4 million, $5 million of headwinds in turnaround maintenance costs, both Germany and the U.S. So Germany was more Q3. You will see the impact in Q4 in U.S. with all the maintenance and turnaround costs that we need to do in our PA facility. So it's coming in line as expected and as planned.

Michael Harrison

All right. And then last quarter, you had talked a little bit about some volume that you felt like was being pulled forward or some prebuying that might be happening. I think at the time you expected that maybe that was as much as a $10 million impact to EBITDA. Now that we're sitting here in October and maybe you have the numbers to fully understand how much impact you saw. Is there any way to help understand how much stronger Q2 was than what might have been normal and how much weaker, I guess, that made Q3? Any color on that would be helpful.

Luis Rojo

No, yes. I agree, Mike, that we talked about the $5 million to $10 million impact from Q3 to Q2 last call. I will say that some of that was expected on the volume side, but a lot of that was expected on the margin side as well, right? I mean we grew in Q2 6% volume, but the reality is that we grew with lower cost inventory in our tank. Now we're accelerating the growth actually to 7% with a different mix, with a different mix than we had in Q2 as well and with a normalized cost position in our tanks and our inventory. So what I will say is that I think the best way to look at Q2, Q3 will be averaging both.

When you think about the $75 million and the $66 million, there was some swing for sure, but delivering $140 million in those 2 quarters shows the discipline of our execution plan, shows a strong volume growth, which, let's be clear, when you think about 6% volume in Q2 and 7% volume in Q3, we are expecting a lower growth in Q4 for sure. When you think about the year, when you include also Q1, we're growing volumes 4% on an organic basis. That's still a very strong performance when these markets are basically not growing, right? These markets are 0% to 1% growth. So that 4% growth on volume is coming from a lot of new customers and share growth in the different end markets. So we're happy with a 4% volume growth. If we can continue that throughout the year, that will be an outstanding year of volume growth for Stepan Company.

Operator

One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Dave Storms with Stonegate.

David Storms

Luis, I actually wanted to go back to kind of what you just mentioned around margin growth coming from both new customers and share growth. I was hoping, given you mentioned approximately 340 new customers, 900 new combinations, can you help us understand how much of the margin growth came from new customers versus share growth?

Luis Rojo

No. Look, when you're growing volume 7%, of course, you have the benefit of reducing all the fixed cost and improving the margins this way. So again, we are seeing very strong performance in the surfactants business when you think about especially the Americas, you can do the math, right? On a year-to-date basis, our Surfactant business grew EBITDAR in all the regions. I mean, grew EBITDAR in North America, grew EBITDAR in Latin America, actually even grew EBITDAR very slightly, but grew EBITDAR in Europe. So the business -- the Surfactant business continues to be strong based on share growth, Tier 2, Tier 3 strength and actually a few very good quarters on the crop productivity business. Q3 was a little bit softer. But when you think about the year, crop productivity is still okay and still positive. So we feel good about the Surfactant business. And when you think about polymers, again, very strong performance in North America with a strong double-digit growth. The rigid business is strong, and we are growing a lot of share in spray foam and in PA. We have talked the PA business in the past. It's not secret. We are growing significantly in the PA business. So we feel good about how the margin profile is going vis-a-vis the leverage that you have when you are growing volumes 4% or 6% or 7%. Again, this is not related to one side of one customer or the others. I mean this is across the board.

David Storms

Understood. Appreciate that. You also -- in that answer, you mentioned North America polymers is growing strong, but Europe and Asia still remain weak on the polymer side. Any green shoots there? Any signs of improvements? Is that just a macro story? Anything we should keep an eye out for there?

Luis Rojo

Yes. No, totally right. I mean this is a macro story for Europe and China. It's not a secret how the chemical industry is doing and a lot of the end market demand are doing in Europe and in China, when you think about China, the car industry and a lot of our polymers products goes there as well, and that's not robust. And then, of course, all the challenges that we see in Europe with the overall demand and with the overall construction environment there. Now there is a lot of pent-up demand in Europe that we believe and our customers believe we can capture in the next 3 to 5 years.

There is plenty of work to be done to continue reducing energy consumption in Europe, which is the biggest issue there. And the building envelope can make a significant impact in reducing the energy consumption. So that's where we play, and we are happy to play in that industry, and we're happy to play and help the Europe region to reduce the energy consumption in the building. So we are all hopeful that the next 3 to 5 years, we will realize that pent-up demand.

David Storms

That's really great color. If I could ask one more, and it might be a quarter too early to ask this, but because you brought up crop productivity volumes decline in the quarter, when we're looking into the next couple of quarters with a developing El Nino, do you see any changes in customer purchase expectations as we start to get ready for the next 6 to 9 months on the ag side?

Luis Rojo

Great great question, Dave, because we are seeing -- I mean, and you guys are seeing a lot of struggle from some of the big ag companies. So it's not a secret. Now what I will tell you is that our team continues to do a great job in developing new products, new formulations to continue growing share with all our key multinational accounts in the ag business and also growing with the middle Tier 2, Tier 3 ag companies. We still have plenty of opportunities, right? When you think about tank mix adjuvant, this is a $1 billion market in the U.S. This is a $700 million market in Brazil. And we are still in the infant phase of developing our tank mix adjuvants and growing in that space. So I agree with you that the macros are not there for the overall ag industry and fertilizer prices and all of that. On the other hand, we will continue working on our innovation plan to continue growing in this space because it's a key strategic priority for a Stepan company to grow in crop productivity. We have the products, we have the team, we have the know-how, and we will continue executing.

Operator

One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Gowshi Sri with Singular Research.

Gowshihan Sriharan

Congratulations on a strong quarter. It's my first call covering Stepan.

Luis Rojo

Welcome Gowshi. Welcome to the team and happy to have you here.

Gowshihan Sriharan

On my first question is the double-digit growth in the consumer products. I know you alluded that there's some share gains. And I just want to make sure, are these share gains that you can hold to? Because I think in previous call, you alluded to the fact that some of the competitors were short on raw materials. Any comment or color on that?

Luis Rojo

Sure. We continue executing our Tier 2, Tier 3 strategy, Gowshi. So that works in the consumer space that works in many of our end markets, but it's working. It's working in -- especially in the Americas. And we will continue growing with our Tier 1 multinational companies. We have a strong plan there. We have been doing extremely good with our Tier 1 accounts. And on top of that, Tier 2, Tier 3 is coming up incremental. So that's the good news about how the strategy is playing out. Tier 1s represents a very important business for a Stepan company. We are doing extremely well with Tier 1s and Tier 2s and Tier 3s are coming on top, and we're happy to support them as they need formulation services and help on their products. So it's an AND strategy. We're working on both.

Gowshihan Sriharan

On the Specialty Products in the MCT, how sustainable do you see this MCT volume growth heading into next year? Was there any kind of order timing benefit in the segment this quarter?

Luis Rojo

Yes, yes. Remember that we have a pharma business that is very seasonal, and that's why you see the EBITDA or the operating income on Specialty Product this quarter because we ship a lot of the pharma business in Q3, and that was very similar to last year, right? That's why last year was also in the same level of $11 million of operating income in Q3. When I think about the MCT business, Jamil and the team in Maywood has done an extremely good job of expanding our offerings in MCT, and we have developed a new innovation program to go into different segments and different price tiers within the MCT business, not only on the top tier, but also on the mid-tier.

That's why the mix effect and the margin is a little bit different. But that is showing up on the results, and that is also filling up our reactors. And the reality is that this year, we had a lot of headwinds on the fatty acid pricing. When you think about raw materials for fatty acids, we had a lot of challenges there. That's why we are not growing even faster, which we could in this MCT business. So -- that's our plan for next year. And we will continue to filling up the reactors. We have extra capacity, and we want to deliver all the capacity that we have at margins that make sense.

Gowshihan Sriharan

And then a little bit of color on the Pasadena utilization. Where is it running today in terms of utilization? And what does getting into full utilization add to next year?

Luis Rojo

Good point. Look, we are in the -- we have talked this in the past. We are in the 75%, 80% range on utilization. And as we plan and as we plan next year, that's why I mentioned before that probably we will see more savings on tolling savings and things like that in the second half than the first half, as we continue ramping up production in Pasadena. Now when I say the 75%, 80%, of course, is very focused on the volume piece. We are very focused on maximizing Pasadena on the dollar front because at the end, every product is different. There are products that require 30 hours in a reactor and there are products that require way more or way less. And what we need to maximize is the dollar return from our Pasadena site, and that's what the team is working. We are delivering more savings than we thought on the tolling piece in 2026 from our Pasadena site. So we are happy with the development even at 75%, 80% capacity utilization.

Gowshihan Sriharan

And just I'll sneak in one last question. Latin America, I think you mentioned there was a competition that left. And so how exposed is Latin America to the Asian imports coming back? And how much of this year's recovery do you see it as structural?

Luis Rojo

Great point, Gowshi, great great point because for sure, Asia imports, especially in Mexico, Brazil is more protected. Brazil has a lot more restrictions. But in Mexico is where we see a lot of the imports from Asia. And you're rightly so that that having local production in the environment where we were in 2026 is a significant advantage for companies like Stepan. We need to continue making sure that we provide the right value for our customers in 2027, so we continue growing that business. We have an excellent footprint in Mexico, in Colombia, in Brazil. I want to give kudos to the other Jamil. We have 2 Jamil's in the company, but the other Jamil is in Brazil and the whole Brazil team for what they are delivering this year has been an outstanding performance from them. And we believe a lot of that is sustainable. So we will continue our plan to grow share to fill up our reactors at the right margins and continue to provide the right value to our customers in the Latin America region.

Gowshihan Sriharan

Congratulations, and i will talk to you later.

Operator

I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Rojo for any closing remarks.

Luis Rojo

Thank you very much for joining us on today's call. We appreciate your interest and ownership in Stepan Company. Have a great and safe day.

Operator

This concludes today's program. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.