阿普塔 (ATR) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会议：医药业务强劲支撑第四季度展望

核心要点

• 2026财年第三季度报告销售额同比增长6%，略超10亿美元；核心销售额增长5%，医药、美容和封口三大业务均实现增长。
• 调整后EBITDA同比下降2%至2.17亿美元。调整后EBITDA利润率从23.2%降至21.3%，主要是由于高利润率的应急药物销售额下降以及美容和封口业务的利润率走弱。
• 按可比汇率计算，调整后每股收益为1.52美元，同比下降6%，反映出调整后EBITDA减少、利息支出增加以及有效税率提高。
• 医药业务核心销售额增长1%，剔除应急药物去库存因素后增长8%。管理层预计全年约6500万美元的去库存逆风将在2026财年第四季度告一段落。
• 美容业务核心销售额增长8%，封口业务核心销售额增长11%。然而，美容业务在北美地区的运营仍是影响盈利能力的主要挑战。
• 阿普塔预计第四季度调整后每股收益为1.39美元至1.47美元。管理层表示，按其中点计算，在可比汇率下相当于同比增长17%。

关键财务数据

在对其俄罗斯子公司终止并表后，阿普塔确认了6120万美元的税前计提费用（或税后摊薄每股0.94美元）。该费用已被排除在调整后收益之外。

业务与运营表现

医药业务

医药业务核心销售额增长1%。在广泛需求的支撑下，剔除应急药物后的核心销售额增长了8%。

处方药核心销售额下降7%，但剔除应急药物后增长了6%。中枢神经系统疗法以及哮喘和慢阻肺（COPD）治疗药物推动了增长。在鼻用减充血剂和皮肤给药方案需求的带动下，消费者保健核心销售额增长了13%。

注射剂核心销售额增长9%，主要由用于GLP-1药物、生物制品和疫苗的弹性体组件带动。管理层还强调了与欧盟GMP附录1（Annex 1）、GLP-1及生物制品项目相关的研发管线持续活跃。在口服固体制剂和益生菌销售的推动下，活性材料科学解决方案增长了4%。

医药业务的调整后EBITDA利润率为36.4%，同比下降80个基点。这一下降反映了高利润率应急药物产品贡献的减少，但部分被特许权使用费和生产力提升举措所抵消。管理层表示，若剔除应急药物的影响，医药业务的利润率本应实现同比增长。

该公司重点指出了在鼻喷、吸入、眼用和注射给药领域的开发项目。其中包括用于疼痛管理和严重过敏反应的晚期鼻喷项目、处于临床试验阶段的眼科生物制品，以及正在接受欧洲监管审查的低碳定量吸入器技术。

美容业务

美容业务核心销售额增长8%，其中约一半的增长来自投入成本上升的顺价传导。高端香水、彩妆和洗护发产品的需求最为强劲。个人护理核心销售额增长了11%。

调整后EBITDA利润率下降70个基点至11.4%，反映出产品组合不利以及北美地区持续面临的运营挑战。首席执行官加埃尔·图雅（Gael Touya）表示，欧洲和亚洲业务处于公司的长期目标范围内，而北美业务需要在市场执行、生产效率、质量和供应链敏捷度方面做出改变。

管理层警告称，北美地区的改善计划需要时间，且不会呈线性推进。

封口业务

封口业务核心销售额增长11%，投入成本顺价传导贡献了大约一半的增长。在酱料和调味品封口持续需求的推动下，食品类核心销售额增长了9%。在瓶装水、浓缩液和模具销售的推动下，饮料类核心销售额增长了19%。

调整后EBITDA利润率为15.5%，下降60个基点。指数化成本传导使利润率降低了120个基点。管理层表示，剔除这一影响后，在更高价值饮料分配产品有利组合的支撑下，利润率本应改善60个基点。

管理层业绩指引

阿普塔预计2026财年第四季度调整后每股收益为1.39美元至1.47美元。管理层表示，按其中点计算，这意味着按可比汇率计算同比增长17%。

该指引基于以下假设：

• 有效税率为17.5%至19.5%
• 欧元兑美元汇率为1.12
• 正常的第四季度季节性特征（通常对公司而言是淡季）
• 应急药物去库存逆风在本季度告一段落

对于2026财年全年，管理层维持了资本投资2.60亿至2.80亿美元、折旧与摊销费用3.10亿至3.20亿美元的预期。

管理层预计医药业务将在消费者保健分配系统和注射剂弹性体组件的带动下，助力2026财年实现强劲收官。随着生产力和运营效率举措的见效，医药业务的利润率预计将同比改善。

风险与关注焦点

• 应急药物去库存预计将在第四季度不再构成同比逆风，但管理层预计要到2027财年第一季度才能更好地看清纳洛酮（naloxone）未来的销售基线。目前预计其增长率将与GDP持平或略高于GDP。
• 美容业务的北美运营仍低于管理层预期。该公司表示，实现扭亏为盈需要更广泛的运营转型，而非一朝一夕之功。
• 第四季度是阿普塔的季节性淡季，尽管同比基数有利，但这可能会限制毛利率的环比改善。
• 美容和封口业务的销售额增长大幅受益于投入成本顺价传导，但这稀释了报告的板块利润率。
• 医药业务的收入增长仍依赖于在研管线项目的临床开发、监管审批和商业化时间表。

分析师问答环节亮点

管理层将医药业务好于预期的内部利润率表现归因于广泛的底层收入增长、特许权使用费以及生产力提升带来的成本节省。尽管受到了应急药物去库存带来的不利组合影响，调整后EBITDA利润率仍达到了36.4%。

关于医药业务的长期增长前景，管理层重申了其7%至11%的增长区间。该板块约90%的收入被描述为经常性且总体增长的收入，而在研管线的转化则提供了额外的扩张来源。

管理层表示，在之前对美国、中国和欧洲进行投资之后，注射剂业务拥有充足的产能来满足当前需求。管理层还强调，预期的增长并不依赖于单一的GLP-1药物或其他重磅产品。

关于美容业务，管理层明确了北美的两大优先事项：改善阿普塔在独立美妆（indie beauty）等增长品类中的竞争力；以及通过加强规划、提升效率、改善质量和增强供应链韧性来强化执行力。关税并未被列为主要因素，因为该业务在很大程度上遵循“在当地生产，服务当地市场”的模式。

对于纳洛酮，管理层预计未来产品利润率将保持稳定，但预计不会恢复历史增长率。联邦资金继续支持采购和分销，同时由于传统市场数据有限，管理层主要依赖与客户的沟通交流。

业绩电话会议完整文字记录

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完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

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 remain 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 1 product or 1 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 there are 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 ophthalmics, 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 an 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 build 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 focus on the prevention of respiratory viral infections and emergency treatment. Earlier-stage opportunities further broaden the pipeline across schizophrenia, nausea, congestion, Alzheimer's and dementia and migraine. We also see longer-term potential in pain 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-year collaboration research with Macquarie University focused on high-dose dry powder delivery of biologic 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 towards next-generation lower carbon meter 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 elastomer 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 on 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 customer partnerships into attractive growth opportunities.

In Closures, we continue to support the conversion of tub-based condiments to easy-squeeze pouch dispensing. Our 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 two-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 de-consolidation, which included approximately $30 million of cash held by the subsidiary, along with related receivables 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 impacts 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% and 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, official skin care and color cosmetics core sales increased 5%, and 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, reduce 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 growth margins in Beauty and Closures. We expect the emergency medicine destocking impacts 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 continue 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 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 1.49.

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 a 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 healthcare 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 of 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, that reinforce the long-term growth potential of our Pharma business.

Our Beauty and Closures segments are both supported by differentiated dispensing solutions and strong customers' 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 customers 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 open the call to questions.

Operator

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

分析师问答

Ghansham Panjabi

I'll just ask my two 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 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 on [indiscernible] 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 it's going to be the best line 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 on 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 impacts, 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.

Operator

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

Paul Knight

Gael, if EvaluatePharma is to be believed, which 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 said or shared, Paul, is we are pretty comfortable with that corridor, the 7 and the 11. This is a long-term trajectory. Obviously, some quarters or some years we're going to be above or under. But what I'd like to say, we are very confident with our pipeline. And the pipeline is robust, but not only robust, I'm quite satisfied with the progress programs are making true 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

First, we are really happy with that partnership with one of the key leaders 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 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 that 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 royalties is a tough 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 preliminary business is solid, that we are supporting the propellant switch, and we are one of the key partners of different players in the market. Outside Naloxone, I mean the impact, our emergency category has been growing. I could think about severe epilepsia, 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.

We are on top of our product quality. And I believe we've got the best portfolio in 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 programs.

Matthew Roberts

That's great. I appreciate that. Maybe [indiscernible] you highlighted North American Beauty as a priority, you spent time in reacquiring with that business. Where do you see the biggest opportunity in [Technical Difficulty]

Vanessa Kanu

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

Matthew Roberts

Is it better?

Gael Touya

No. This is the same. Are we the only one on [indiscernible]

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.

Vanessa Kanu

This sounds so much better, George.

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 a 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 George, I don't think so. I think the Naloxone market moving forward. So first, we need to understand what is the best line we're going to get a better visibility by Q1. But I don't think, I mean, the growth 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. And the government has been pushing strongly into fast track generic 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. And -- 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

We've lapped. Yes, of course, we've lapped. We've lapped in Q4. Yes, we've lapped in Q4. And the comments on the margins, the product margins should be comparable 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. So George, thanks for the question. Let me take a step back and frame it that way. You know that I'm really engaging 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 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 platform.

Now that will be execution with discipline and accountability. But something that is quite clear. That's not going to be a fixed and 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 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, better than I do. I mean, yes, we're working in a very compliant environment with very tight specification and safety of supply, and quality of supply is a most 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. I'll turn it over.

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 injectable business. You know that we shared that we will be in the high single digits and low double digits. So I'm very satisfied with the performance of injectable this quarter.

We've got a strong plan. 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, and 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 refer 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 home runs, even though we like home runs, but I'm satisfied with the breadth of our portfolio in the injectable 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, you -- that business CAGRed in the 8% to 9% range. So it's sort of the midpoint of your long-term construct. Now on a TTM basis, Pharma is up 7% ex NARCAN, 2 straight quarter 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 think about for why it wouldn't get back to that 8%, 9% plus range going forward? I mean, everything we are today, I think, speaks to that trend returning.

Gael Touya

Yes. So the 7 to 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 in 2021 has been challenging for us. And we have been aware about. And so I'm confident with that long-term target. So what is critical to understand, it's not a 5-week quarter of every year, right, 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 build and pipeline conversion is adding an additional layer of growth. And we are very encouraged to see the breadth and the development on the acceleration of our pipeline conversion.

So as program progress on new therapies are approved. I mean, we're going to continue to share these 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 again 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. Thanks, I'm waiting for that. So, I've got first drug delivery devices to help me to take on that cold. So hey, 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 on to face demand 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 is 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 leaders 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

Gael Touya, look forward to working with you. So 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 in 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 Justin, I'll jump in. So two 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 state use 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 move going to like Glaxo and so on, move 1 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 exciting that one on a broad base, cannot share the name of the customer for confidential reasons. But we are pretty excited about this one.

The number two 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 program. So there are 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 has 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. If 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 the 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 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 in that market and the way we execute. So 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 step up that one.

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 ready for us to raise the bar, making sure that we plant better, we produce with more efficiencies, we'll 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 better results, I mean we are expecting to see improvement. But once again, that's not going to be a sharp 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 Q4 -- sorry, Q3, I did call out, as we 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 1 line item for Q4 relative to the overall, but the increase you 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 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. Thanks, good luck on that.

Vanessa Kanu

George, I'll start with your question on the tax rate. As you know, we can have some quarterly variation in our tax -- 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 some -- 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 the tax assets.

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. 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 have been a lot of customers, and they want more of Aptar. They are telling me, guys, you've got these solutions for almost complex delivery challenges. We like your innovation. We want more of you. So I'm very encouraged by this one. In due time, we'll come back to you with the 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, in emergency medicine destocking at the naloxone part of the business, we 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, but 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, discipline, accountability and sense of ownership at every level of the organization.

So we know where we can win. We know where we -- 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 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.