AptarGroup Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Annual Earnings

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) today announced record fourth quarter and
annual earnings for 2016.

Fourth Quarter Summary

• Reported sales declined 1%; sales growth in Pharma and Food +
  Beverage offset by decline in Beauty + Home and the impact of the
  stronger U.S. dollar
• Segment income margins improved in Pharma and Beauty + Home
• Reported earnings per share of $0.77 vs. $0.68 in the prior year (+
  13%)
• Comparable adjusted earnings per share of $0.69 vs. $0.65 in the
  prior year (+ 6%)

Annual Summary

• Reported sales increased 1%
• Reported annual earnings per share of $3.17 vs. $3.09 in the prior
  year (+ 3%)
• Comparable adjusted annual earnings per share of $3.13 vs. $2.97 in
  the prior year (+ 5%)
• Reported annual net income (9% of net sales) increased to $206
  million (+ 3%)
• Adjusted annual EBITDA (20% of net sales) increased to $476 million
  (+ 5%)
• Paid increased annual dividend for the 23^rd
  consecutive year (current annualized dividend is $1.28 per share).

CEO Transition

As previously reported, Stephan B. Tanda was appointed President and CEO
effective February 1, 2017, succeeding Stephen J. Hagge who had earlier
announced his intention to retire after 35 years of distinguished
service. Mr. Hagge will remain with AptarGroup until the end of March to
facilitate a smooth transition and will continue to serve on
AptarGroup’s Board of Directors.

Fourth Quarter Results

For the quarter ended December 31, 2016, reported sales decreased 1% to
$539 million from $547 million a year ago. Excluding the negative impact
from changes in currency exchange rates and the positive impact from
acquisitions, core sales decreased by 2%.

Commenting on the quarter, Stephen Hagge said, “Our Beauty + Home
segment continued to be affected by challenging conditions across each
of the markets served. Our Pharma segment had another good quarter with
solid growth in sales to the consumer health care and injectables
markets being partially offset by weaker demand from the prescription
drug market where we experienced year-end destocking among certain
customers. Our Food + Beverage segment reported excellent growth, in
part due to higher demand from the Asian beverage market. Despite some
of the challenges we faced, we expanded margins in two of our three
segments over the prior year, achieved an operating income margin of
approximately 12% and an EBITDA margin of 20% and reported record
earnings per share.”

AptarGroup reported earnings per share of $0.77 compared to $0.68 a year
ago. Comparable adjusted earnings per share grew 6% to $0.69 compared to
$0.65 a year ago.

Annual Results

For the year ended December 31, 2016, reported sales increased 1% to
$2.33 billion from $2.32 billion a year ago. Excluding the negative
impact from changes in currency exchange rates and the positive impact
from acquisitions, core sales were even with the prior year.

Hagge commented on the year-to-date results, “It was a difficult year to
deliver growth in our Beauty + Home segment due to weak market
conditions. We had excellent performance from the acquired Mega Airless
business that will continue to play an important part of this segment’s
growth and we deployed new technologies that have much potential. Our
Pharma segment had another excellent year, reporting growth across each
market. Our Food + Beverage segment performed well despite facing
challenging demand in the Asian beverage market. All things considered,
we did an excellent job of maintaining or growing adjusted EBITDA
margins across our business segments, achieving a consolidated operating
income margin of 13% and adjusted EBITDA margin of 20% and reporting
record annual earnings per share.”

For the year 2016, AptarGroup reported earnings per share of $3.17
compared to $3.09 a year ago. Comparable adjusted earnings per share
grew 5% to $3.13 compared to $2.97 for 2015.

Outlook

Commenting on AptarGroup’s outlook, Stephan Tanda said, “As I look to
2017, I am excited by the opportunities to develop new business, execute
on customer projects and focus on growth. Similar to many companies, we
will face some degree of uncertainty as various political environments
shift and settle, but we will remain focused on our customers and end
consumers in order to drive new technologies to market. I am
particularly encouraged by the opportunities we see to further penetrate
and grow in relatively newer categories such as color cosmetics,
sampling and promotion, facial skin care, pain management, ophthalmics,
dermal treatments and infant nutrition, among others. We will continue
to seek new business and invest in profitable growth opportunities,
while at the same time manage our cost structure. We have an excellent
balance sheet that allows us to pursue our balanced capital allocation
strategy.”

AptarGroup expects earnings per share for the first quarter, excluding
any potential impacts of the timing of costs incurred and any related
insurance reimbursements associated with the Aptar Annecy facility fire,
to be in the range of $0.72 to $0.77 compared to $0.67 per share
reported in the prior year. Our guidance range does not include any
potential impact from our anticipated adoption of the new accounting
standard for share-based compensation. Adjusting for special items in
the prior year, comparable adjusted earnings per share for the prior
year were approximately $0.74.

Open Conference Call

There will be a conference call on Friday, February 10, 2017 at 8:00
a.m. Central Time to discuss AptarGroup’s fourth quarter and annual
results for 2016. The call will last approximately one hour. Interested
parties are invited to listen to a live webcast by visiting the Investor
Relations page at www.aptar.com.
Replay of the conference call can also be accessed on the Investor
Relations page of the website.

AptarGroup, Inc. is a leading global supplier of a broad range of
innovative dispensing and sealing solutions for the beauty, personal
care, home care, prescription drug, consumer health care, injectables,
food and beverage markets. AptarGroup is headquartered in Crystal Lake,
Illinois, with manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, Asia
and South America. For more information, visit www.aptar.com.

Presentation of Non-GAAP Information

This press release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures,
including adjusted earnings per share and adjusted EBITDA, which exclude
the impact of transaction costs and purchase accounting adjustments that
affected inventory values related to the Mega Airless acquisition,
certain items included in the provision for income taxes (primarily a
significant tax refund that was recorded in the first quarter of 2016
and certain adjustments related to income tax incentives recorded in the
fourth quarter of 2016), income from a change in the method of valuing
inventory (from LIFO to FIFO) that was recorded in the second quarter of
2015, transaction costs associated with the Mega Airless acquisition and
a gain on insurance recovery recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Comparable core sales and adjusted earnings per share also exclude the
impact of foreign currency translation effects. Non-GAAP financial
measures may not be comparable to similarly titled non-GAAP financial
measures provided by other companies. AptarGroup’s management believes
these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to our
investors because they allow for a better period over period comparison
of operating results by removing the impact of items that, in
management’s view, do not reflect AptarGroup’s core operating
performance. These non-GAAP financial measures also provide investors
with certain information used by AptarGroup’s management when making
financial and operational decisions. These non-GAAP financial measures
should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP
financial results, but should be read in conjunction with the unaudited
condensed consolidated statements of income and other information
presented herein. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the
most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in the accompanying
tables.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
certain statements set forth under the “Outlook” section of this press
release. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,”
“estimates,” “future” and other similar expressions or future or
conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would” and “could” are
intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and are based on our beliefs as well as assumptions
made by and information currently available to us. Accordingly, our
actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in
such forward-looking statements due to known or unknown risks and
uncertainties that exist in our operations and business environment
including, but not limited to, the possible impact and consequences of
the fire at the Company’s facility in Annecy, France; economic
conditions worldwide including potential deflationary conditions in
regions we rely on for growth; political conditions worldwide;
significant fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; changes in
customer and/or consumer spending levels; financial conditions of
customers and suppliers; consolidations within our customer or supplier
bases; fluctuations in the cost of materials, components and other input
costs; the availability of raw materials and components; our ability to
successfully implement facility expansions and new facility projects;
our ability to increase prices, contain costs and improve productivity;
changes in capital availability or cost, including interest rate
fluctuations; volatility of global credit markets; cybersecurity threats
that could impact our networks and reporting systems; fiscal and
monetary policies and other regulations, including changes in tax rates;
direct or indirect consequences of acts of war or terrorism; work
stoppages due to labor disputes; and competition, including
technological advances. For additional information on these and other
risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” and
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations” in our Form 10-Ks and Form 10-Qs. We undertake no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts

Matthew DellaMaria
AptarGroup, Inc.
815-477-0424

Read full story here