AptarGroup, Inc. (ATR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

I'm very pleased to be joined this morning by CEO, Stephan Tanda, as well as CFO, Vanessa Kanu. I want to mention a couple of things before the presentation. First, the breakout session is in Richardson, up on the second floor, if you want to follow us there. And then second, I have to inform you that for a complete list of research disclosures or potential conflicts of interest, please visit our website at williamblair.com. So again, we're very pleased to once again have Aptar here with us today. And with that, I will turn it over to Stephan.

Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone. Happy to be here with you. Vanessa and I will take the next 30 minutes to tell you about Aptar. Each of you has at least a dozen of our products at home. So let's start with that, and you use them every day, and you probably don't know it. So about 46% or so of our business is pharma. It's the most profitable, most rapidly growing of our company with proprietary dispensing devices leading the way, things like nasal sprays, Narcan inhalers and things like that. Then injectables, notably GLP-1 is also part of the customer base, active materials. And then we have beauty, personal care, home care, food and beverage. We really differentiate ourselves through our technology, and we own the intellectual property of everything we sell. You're going to hear us say that a lot more often. I'm going to move here a little bit closer to the center of the room that also helps me to read the slides. We don't have anything at the improve eyesight. We have been around for 80 years, grow mainly organically with bolt-on acquisitions every few years or so and headquartered very close to here in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Having said that, a significant base in Europe, around 50% of our business is there, but 9 factories in the U.S., 2 in Mexico, so a strong base in North America with the balance in Latin America and Asia. We have been in Asia since the '90s. And you see here a selection of the world's leading brands and pharma companies that we serve, but overall more than 5,000 customers. So these are the key drivers of our growth. We are here at the growth conference. These are the key drivers. We really are the technology and innovation leader in our industry, and we are a trusted partner to our B2B customers because we have deep consumer insights and deep regulatory insights. So if you are a small start-up pharma company, of which there are many with an idea, either for new molecule or repurposing molecules and say, hey, could I deliver this through the nose, inhalation, -- there's one company to go to, to get them through the sometimes decades-long process to get it through FDA approval. Also on the consumer side, if you want to know about the 10 different ways of applying fragrances and which are more preferred in which region and by what consumers, you partner with Aptar. And last not least, given our strong European roots, sustainability is in our DNA. We've done it long before ESG became a term, and we keep doing it long before ESG ceased being a term because why? Because it is a competitive advantage for us. Our customers need it. It's part of their brand proposition. And equally important is part of our employee value proposition. We are an academy company in our industries and employees join us because they want to join a company not only that makes great products, but does that in a way that they are proud of. We report our financial results in the columns here, pharma, beauty, personal care and so on. But make no mistakes, our technologies span across the company. Almost any factory you go in from Aptar looks the same. We have precision injection molding. We have high-speed automated assembly, significant quality control these days, AI assisted. And then we have some common capabilities, for example, metal stamping and addodizing. All of these pumps and valves actually need to be attached to a container, and that's what you need the metal for. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Vanessa, our CFO, and then I'll come back to break down some of the businesses.

Thank you, Stephan. I'll also stand here since you started the tread, although I'll try not to follow off the stage, although I'm sure that will be very amusing if I did. Speaking of targets, I know the short-term quarterly performance tends to make all the headlines. However, we do manage the business for the long term. So I wanted to take a moment to share with you our long-term targets. These were set in 2021 and then revised in 2023. In 2023, we increased the core sales growth rate for our Pharma business, and that was really driven by strength that we were seeing in the pipeline for the Pharma business. So we raised the core sales growth rate to 7% to 11% compared to 6% to 10% previously. And if you look at the history of our Pharma business, at least certainly in the last 10 or so years, while, of course, the rate of growth varies year-by-year, as you would expect, the CAGR over that time period has been about 8%. We also increased the adjusted EBITDA target for the total company to 21% to 23%. And in 2024, we were certainly within that long-term target range. And additionally, we increased the return on invested capital target by also 100 basis points to 11% to 13%. And again, at the end of 2024, we were within that long-term target range. Our closures business has now more recently been within the long-term target range that was set in 2023, and we certainly expect more consistent performance there going forward. And our Beauty business, which has been a little bit more challenged from a top line perspective, we've done a lot of work over the last few years around cost improvements and productivity. And so with some help from the demand environment, we do expect some improvement in the long-term performance of our Beauty business. These targets are typically revisited every couple of years, and we will revisit them again in our Investor Day that is targeted for September 9 this year. So capital allocation. So we have followed a very disciplined and intentional capital allocation strategy. And our strategy has been a pretty good mix, I would say, between investing in our business through organic investments as well as accretive M&A and delivering returning capital to shareholders. And if you look at the last 5 years, certainly, you'll see a mixture of roughly 70-30 in terms of investments back into our business and returns to shareholders through dividends as well as share repurchases. And when you look at the investments in our business, the majority of those investments have been going to our pharma business, certainly just given the higher growth profile that you saw in the previous slide when we looked at the long-term growth targets as well as the higher profitability profile, which certainly increases the returns from that business. So speaking of returns, as you saw in the earlier slide, our return on invested capital target, as I mentioned, 11% to 13%. When you look at the last couple of years, you'll see consistent growth and consistent improvements in our ROIC, 2023 at 11%, certainly within the range that I shared earlier and then 2024 at 12.5%. And then last but not least, as we talk about capital allocation and returning capital to shareholders, we are a dividend aristocrat. And so 2025 will be the 32nd consecutive year of paying an increasing annual dividend to our shareholders. And when you look at the last -- from 2019 to 2024, we've returned almost $800 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. And if you looked at our Q1 results, you would have also seen that we returned in Q1 $110 million to shareholders, roughly $80 million in share repurchases and then $30 million in dividends. So -- our very strong balance sheet, you would see on our balance sheet, we've got a leverage ratio at the end of Q1 that was just under 1.2x, 1.16, I think, to be exact. So strong balance sheet, very conservative leverage ratio, growing cash flow, free cash flow profile. So all of that gives us a lot of flexibility to both continue to invest in growth opportunities in our business, but also to meet our commitments in terms of returning capital back to shareholders. So with that, Stephan, I'll just give it back to you for a moment.

All right. I already made the point about sustainability being a competitive advantage. Here, you see some of the recognitions, the one next to all the newspaper publications that we are, of course, very proud of and that help our reputation. The one that I would really point out is the EcoVadis Platinum. That means we're in the top 1% of 150,000 companies that they rank -- it's a very sophisticated ranking system as well as the CDP A list, all of them for quite a number of years. We're also amongst the world-leading company for women. Our Board is 50-50. Our top team is 50-50, and it makes for a very different conversation. So a lot of the nonsense is out of the room. Now let me go into the pharma business. You see over the last 10 years, our Pharma business has become a significant part of the portfolio. And today, it's not only the largest business, but as I shared, almost 70% of the EBITDA and certainly a key part of the growth driver of the company. The building blocks for growth, and let me spend some time here, proprietary high-value precision drug delivery franchise. That's everything that's inhaled, that's delivered through the nose, is operating in highly regulated markets. We design and own the intellectual property of all our devices. Why do we highlight that so much? There are many companies out there. A lot of them are called CMO, CDMO. They're good companies. We are not one of them. We design and own the IP of our devices, and we defend that IP very rigorously. That also underpins the profitability of our products. I already talked about the deep regulatory expertise. And over the years, we've added additional service capability to our clients. You need to remember, this is a pharma business. Does that mean long time lines. You come up with an idea to approval, it's usually a decade. If it's very fast, it's 6 years, it can be 15 years. During that time, we work with clients and we invoice for services provided. We get milestone payments. Sometimes we get exclusivity payments. So we make money during that development process, and we hug the customer to really help them to get FDA approval. Once the product is launched, we have a perpetuity basically for product revenue because our device is in the drug master file. We've also added a digital business a few years ago. It's top of mind in the C suite of many customers. Today, you really don't launch a new drug without a digital companion. Sometimes the algorithm is FDA approved and the algorithm is actually a medical device regulatory-wise. And then the strong balance sheet is also very important for these clients because if you embark on a 10-, 15-year project, you want to make sure your suppliers around. And given the fact that we've been around for 85 years, have a strong balance sheet and have weathered many storms, Aptar is somebody you can partner with for a long period of time. Here are some of the trends that drive our growth. One is a lot of drugs have been around for a long time and are being repurposed to be delivered through nose. One that's very notorious in the U.S., of course, is Narcan. Naloxone has been around for decades. We were the ones working with Adapt Pharma at the time to repurpose that through nasal delivery and the Narcan device that you know today is part of that collaboration, but also other things like epinephrine. You may have seen on TV advertised neffy uses a similar device. J&J SPRAVATO to treat depression uses one of our Bidose device. So converting that uses esketamine, esketamine has been around for a long time and now with J&J has a very strong growth trajectory. So this conversion of drugs to the nasal delivery route, not just for respiratory treatments, but for central nervous system treatments because through the nose, you get very quickly to the brain. Second, of course, our large allergic rhinitis franchise benefits from the [indiscernible] of allergic rhinitis. And given the climate situation and the environmental situation, allergies just become longer and longer. Some people suffer year-round. I'm one of them. Asia is a big growth driver for allergic rhinitis. And so between allergies lasting longer and the larger population being addressed, that's a growth driver. Then one of the important thing about our product is that while molecules go generic or products go over the counter, our devices still is our IP. Our devices are still captured. So when a product goes generic, we still make the same amount of money. When the product goes over the counter, we still make the same amount of money, but we have much larger distribution. So this is really characteristically for pharma business, generic is good for us. Over-the-counter is even better for us because we get more and more volume. And then last but not least, of course, the trend that's in the pharma industry for now quite a decade or longer is just more and more biologics, more large molecules. And of course, the GLP-1 is part of that trend. Vanessa already talked about our track record in revenue and earnings growth in this business. It's quite remarkable. Even during tough times, this business is doing very well. It is a pipeline business. Like every pharma business, it's a pipeline business that we give you a view of the pipeline every year or so. And here is the latest snapshot, including 2024. And that also underpins our confidence in the long-term growth rate of this business because we know what's in the pipeline, we know what progresses through the pipeline. At the time of launch, you never really know. Is this going to be a winner? Is this going to be an okay product? But if you have the numbers in the pipeline, ultimately, you're going to drive growth. A few words about the different divisions. I already talked about proprietary drug delivery systems. So on the bottom, you see a number of the products that use our dispensing devices. So often, we don't make the bottle, but we make the thing that is on top. Of course, with Narcan, it's an integrated device SPRAVATO the same -- then I already talked about repurposing and adding new things that are nasally delivered. So for example, vitamin supplementation and central nervous system drugs and more recent additions, including emergency medicine, pain medications, Diazepam, for example, can be also delivered through the nose now. Then injectables, it's all about these rubber components, whether it's a stopper, a plunger or elastomeric components of stopper or plunger or needle shield. So if you have an auto-injector from Lilly or Novo, there's a high likelihood that one of our rubber components is in that auto-injector. Some very nice statistics. We drive this injectable business that we bought in 2014 more and more to high-value application, including application in auto-injectors and for biologics that we call high-value products. And so you have both the growth and the mix enrichment from going more and more to high-value products. And last not least, Active Materials Science Solutions. That's a business we bought in 2018. It's quite sophisticated. It's basically polymer that has an active property -- and it started with vials that contain diabetes test strips, but it has gone on to greater things. For example, the puck for Abbott Libre is conditioned in an environment that uses our polymer. So before it goes on, it's precise. We also had some applications in COVID tests and many other applications. The most recent one is to help sensitive drugs to extend their shelf life or even be approvable, for example, Descovy HIV drug, every single blister in that blister pack you see here is one of the strips of our active materials. Digital health, I already talked about. It's part of our service offering. And in this case, we really are able to work with customers not only from ideation to product development, but also then accompanying the launch with a digital companion. Let me spend a few minutes on our Beauty business. It's our second largest business. Again, these are the kind of products we make. And again, don't think about the whole product, but think about what's on top. It's what creates the consumer experience, what creates the fragrance experience or how you put on the suntan lotion or that skin care product. It's more heavy in Europe. Why? Because that fancy fragrance that you pick up on the duty-free store better come from pairs, right? So a lot of the beauty products are designed, imagined and filled in Europe and then exported to Asia and the United States. That's also why this business is a bit wobbly given the whole tariff discussions. At the same time, it is nicely growing. It's just always you hunt a little bit. Is it fragrance that's growing? Is it skin care? Is it color cosmetics? And Asia plays also a big part in that business. China is the single largest consumer market for beauty products. It's a cultural difference, also much more male participation in Asia. So the average consumer basket in Asia has twice as many beauty products as in the West. This business went through a significant renovation process. We had to upgrade our asset base, shift some of the asset base to Asia, shut down noncompetitive plants in Europe. So we reduced our plant count by 10 in the last few years, reduced the workforce and segmented the sales force. So that business is poised for much better performance. It needs a bit more demand, but we are quite hopeful with the Chinese consumer coming back and hopefully, this whole tariff stuff being behind us in the second half that, that business is coming back nicely. Last not least, closures. Often people know us first by the catch-up top. So we were the people who enabled Kraft Heinz to put the ketchup upside down. Those of you young will not remember, but we used to shake that glass bottle like crazy to get the ketchup out and then we had it on the plate. Well, those days were long gone once we put our special valve in the top and allowed Heinz to put it on. Now of course, from then, it's gone on to sour cream, it's gone on to sports drinks. And now in Asia, things like soy sauce, oyster sauce. So condiments is a big piece of the business. Beverage is a big piece of the business. Most recently, very exciting category. I see a lot of guys here. dish soap. P&G changed the dish soap category by using that same technology worldwide. And now you have Dawn upside down sitting next to the counter, no mess, no push-pull that's full of guy stuff. And we -- life changing. Thanks, Mary. And if you want to change a category, you want to do it around the world with an innovative product, Aptar is the go-to company to do that. Now maybe personal care is next, but let's see. Clearly, that's our closures business. It's a very regional business. You don't ship these closures around the world. We make in region for region. And again, you see some of the products here. Again, we don't make the container, we make what's on top because what's on top creates the consumer experience. And you see here some of our customers that we proudly serve. It's probably the most U.S.-focused business of all the businesses we have. Here, you see some of the breakdown. And again, it's about this conversion of converting markets. They might not be growing very fast like dish soap or infant nutrition. But if we convert a large category from a format that doesn't use our product to one that does, growth follows. We have been able to make it more disciplined around capital use and market focus and drive growth. So that's how it has been able to get into its long-term targets. And we are pretty confident that it will stay there, maybe more. All right. With that, that was the fast tour. We finished a bit early, Matt. If you want to fire a few questions or you have some questions from the audience, we can do that now, and then we go upstairs. If I don't break the stuff here.

I'll leave with one and then anybody wants to ask one can as well give a few minutes. So maybe first would just be on tariffs. You referenced, obviously, the global nature of your business for all 3 segments. When we were in Europe a couple of months ago and this was fresh, I think you were confident that the combination of in region, for region plus where you play in the supply chain and value chain. You obviously spoke to that on your earnings call. But maybe I'd be more curious about the sort of evolution of your customer conversations, what they intend to do from a footprint shift perspective, what they think they get from a mitigation perspective, how much they're viewing sort of the back and forth as near-term noise and perhaps a reason not to make landscape shifting investments or changes versus more near-term mitigation? Just curious how those conversations have gone.

Yes. It depends on the day of the week. No, I'm just kidding. Look, fundamentally, we produce in region for region, which clearly serves us quite well here. Customers are basically taking no major strategic actions at the moment. They watch the space. There will be some supply chain whipler shortly, okay, the tariffs are on. Let's wait shipping stuff, the tariffs are off, let's go get it all on the boat. But I think structural moving of manufacturing is not something you decide overnight. So we call them secondary and tertiary effects. They will have to wait until this has settled out and people know what they're dealing with. Clearly, if you are a European fragrance producer that's planning a major launch for the U.S. and to ship from Europe, you might hold off for a couple of months to see what happens. So I think that's the biggest factor at the moment. The other thing is customers in the U.S. that bought from Asia for low cost may reconsider that and come to us and buy from one of our U.S. factories. But again, you don't turn that on within a week. You need product qualification, testing and so on. In general, there is some -- quite a bit more activity for our U.S. mainly beauty enclosures facilities for -- or mainly beauty facilities for local sourcing. It will take years if people want to move factories. For us, we are relatively benign about this because if a customer says, "Hey, I don't want this to be delivered in Europe anymore. I want it delivered in the U.S., fine, we'll deliver you from the U.S. factory. Somebody who says, well, we want to shift something from Asia to Europe, okay, we serve you from Europe. So this resilient in-region for-region supply chain has served us well. We have been in China since the '90s, but we've always been in China for China. We've never done China for the U.S. or for Europe, just for historical reasons and maybe we were preparing for today, but I think it was more to protect the Western assets that we had, if we're very honest, but it serves us well now.

Maybe the only thing I'll add to that is to your comment, Matt, about -- I mean, there's a lot of uncertainty right now, and things are changing on a pretty much daily basis. And that is creating consumer uncertainty. And we are seeing that certainly in the discretionary parts of our business, some consumers are delaying their orders as they sort of try to navigate their own levels of uncertainty. And of course, we are managing that through various mechanisms. We've always been managing costs certainly in our Beauty business, and we'll continue to do that, focusing on innovation to help to drive top line growth once the demand environment starts to improve and of course, bottom line improvement even in the midst of uncertainty, which does tend to affect more of the discretionary parts of our portfolio like fragrance and skin care more so than others as well.

Okay. So maybe I'll follow up sort of on that point with Stephan again, you referenced in the presentation, sort of the strengthening of the Chinese consumer. And again, that was a bit of a surprise to me when we were on the road a few weeks ago, you're referencing that. I think just given at least my perception of the geopolitical situation and perceived impacts on -- with respect to tariffs. So could you just speak to what that part of your business has been like and then what you've seen and how that's changed in the last kind of few months?

Yes. Look, first, China is about 11% or Asia is 11% of our market. But for beauty, it's a bit more important. The Chinese consumer has reacted very poorly to the massive COVID exit, where all of a sudden, everybody got COVID within a month or 2 after the zero tolerance and then followed by real estate crisis. The consumer confidence was very low for a couple of years. Now with all the stimulus in place and some renewed patriotism, consumers are spending again. We started to see it towards the end of last year, 11/11 went very well. And also now I'm not -- it's the markets we see, and these are everyday products, beauty products, food products, pharma products. And there, we see the consumer having more confidence and coming back. And that's also important for, obviously, for our European beauty customers because they ship a lot of the stuff to Asia. I think that's the long and short of it. The one thing that we haven't seen play out yet is clearly coming out of the pandemic, U.S. travelers storming Europe again was good for our beauty business. But now U.S. travelers tend to stay closer to home and not spend as much in duty free. So I'm sure that will have an impact on us, but that hasn't worked its way through the supply chain yet.

Okay. Very good. Well, we just -- I think we have time for another question. So thanks, everyone, for joining us. And again, if you'd like to follow up with the breakout, we are in the Richards room. So Stephan and Vanessa, thank you very much.