SCHOTT Pharma Aktie

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the earnings call SCHOTT Pharma H1 2026. [Operator Instructions]

Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Tobias.

Thank you very much, Viara. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to SCHOTT Pharma's earnings call for the first half of financial year 2026. My name is Tobias Erfurth, Head of Investor Relations, and I will guide you through today's session. With me on the call are our CEO, Christian Mias; and our CFO, Reinhard Mayer.

As a reminder, and as announced in November 2025, Christian joined SCHOTT Pharma as new CEO on May 1. Christian, welcome once again. We are very happy to have you with us. And together with Reinhard, you bring extensive experience and fresh perspectives to SCHOTT Pharma. Christian will begin with a brief introduction and business update, followed by Reinhard, who will walk you through our financial performance in more detail. After that, we will open the call for your questions.

Before we begin, please take a moment to review our disclaimer. As a quick note, our financial year 2026 runs from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026. So the H1 results we are presenting today cover the period from October 1 last year to March 31 this year.

With this, I would now like to hand over to Christian. Christian, the floor is yours.

Thank you for the introduction, Tobias. And yes, good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to join you today for the first time as CEO of SCHOTT Pharma. I'd like to take the opportunity to briefly introduce myself before we turn to the business update. I studied in Berlin in Tokyo and received a PhD in industrial engineering. My professional career then started at Siemens, where I worked in M&A and project management, an experience that has shaped how I think about strategy and operational performance to this day. From there, I joined SCHOTT where I have spent more than 18 years in leadership roles across Brazil. the United States and Germany. I led the tubing plant in Rio de Janeiro, restructured the American plants of Flat Glass and headed the Lighting & Imaging division. Most recently, I was responsible for electronic packaging, driving global performance, strategic development and cultural change.

So while SCHOTT Pharma is a new chapter for me, SCHOTT itself is not I know the culture, I know the people, and I have a deep appreciation for what this organization is capable of. I'm very much looking forward to what lies ahead and to getting to know many of you better over the coming months.

And now let us directly jump into the business update on Slide 5. SCHOTT Pharma delivered a resilient performance in the first half of the financial year 2026. Overall, both quarters developed in line with our expectations. Revenues for the first half reached EUR 488 million, representing growth of 2.3% at constant currencies. Growth was mainly driven by our Drug Containment Solutions segment while Drug Delivery Systems faced temporary headwinds.

Coming in at EUR 130 million, our EBITDA remained at a high level, corresponding to a margin of 26.6%. The strong contribution from DCS largely offset the temporary pressure in DDS. Demand for High Value Solutions remained robust throughout the period with HVS increasing year-over-year by 1 percentage point to a revenue share of 56%, in line with our plan.

Let's now take a closer look at that. The continued growth of our High Value Solutions reflect the strength of our strategy built on 3 pillars: innovation, capacity expansion and long-term partnerships with the world's leading pharmaceutical companies as well as industry peers for product development. As just mentioned, HVS account for 56% of our revenues impacted by a temporary decline in DDS. The commercial logic is straightforward. High Value Solutions address specific and evolving customer needs, growing regulatory requirements, complex biologics, the trend towards home care settings and the industry-wide shift toward ready-to-use formats for leaner and more efficient fill and finish processes. That translates into stronger pricing, better margins and more resilient customer relationships.

Shown on Slide 7 is the most recent example of innovations we are bringing to market. At the end of April, we announced the upcoming launch of cartriQ BioPure, which is a new sterile glass cartridge based on the new FIOLAX glass for the safe storage and delivery of complex biologics also for self-injection systems. It directly addresses 2 of the most important trends in our industry. The ongoing growth of complex and highly sensitive biologic therapies and the shift towards subcutaneous self-administration at home. Detail about the product features. However, the slide demonstrates that what looks like a simple glass container comprises a great deal of know-how and engineering that is not visible to the naked eye.

These features make a big difference to customers as they solve urgent pain points such as long-term drug stability accurate dosing, reliable integration into various self-administration devices and plungers that provide a good balance between integrity and smooth injectability. We are planning to bring cartriQ BioPure to market by the end of 2026. Just as we do in research and development, we also focus on High Value Solutions in the expansion of our manufacturing capacities. In the reporting period, we continue to invest particularly at our sites in Switzerland and Hungary for glass syringes and RTU cartridges to ensure we can serve the growing demand for sophisticated primary packaging also going forward.

With that, I hand over to Reinhard, starting on Slide 9 for our financial update.

Thank you, Christian, and a good day to everyone. I'm pleased to walk you through our financials for the first half of 2026 in more detail. A brief note on the chart structure in advance. The gray bar represents our Drug Containment Solutions segment, which we refer to as DCS. The blue bar represents the Drug Delivery Systems segment or DDS.

As Christian outlined, the first half of 2026 was resilient and developed alongside our plans. Let me start with the second quarter before turning to the half year picture. In Q2 2026, group revenues amounted to EUR 247.9 million. which represents a flat development at constant currencies and a decline of 1.5% on a reported basis. Keep in mind, that Q2 was the strongest quarter in the financial year 2025.

The actual quarter was shaped by 2 opposing dynamics: continued strong momentum in the DCS segment on the one hand and temporary unfavorable effects in DDS on the other. In DCS, revenues grew to EUR 149.2 million in Q2 and an increase of 7.3% at constant currencies and 4.5% reported. Growth was again boosted by sterile solutions and specialty valves consistent with the trend we saw in Q1. In DDS, revenues were at EUR 98.8 million in Q2, down 9.8% in constant currencies and 9.5% on a reported basis.

This reflects 2 factors: continued weakness in polymer syringes and the lower glass syringe volume as anticipated. Coming to the first half year period. H1 group revenues amounted to EUR 488.1 million, representing an increase of 2.3% at constant currencies, and 1% as reported. DCS was the driver of our revenue development. Revenues increased to EUR 286.4 million, representing an 8.3% growth at constant currencies or 5.7% on a reported basis. As described before, this dynamic increase was mainly due to strong demand for our High Value Solutions. The DDS segment recorded revenues of EUR 201.8 million, down 5.4% at constant currencies or 4.9% as reported. As outlined, the decline mainly occurred in Q2, we expect DDS momentum to improve in the second half for both glass and polymer syringes.

Let's take a closer look at our profitability, again, starting with Q2 before turning to the half year. In Q2 2026, group EBITDA amounted to EUR 64.6 million, a decline of around EUR 7 million year-over-year. This resulted in an EBITDA margin of 26% compared to 28.5% in Q 2025. Just like in revenues, we have opposing dynamics in the segments. DCS EBITDA increased to EUR 38.4 million in Q2, up 15.7% year-over-year with the margin improving more than 2 percentage points to 25.7%. This strong growth was driven by volume and a favorable product mix towards High Value Solutions.

In DDS, EBITDA was at EUR 26.9 million in Q2, down 28% year-over-year with the margin decreasing to 27.2%. The reason for this development were a one-off inventory impairment on a customer-specific glass syringe, which was in the high single-digit million euro range. In addition, we had lower utilization in polymer syringes. Adjusted for the one-off effect, the DDS margin would have been on par with prior year.

Turning to the first half year. Group EBITDA amounted to EUR 129.8 million, broadly on last year's level. resulting in an EBITDA margin of 26.6%. In DCS, EBITDA increased 17.2% year-over-year to EUR 71.8 million. with the margin improving significantly to 25.1%. Growth was driven by volume improvements and favorable product mix effects. Particularly High Value Solutions were again the main driver of margin expansion. In DDS, EBITDA came in at EUR 59.5 million. resulting in a margin of 29.5%. As outlined, this decline mainly occurred in the second quarter, resulting from a one-off effect. There are no structural changes in DDS profitability, and we expect the margin profile to improve in the second half year.

Turning to the rest of the P&L. EBIT amounted to EUR 86.5 million, 6.9% below the prior year, mainly due to the one-off inventory impairment as well as higher depreciation following our growth investments. The depreciation and amortization increased by 15% to EUR 43 million. The financial result improved by EUR 2.4 million to minus EUR 4.1 million, mainly due to lower interest expenses resulting from the optimization of our financing structure. Income taxes amounted to EUR 17.9 million compared to EUR 18.3 million in the prior year period. The tax rate of 21.8% is marginally higher than last year and in line with our expectations. Overall, net income amounted to EUR 64.4 million compared to EUR 68.1 million last year. This corresponds to earnings per share of EUR 0.43.

Now let's turn to our cash flow and investments. In the first half of 2026, cash flow from operating activities amounted to EUR 95.1 million, compared with EUR 72.6 million in the prior year period. This development was primarily driven by working capital improvements, in particular, a reduction in receivables. This offsets higher inventories to support higher customer demand anticipated for the second half of 2026. Cash flow from ongoing investing activities was on last year's level at around EUR 50 million. This reflects our continued strategic investments in capacity expansion, especially for High Value Solutions in Switzerland and Hungary. Free cash flow more than doubled year-over-year to EUR 45.4 million.

Based on our first half year performance,and our current visibility from a strong order book, we confirm our guidance for the full financial year 2026. We continue to expect revenue growth of 2% to 5% at constant currencies and an EBITDA margin of around 27% for the full year. In addition to our guidance, I would like to mention 2 further key metrics for the financial year 2026. Expect our planned capital expenditure to range between EUR 140 million and EUR 160 million. We are confident in achieving an HVS revenue share at prior year's level, which was a robust 57% and we assume a tax rate consistent with the previous year at around 22%.

This concludes our financial update. I will now hand it back to Tobias. Before we start with the Q&A session.

Thank you very much, Christian and Reinhard. We will now open the Q&A session, Viara, our operator, will assist with registration.

[Operator Instructions]

Okay. The first question comes from Giang Nguyen at Citi.

Christian, nice to virtually meet you. I'm curious to see what are your impressions of the company since joining at the beginning of this month? And what do you see as the key levers to value creation for the company? More specifically, we have seen quite a fair bit of contractual changes in the last sort of 1, 2 years as it relates to both polymer and more recently glass syringes. What's your initial view on the outlook for the business?

And I have a second question for Reinhard, but I will ask after this one.

Thank you very much for your question. And yes, nice to meet you virtually as well. Well, when it comes to my impression after the first -- yes, I have to say a couple of days, I would, first of all, say there is nothing too spectacular. I feel that SCHOTT Pharma is a highly innovative company being well prepared to meet the demands of the pharma industry in the future.

And when it comes to the structural contractual changes that you have seen at this point, I would say the changes you are referring to are specific for the one customer. I think you have in mind there. It's a situation that -- where we are in a positive and cooperative discussion, and I fully believe that we will have this under control on short notice.

The initial view on the business itself is that, as we have said earlier, I do confirm the guidance for the current fiscal year. And what comes with that is the expectation of a stronger second half of the year.

And second question for Reinhard. I think in DDS specifically, excluding the inventory impairment, profitability appeared quite solid despite the underutilization related to polymer syringes. So could you talk to the driver of margins for DDS for in the quarter and expectations for the remainder of the year?

And follow-up is, can you confirm that the glass syringe impairment was truly a one-off topic, and there's no risk in the coming quarters?

Thank you, Giang, for your questions. Maybe I'll start with the last part of your question first.

Yes, it is a contained impact in Q2, taking from impairments as there's not yet, let's say, clarification with this one single customer. Other than that, we really have seen a good financial performance in DDS which is, as I said, on prior year's level. And as I said as well, we see growth momentum in both glass and polymers syringes for the second half of the year, which shall support, let's say, a strong operating profit in this segment.

The next question comes from Falko Friedrichs at Deutsche Bank.

My first question is on the top line phasing of growth between the third and the fourth quarter. So how much of an acceleration could we already see in the third quarter? Or is this really mostly expected to happen in the fourth quarter?

Then secondly, do you believe that the full range -- guidance range on sales growth is still in play? Or should we rather look at the lower half of it, considering where your first half growth landed? And then lastly, could you give a little bit more color on where you stand with this one large syringe customer? Is there potentially further downside risk in terms of how much that customer orders for you? Do you have any early indication how business from that customer might shape up into 2027? That would be very helpful.

Falko, thank you for your questions. I think I will take the first 2 parts and then Christian will chip in on the customer perspective part again.

Towards your question, Q3 and Q4, obviously, we are not guiding by the quarter as such. So we have a second half, which will be stronger. And then when you look to the comps last year, third quarter was certainly at a lower growth rate than the fourth quarter. But that means we will expect to see already growth showing up in the third quarter, but I'm not giving you a specific guidance. So both quarters will deliver growth to our expectation today.

To the second point, that goes right into the guidance. We have the full guidance range still there. Hence, we are not at the lower end. So as we have seen the growth, especially in the first half, impacted by glass syringe business and planned on the polymer, but strong in the DCS, the momentum change we are seeing also through the order book towards the second half year is a good confidence base we have.

And then with the onetime impact, you can see that the underlying operating profit in the second quarter is also strong. So that gives us confidence that the given guidance will hold and has, so to say, the right range. also for the profitability perspective. Now maybe, Christian?

Yes. Thank you, Reinhard. And regarding your third question, with that specific glass syringe customer. As said before, we are in very constructive negotiations with that customer. We, as a matter of fact, do not see a significant downside risk. On the contrary, I see more chances than risks in the future, especially when it comes to 2027.

The next question comes from Olivier Calvet at UBS. Olivier, over to you.

Christian, Reinhard. I just wanted to firstly put the sort of reiteration of the full year guidance in perspective. is your expectation in DDS overall still that sort of both glass and polymer are flat on a full year basis? I guess that's question one.

Can you talk a little bit about the development of the order book or what gives you confidence that you're going to grow in the second half?

And thirdly, if you could come back to this one-off inventory impairment. Is this a specific type of syringe? Any kind of color you could give us there also in terms of when you decided an impairment was needed. Just would be helpful.

Thank you, Olivier. Well, as we have said, we expect the DDS segment to be flat over the full year. And obviously, we have seen the downside. And obviously, we expect an upside in the second half. And being flat means obviously flattish. It could be slightly negative, slightly positive. And that's, so to say, obviously, in still the making.

On the other side, the order book, and that's really the point is a positive, let's say, driver. We have clearly better book-to-bill ratio this year. Hence, the visibility in DCS as well as DDS gives us this confidence that the aforementioned growth aspiration for the second half is there, but also the growth to come in DDS in '27 is supported. So the growth is expected to continue in glass syringe, but as well for polymer for the years '27, '28 onwards.

On the glass syringe impairment, yes, it was an impairment for customer-specific glass syringes, which we took in Q2 for the aforementioned reasons. No specific further risk we assume at this moment in time for any other glass syringe or other product impairments. This is a pure one-off, and I think Christian gave a little bit of a flavor that we have not yet a conclusion. Hence, this is the reason.

Okay. And just maybe one follow-up on the order intake. Essentially there, your visibility or order book, the visibility you have, could you quantify it maybe in months or sort of until when you have visibility?

Maybe do not specifically give the order book value as such, but it's several months ahead and would even go into '27.

And that's the same across the -- sorry. And that's the same across both segments or...

That's across both segments.

The next question comes from Charles Weston at RBC, Royal Bank of Canada.

My first is on looking at the revenue growth from a different lens in terms of the regions. The EMEA grew 14%, but APAC and North America were both down mid-teens. So I was just wondering if you could help us understand which of the drivers from a DCS DDS perspective were the key drivers on a regional basis. And you also mentioned that one customer is now over 10% of revenue that wasn't at that level in the prior year. So if you could perhaps give us any color around what that might be? Is it GLP, for example? That would be helpful.

My second question -- that was kind of 2. Maybe it's my third question would be on polymer. So I think I just wanted to clarify, you are expecting growth in the second half in polymer. And I think you've just said, Reinhard, that you are expecting that to grow in 2027 and '28. So we should be thinking that we're at the bottom if I'm not mistaken.

And just one last question on modeling, if I can, please. Could you give us some guidance on the D&A charge for this year and perhaps next year given the plant openings?

Thank you, Charles. A lot of questions, but good questions. Obviously, I mean, when we look at the growth in the regions, obviously, sticks out EMEA with 16.6% growth, and that is clearly driven by the strong momentum in DCS, especially on the High Value Solutions offerings we have there. Whilst obviously the negative impact on North America has to do with the aforementioned glass syringe impact. The other regions are, in a way, following what I would call a regional tender-driven business impact.

So that is not to be seen as a critical point. The Americas is more towards the impact we have been talking now for 2 quarters about a specific glass syringe customer. Then you had addressed, what do we see as a 10% customer? Yes, there is now since first half year one client surpassing 10% of revenue shares. And this client is largely active in the GLP-1 sector. And obviously, it's one of our growth drivers, which we see in the glass syringe and in DDS to continue.

Polymer, to your third question, yes, I think we have been talking about polymer development. We see 2026 as the plateauing year. having, so to say, eaten through the massive decline on mRNA, having other applications, 5 other applications capturing that. So that we foresee to be largely over in 2026. And then, let's say, the positive momentum in the other applications, then mRNA taking over and bringing polymer back to a growth. Not giving you a guidance for what growth, but obviously bringing back to growth at, let's say, a good level. So our expectation is, yes, that we see polymer to develop well in '27, '28, '29 onwards. More to hear on this one towards Q4 reporting.

D&A charges, obviously, I mean, the D&A charge will, let's say, continue to increase, given the additional amortizations or, let's say, depreciations for capacities we bring online. And that's following, so to say, our increased CapEx levels in '25 and '26. And that's a trend which will continue in a way. But obviously, the point is there is a certain time frame where we see a tapering off of investments to come. But that's more towards '28, '29, 2030.

Just to clarify on D&A, is there any chance you could put a euro number on it or a percentage of sales or something like that for this and next year?

I will not put a euro number to it. But I think if you take the numbers that we have seen now so far in Q1, Q2 and take, so to say an algorithm to it, you can see what will be the next half year. And then obviously, we are not guiding beyond that.

The next question comes from Christian Ehmann at Berenberg. Christian, the floor is yours.

A lot of my questions have been answered so far. You singled out RTU vials. Could you give us more color on the prospects you see over there and what kind of growth we could expect over the next years coming from that one?

Christian, thank you for your question. Well, when it comes to RTU vials, I think we do address several needs of the pharma industry. whether that is leaner processes and better solutions and more cost-effective solution for the fill and finish process. So the intention is to more and more convert our typical bulk products into RTU vials. And we see this over the upcoming years as a very significant growth driver overall.

Next question comes from [ Sven Kuerten ] at DZ Bank.

I have 2. First one is on GLP-1. Did you receive any feedback from the customers regarding the oral weight loss medication, specifically whether or how they are already affecting sales injectable weight loss medications? And the second one goes to Christian. Could you please outline the top 3 strategic priorities for SCHOTT Pharma? And are there any potential shift in strategy we might anticipate under your leadership?

Yes, Sven, I will take your first question first, when it comes to feedback regarding how oral is affecting the injectable demand for GLP-1, when it comes to our conversations with customers and our view on that market, we do see those basically 2 applications to develop alongside not having a significant impact. So the market growth is expected to be that strong, that there are basically 2 separate segments developing very positively moving forward.

And we, of course, want to participate in the injectable development. When it comes to the strategy of SCHOTT Pharma I can share with you that through the last couple of weeks, I've had the opportunity to look into the strategy of the group already. And overall, I feel pretty comfortable with it. I think, especially the priorities of further growing by innovation will stay one of the top priorities for the upcoming years as well as the look at cost efficiency and operational excellence.

Those are 2 main pillars and that will remain 2 main pillars for our strategy moving forward. Whether, let me say, further adjustments or refining and improving will be necessary from my perspective right now, after 2 weeks with SCHOTT Pharma, a little early to say, but I will certainly look further into that and make adjustments along the way if needed.

Next question comes from Edward Hall at Stifel.

Just a couple, I think the majority have been asked, I just -- I've heard some recent reports of destocking glass syringes at least maybe very near term with excess inventory held by pharma. Could you confirm or deny this statement? That's my first question.

Thanks for the question. We do not see a destocking effect on glass syringes. Obviously, and disclose more to the broader base. We see a strong demand from, first of all, the GLP-1 trends, but also the standard demand in vaccinations, apart from the one topic we discussed now many times on one specific account. But no destocking effect we see on our side.

That's super clear. And then just -- I think you touched on it recently just on the mRNA polymer growth. I'm thinking to the other applications. I was wondering if you could talk through the growth you've seen in the other applications at least you've seen for this year initially and then sort of an outlook, maybe a guidance range there. If you could be more specific, that would be really helpful.

Yes, thank you for that question. Obviously, we are still in downward trend on the mRNA side, but this one is slowing down. We talked now in the last year that we were in the high single digit percent to revenue for mRNA-based products. Today, we are at mid-single digit. And obviously, this trend may further bring the value down, but has substantially slowed down.

And then the other applications, and that's 5 major applications for us, amongst them, aesthetics, animal health, long-acting injectables IV or mental health, those have high single-digit growth we have seen. And obviously, it's on a broader base than with the mRNA. And that gives us confidence that the plateauing effect in 2026 is, so to say, a solid one. And then going forward, we will see growth in polymer again.

Perfect. That's great. And then my final question is just on the GLP-1 growth you're seeing, and I'm thinking of it from a geographical perspective. Obviously, U.S. is a strong market, but we're seeing growth now in emerging markets and other regions. So I was curious if you could provide some insight into where you're seeing the growth from that particular indication.

I think one area of growth obviously comes in the, let's say, the originator growth. This is where we see the strongest growth. Obviously, with some patent cliffs to come, the growth will more to be towards 2030, 2031. But obviously, we have discussions there as well. But our current focus is to participate in the growth of the GLP-1 originators, strong.

We have seen let's say, a double-digit growth in our sector. Last year, we were at, let's say, higher single-digit numbers. This year, first half, we are clearly a double-digit revenue number. And that shall show you that there are strong growth underneath in the GLP-1 application.

The next question, or let's say it this way, it's likely the final question comes from Christopher Richardson at Jefferies. Chris, thank you very much for your patience. Please go ahead.

In the annual report, you cite the IQVIA assessment that the primary packaging market grew 1% to 2% in 2025 and 3% is expected in 2026.

I was just wondering how this relates to your initial expectations prior to those figures for the respective years? And how do you expect to grow relative to this? And then just as a second one, on the operating cash improvement, receivables inflow improved I just wanted to confirm whether any factoring was involved in that. And on the liability side, there was an outflow of cash. Just wondering if there are any changes to payment term policies or anything we should be aware of on the liability side?

Christopher, thanks for your question. Obviously, we as addressed in the annual report, see this, let's say, low single-digit growth in our business segment, and that's what we expect for mainly our bulk products, whether it's bulk valves or bulk cartridges or bulk ampoules. And still, obviously, we have a very strong market-leading position in these segments and obviously participate with this underlying growth. And I hope this answer now, so to say your questions in a way, we are not specifying now how much share of our growth in '27 to '29 stems from that because it's a composition. But obviously, we participate and expect growth as well in our bulk products. And we do see growth in the bulk products already today, that one part of DCS growth numbers for the first half year.

The second point, regarding your receivable question, we are not doing factoring. So it's a true improvement versus prior year ending level. As working capital is, for me, let's say, a discipline within the finance area. We need to, let's say, contribute with cash also from a working capital side. And this is something we continue to work on.

Thanks, Chris. It seems there are no additional questions, which brings us to the end of our today's conference call. Thank you very much, Christian, thank you very much, Reinhard, and thanks to everybody, every participant in the call today. We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming conferences in New York, Frankfurt and London, and our 9 months results will be published in August 12. That's it for today. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Bye-bye.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SCHOTT Pharma Q1 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Tobias Erfurth.

Thank you, Anna. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to SCHOTT Pharma's earnings call for the first quarter financial year 2026. My name is Tobias Erfurth, Head of Investor Relations, and I will be guiding you through today's call and webcast.

I'm joined by our CEO, Andreas Reisse; and our CFO, Reinhard Mayer. Andreas will start by sharing strategic and business updates, followed by Reinhard, who will present our financial performance in detail. Afterwards, we open the floor for your questions.

Please take a moment to review our disclaimer. And as a quick note, our financial year 2026 has started on October 1, 2025, so the Q1 results we are presenting today cover the period from October 1 to December 31, 2025.

With that, I will hand over to our CEO, Andreas Reisse.

Thanks, Tobias. A warm welcome to everyone joining us for today's call. So I'm pleased to present an overview of our strategy and recent business developments.

So we had a good start to the financial year 2026. The first quarter performed better than expected in terms of both revenue and earnings. So revenue for Q1 2026 increased by 4.8% at constant currencies to EUR 240 million. The stronger demand was broad-based across our portfolio with continued high demand for our high-margin, high-value solutions, short HVS.

Our EBITDA grew significantly by 11% to EUR 65 million, resulting in a strong margin of 27.1%. This profitability improvement was mainly driven by our HVS, especially in Drug Containment Solutions.

Overall, demand for HVS remains strong, enabling us to reach a revenue share of 57%, and that marks an increase of 2 percentage points compared to last year, and it is consistent with the high level we achieved in financial year 2025.

So the key factor behind the success of our high-value solutions is our growth strategy, which is built on innovation, expansion and trustful partnerships. So we are seeing a continuous increase in the share of HVS.

And within our total revenues, reaching 57% in the first quarter, 2 percentage points higher than last year, we are well on track to reach our midterm goal of exceeding 60%. So HVS products are essential for further profitable growth. They are developed to address evolving industry trends and regulatory needs, allowing us to achieve higher prices and stronger margins.

So now let me highlight some of the recent innovations, partnerships, and expansion projects. We have just launched EVERIC lyo and amber vials, an innovative solution for the safe storage of light-sensitive antibody drug conjugates or ADCs that need lyophilization. Amber vials are essential for today's light-sensitive biologics and some ADCs because they provide reliable protection against light-induced degradation, something clear glass simply cannot deliver. So ADCs, for example, belong to the most complex and most expensive medicines on the market, which makes protection from the first -- very first fill-and-finish step critical.

Also, we just prevalidated our new TOPPAC polymer cartridge in 3-milliliter and 5-milliliter with SHL's Maggie large-volume autoinjectors. With our new polymer cartridge, we are again setting an industry benchmark.

It is the first ISO-compliant sterile polymer cartridge on the market. And this unlocks new possibilities for pharma companies working with sensitive biologics. So with highest dimensional precision, optimized geometry and ready to use, it ensures maximum device compatibility while reducing process risk.

This lays the foundation for the next generation of large-volume subcutaneous therapies, a genuine innovation step that brings together efficiency, safety, and future readiness.

Subcutaneous delivery via autoinjectors is transformative because it allows patients to self-administer treatments at home, instead of spending hours in clinics.

We also expand our capacities for HVS with a particular focus on large volume solutions, glass syringes and ready-to-use cartridges at our sites in Switzerland and Hungary.

With that, I'll hand over to Reinhard, who will provide you with an update on our financials for the first quarter.

Thank you, Andreas, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to walk you through our financials for the first quarter of financial year 2026 in more detail.

As Andreas outlined, we had a positive start to the financial year. We generated revenues of EUR 240.2 million, representing growth of 3.8% year-over-year or 4.8% at constant currencies. Our Drug Containment Solutions segment represented by the gray bar was the main driver of the positive overall revenue development, achieving elevated growth of 9.4% at constant currencies, reaching EUR 137.2 million. This was propelled by continued strong demand for HVS products, especially for sterile cartridges and specialty valves.

Drug Delivery Systems represented by the blue bar, remained at the level of the prior year quarter at EUR 103.1 million. At constant currencies, the development was slightly negative at minus 0.8%.

While we saw strong demand for prefillable glass syringes, particularly for GLP-1 applications, the reduced use of mRNA vaccines continued to have a negative effect on polymer syringes.

Now let's take a closer look at our bottom line performance. The group EBITDA grew 11.1% to EUR 65.2 million, with margin expanding from 25.4% to 27.1%.

Looking at the segments, DCS delivered remarkable EBITDA growth of 18.9%, to EUR 33.4 million, with margins improving significantly from 21.9% to 24.3%. This was driven by volume and product mix effects.

In DDS, EBITDA declined by 7.3%, to EUR 32.6 million, in line with our expectations. The margin decreased from 34.1% in Q1 2025 to 31.6% in Q1 2026, primarily due to product mix effects, lower production utilization for polymer syringes, and ramp-up costs for our new glass syringe capacities in Hungary. Despite this decline, the DDS segment continues to deliver strong profitability.

EBIT grew by 9% to EUR 43.8 million, up from last year's EUR 40.2 million, driven by volume growth, contributions by equity participations, and positive foreign exchange effects.

The financial result improved by EUR 1.6 million compared with Q1 2025, to minus EUR 1.8 million. This was mainly driven by lower interest expenses from cash-pool financing as a result of an intragroup refinancing carried out in the first quarter of 2026.

Income taxes increased to EUR 8.8 million, which results in an effective tax rate of 20.8%, up from 19.1% in the prior year. The rise in the tax rate is mainly driven by a change in country mix.

Overall, net income reached EUR 33.3 million, up EUR 3.5 million from last year. This represents an increase of 12% year-on-year. Earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.22.

And now let me take you through our cash flow and investments on the next slide. In the first quarter of 2026, our cash flow from operating activities came in at EUR 3.4 million, significantly below prior year. This change was primarily driven by working capital, largely due to a deferred payment by a major customer at the end of the quarter. Adjusting for this effect, operating cash flow would have remained at the prior year level. The deferred payment was realized in January.

Cash flow from investing activities reflected our continued strategic investments in capacity expansion, particularly for high-value solutions in Switzerland and Hungary. Capital expenditure was EUR 23.4 million, slightly above the prior year level. Our free cash flow amounted to minus EUR 20 million in the first quarter, mainly impacted by the deferred payment, as already mentioned.

Despite ongoing uncertainties, we remain optimistic about the current financial year for 2026 and continue to expect revenue growth of 2% to 5% at constant currencies. We are also confirming our EBITDA margin guidance of around 27%.

In addition to our guidance, I would like to mention 2 further key metrics for the financial year 2026. We expect our planned capital expenditure to range between EUR 140 million to EUR 160 million. We are confident in achieving an HVS revenue share at the robust 57% level, and we assume a tax rate as in the previous year, which was around 22%.

This concludes now our financial update. I will now hand it back to Tobias before we start with the Q&A session.

Thank you very much, Andreas. Thank you very much, Reinhard. We are now open to the Q&A session. Anna, our operator, will assist with the registration. Anna, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions]

Thank you, Anna. The first question comes from Giang Nguyen from Citibank.

I have 2, please, and I'll just ask one at a time. So the first question is, you called out Q1 is better than expected, both on revenues and earnings. Can you talk to the level of confidence in the full year outlook now following the very positive start to the year? And how do you expect revenues and margins to trend in the remaining 3 quarters, considering that the comps organic growth kicked in, in Q2, but will ease again in the second half? And then I'll ask my second question after.

Okay. As you said, as we have, of course, we have confirmed our guidance. So because the volatility in the market is still high and, therefore, I would say we keep it as is. It's a good start, definitely, but now let's see how the rest of the year will develop.

And as Reinhard has already mentioned during his speech, we are confident to achieve our guidance.

Let me just add. I mean, as we are not guiding quarter-by-quarter, we will not issue, let's say, specific, let's say, guidances around that. And that is, so to say, the conclusion on your question.

And then my second question is more specifically on the DCS. Very strong performance in the HVS segment again. Can you talk about your expectations for the rest of the year and whether you can say that this portion of DCS is getting maybe less lumpy or you're having better visibility on it, considering that it's now grown to nearly 25% of your DCS rather than in the teens like a couple of years ago?

My expectation is that in DCS, HVS remains strong because it's really following our strategy, which we have defined, of course, years back, and now we have to pay back because the market is having that demand for these products, mainly sterile solutions, which is sterile vials and cartridges, but as well as special vials, for example, for the ADCs which I mentioned already in my speech. So we expect a higher value share -- a higher share of high-value solutions in DCS for the rest of the year, definitely.

Okay. The next question comes from Olivier Calvet from UBS.

I have one question for you, Andreas, and one for Reinhard. Maybe, Andreas, have there been any changes to demand in core DCS? I think it was up probably low single-digit organically in the quarter. And also curious if the growth in the quarter in HVS DCS was more in cartridges or vials?

And then maybe for you, Reinhard. So glass syringes, we -- I think we were pretty positively surprised given your comments in December and the performance in the quarter. But just given the news flow from peers today and the deferred payment in your cash from operations, could you maybe comment on, A, maybe bill-and-hold revenue? How much does that account in your sales and the controls in place that -- to avoid the kind of issues we've seen elsewhere with revenue recognition?

In DCS, the core segment, we have -- of course, we don't disclose precise numbers. But as always, we are expecting something like that, we are growing with the market either in the low single-digit amount and that is -- yes, as you know, it's our base business, if you want to say so. So it's okay. And then it differs a lot from region to region. But it is always the same. That is something which we had also in the past years. This year, EMEA is strong and North America is weaker, but that is more or less in line with expectation. And the main growth driver is definitely the HVS solutions. Yes.

Okay. And within HVS, can you break out maybe if the growth was more cartridges or vials?

Cartridges, you can imagine is, of course, one of the growth drivers at the moment due to GLP-1. There's high demand. And that is, of course, pushing the growth. But on the other side, it's also the smallest product group within DCS. But of course, it's growing faster. That's true.

And Olivier, to your point, can you repeat the question regarding glass syringes? I didn't fully capture that. So what was that?

I mean, it's more -- yes, it's more just on accounting. If you could give us a sense of the share of your revenue that might be bill-and-hold. And given the deferred payment in your cash flow, right, I just wanted to get a bit of comfort on the controls you have in place to avoid early revenue recognition if you see what I mean.

Okay. I understand the question. Obviously, let me start first to say we do not have bill-and-hold arrangements at all. That is the first part.

The second part, we obviously have, according to IFRS 15, 35, some contractual assets, and we have intensively reviewed those processes back in 2025. And we have verified that together with the auditors. So I would -- I'm feeling very confident that we have a strong setup here.

The next question comes from Odysseas Manesiotis from BNP Paribas.

I understand you don't guide by quarter, but in Q4, you made it quite clear that Q1 would be the worst quarter of the year, and we're already at the top end of your growth guide. Could you please explain why we could see a deceleration for growth from here, or at least what your guidance implies, or whether there was a particular area of weakness you were expecting in Q1, which has been postponed to another quarter?

Well, thank you, Odysseas. Well, true, we had expectation at the Q4 level that Q1 will be somewhat the weakest and most likely, it is in revenue level, absolute numbers, the weakest. And that's one thing.

The other thing is, as we have highlighted, we have seen a broad-based growth in most of the segments apart from the polymer side, and that was truly better than expected, carried by GLP-1, but also carried by vaccination. And that is a driver.

The other side is the larger impact from the -- in Q4, mentioned glass syringe client will be seen more in Q2, Q3 and Q1 as it was not really visible yet in the Q1 side, and we are still in negotiations. But at the time, this was a risk, which we had reflected.

The next question comes from Charles Weston, RBC, Royal Bank of Canada.

Just to clarify something you just said. You've mentioned GLP as a driver -- a key driver, but you also mentioned vaccinations in your last comment. Has that sort of not declined as much as expected, or is still growing?

And then I wanted to ask, just in terms of the Q1 performance, as you said in Q4, you expected Q1 to be weaker. But clearly, you were guiding this relatively late in the quarter, so can you just explain, were there some very quick turn orders that sort of came in, in I don't know, December that had to be actually delivered by the end of December? It seems like a very quick improvement versus what you were expecting. I have one follow-up as well. Maybe I'll stop there for a second.

Thank you, Charles, for the questions. On the first one, well, GLP-1 continues to be a growth driver for us, and even very much visible in the Q1. Vaccination was also a growth driver, clearly visible in the glass syringe business. While so to say, the mRNA side and polymer sees the expected decline, which we also had highlighted. So that is one topic.

But the second topic, why was now at a -- let's say, December communication for the Q4 strong turn on the Q1, not visible?. Well, we had actually good orders coming in, which we worked through also with additional shifts between Christmas and New Year. And those were, let's say, supplemental volumes, which we didn't see at that point in time. So it's a better momentum in the market, but not necessarily a momentum which can sustain. That's why we remain with the framing of there's still uncertainty in the market.

Okay. Congratulations on delivering on that. I wanted to ask on the guide as well, please. You guided to 2% to 5%. You guided, therefore, on the range on revenue, but not on margin. Can we assume that, that 27% -- I think you may have clarified this earlier. But can you just confirm that 27% would be at the low end and it would therefore be exceeding 27% potentially at the higher end, depending on, I guess, product mix?

Obviously, Charles, this is a question where you will, let's say, have a political answer. In the end, we have a perspective of that the margin sustains, that's why we confirmed the margin. But we also say when we are at the lower end of the revenue level, we assume to reach a 27% EBITDA margin. A lot of it depends on the share of HVS, which we are continuously working on. And with that, I mean, I will leave my answer towards your question.

I do not see any more people in -- oh, Olivier comes with a second question. Olivier Calvet, UBS.

Yes. Just one follow-up on polymer syringe, particularly in non-mRNA. Do you see any changes to the outlook for that business for you in the quarter, or for the full year to be more precise?

Olivier, I don't think so, because we said when we had this down from mRNA, and as you said it will take us 1, 2 -- no, 2, 3 years to start refilling and to see growth and that is what's happening today with polymer. It's -- from my point of view, it's really okay or positive, but significant changes we will see from my point of view, not this year that will come the years after because we are working on opportunities at the moment to fill the lines. And you heard just one example, which was the polymer cartridge, which we have just introduced to the market. So these things will happen, but they will not happen immediately.

Yes. And just to be more precise on the -- you were saying at the full year that you were expecting -- basically, if I recall correctly, polymer flattish in the year with mRNA down, so the non-mRNA business offsetting that. So that was the question I was asking is sort of the non-mRNA part, you still expect it up or to offset the losses in mRNA in '26, right?

Yes, that's what we said. Polymer this year will be flattish at constant currency. So that is something which is happening. Of course, we are a little bit more positive now also with the latest news about flu vaccinations and also combined flu COVID, yes. So -- but I cannot comment on that because it is not clear -- completely clear and transparent to us what that means. So we have to wait for that. And then as I said, we are working on other applications to increase polymer sales in the future. So too early.

Actually...

Yes.

Actually, maybe on that specifically, sorry, there was news flow on that recently. Can you just also make clear if your guidance of declining mRNA revenue in '26 does not reflect any new products coming to the market? Or you do incorporate something there?

No, that's correct. The declining mRNA doesn't assume, let's say, new vaccination product uplift. But what we say is that there is underlying growth in the other segments, whether it's long-acting injectables, surgery, mental health, aesthetics, animal health, those are the drivers, which will bring the polymers syringe business to, let's say, a flattish business performance for the full year.

Thank you. Was it already then over to me?

No, no, no, we have more online here.

Next question comes from Stephan Wulf, ODDO BHF.

So firstly, on the ramp-up process you are in. So my understanding is that you are currently still in the ramp-up process, Switzerland and Hungary. So could you please share your expectations with us on the incremental from this additional capacity in the current fiscal year? So this would be my first one.

And the second one goes to a statement you did earlier, Andreas, when you mentioned the volatility in the market, which is still pretty high. And for that reason, you are not touching your guidance for the full fiscal year, which I totally understand after only the first quarter.

But where is this volatility coming from? So destocking is over for already quite a while. We know that mRNA is weak, GLP-1 is stronger. So what are the main challenges in the market currently? And as I said, where is the volatility you are mentioning coming from predominantly?

Okay. I'll start with the first part as with the ramp-up processes in Switzerland and Hungary. Switzerland, it's mainly -- today, it's mainly sterile cartridges where the demand is high and definitely demand is exceeding capacity at the moment. So that is very positive. It's really on us what we can realize. Yes.

Hungary is basically 2 things. On the one hand side, we are still having lines in validation, for example, glass syringes. And then, of course, the next big step is sterile cartridges where we have had groundbreaking past financial year. So these 2 things, they have definitely an influence on our sales so far so good, I would say. Yes, the projects are on plan. And then I would hand over the volatility to Reinhard.

Yes. Stephan, thank you for that question. Well, volatility, on one side, obviously sits together with a better-than-expected, let's say, drive within the vaccination side. A part of it sits together that this one account which has addressed syringes to reduce has not seen the effect. We still expect that to come in the coming 3 quarters. So that's one element.

The other element is we had a better overall vaccination glass syringe business from various different accounts across the globe and that has obviously a momentum effect, which might be seasonal. This needs to be confirmed. So we cannot rule out that this maintains.

And then the other element is, we actually see good demand, even slightly better demand in Q1 on GLP-1. Is that sustainable in a competitive environment? We need to see. And those are the 3 main drivers. But obviously, a good start to the year and too early to speak about more.

Next question or another question comes from Giang Nguyen from Citi.

I have one follow-up to Reinhard, please. Earlier, you talked about a large or larger order having come through towards the back end of last year. Could I just confirm whether this is incrementally new order? Or did you mean an order coming in -- coming through faster that would have come later on in this fiscal year?

And then my second follow-up question is, do you have any update for us on the plan for the U.S. manufacturing facility at this stage?

Thank you, Giang. Yes, the large order was incremental, to our expectations. But obviously, to be seen in the overall context. And sometimes -- and that's why we also spoke about that in Q4, things change with large accounts, but it was incremental in this specific one.

Then to your second question, we are still in discussions internally about our capacity plans for the United States. So we cannot, today, give an update there. We expect soon, though, but this is an ongoing discussion. And obviously, as we are capital sensitive and mindful about returns, many considerations need to be taken into account, especially in a volatile market. Thank you.

Another follow-up coming from Charles Weston, Royal Bank of Canada.

Just a couple of modeling follow-ups, if I can. Should we be using the financial results and the tax rate from Q1 as a guide for the full year? And do you expect any sort of changes in working capital movements through the year?

Thank you, Charles. Well, tax rate, I think I have outlined that we assume a full year tax rate on the same level as in the previous year, which is around 22%. We had a more positive start, which was more a country mix effect, so slightly below the 22%. But assume the 20% for your modeling topic.

The topic around financing. Well, yes, assume that we have overall lower financing costs. But can you run rate exactly the financing cost of Q1? I would not say so. But we are constantly working on optimizing our internal financing within the group. So it will be a better, so to say, result than last year, but we are not guiding on how much better.

And what was the third question?

It was on working capital. Any changes we should expect?

Well, in working capital, obviously, we had a peak in Q1 for the aforementioned, and I call it cutoff topic, in the accounts receivable side, which was paid in January, as mentioned. We expect working capital to come down over the course of the year with a slightly positive contribution overall to cash flow. And that means below double digit. So let's say, mid-single digit contribution from working capital to be assumed for cash flow.

Thank you, Charles. I do not see any more people in the queue here. So I think that's it for the moment. Thank you, everyone, for your questions and for the good discussion, of course.

And before we come to the end of this call, I would like to hand over to Andreas.

Seems last word.

As you all know, Christian Mias will take over as the new CEO in May. So while I will be with the company for another couple of weeks, this is definitely my last analyst call before I go into retirement after some 40 years within the SCHOTT groups. So I've been managing the pharma systems business unit, which is now SCHOTT Pharma since 2010, and I have always enjoyed working in and for this business a lot.

So we are operating in a growth market where there's much scope for shaping and building things. We are a world leader in our business. And over the past 5 years, we have grown our sales by an average of around 10% per year and improved our profitability by almost 7 percentage points to 28.4% past year.

However, maybe even more importantly, we are contributing to the health of billions of people around the world. And this has always been a great motivation for me to drive things forward together with the SCHOTT Pharma team.

And I'm also very much convinced that the positive development of our company will continue under the strong leadership of Christian Mias and Reinhard Mayer, and I will definitely stay tuned from the outside. So thanks a lot for your trust and take care.

Thank you, Andreas. Thank you, Reinhard, and many thanks to all the participants for taking part in our today's conference call. We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming conferences. Our half-year results will be published on May 13. Thank you very much, and goodbye. Have a good day.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SCHOTT Pharma Conference regarding the results of the fiscal year 2025. [Operator Instructions] Let me now turn the floor over to Tobias Erfurth, Head of Investor Relations.

Thank you very much, Beatrice. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining our earnings call for the fiscal year 2025. My name is Tobias Erfurth, and I'm Head of Investor Relations. It's my pleasure to guide you through today's call. With me in the room are our CEO, Andreas Reisse; and our CFO, Reinhard Mayer.

Andreas will kick off by sharing the key business and financial highlights of SCHOTT Pharma in the fiscal year 2025. He will also provide an update on our growth strategy, including our achievements in innovation and expansion this year. Following this, Reinhard will take us through our financials. He will also present our financial guidance for the fiscal year 2026, while Andreas will comment on the new midterm guidance after 2026. As always, the presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Before we begin, Slide 2, I would like to remind all participants to take a moment to review our disclaimer. Please note that we walk -- as we talk about the fiscal year 2025, we are referring to the period from October 1 to September 30. This fourth quarter relates to the period from July 1 to September 30.

And with that, over to you, Andreas. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Tobias. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year. So I'm very pleased with -- is it working with the presentation? I'm not so sure. Yes, is that okay? Okay. So I'm very pleased with our performance in fiscal year 2025. And I would like to begin by highlighting a few of our key achievements. First and foremost, we delivered continued revenue growth and high profitability levels, meeting our full year targets, so to be fair, we specified in August.

Secondly, as many of you know, our HVS growth is a central part of our growth strategy. This year, we generated 57% of our total revenues with our strong margin, high-value solutions, further step towards our midterm ambition. And we also made significant process -- progress in our global expansion by continuously increasing production capacities. We continue to strengthen our ability to serve our customers worldwide and meet the growing demand for our products. And we introduced several newly developed and commercialized products.

Our strong innovation pipeline positions us to capitalize effectively on emerging opportunities and foster sustainable growth in the future. So -- and furthermore, leadership succession has been concluded, providing clarity and confidence for the next phase of growth. So in November, the Supervisory Board of SCHOTT Pharma Management AG has appointed Christian Mias as CEO from 1st May '26 onwards. And I'm glad that Christian will lead our extraordinary company into its next chapter.

As an industrial engineer with doctoral degree, he looks back on more than 20 years of management experience, including over 18 years in various leadership positions within the SCHOTT Group. So I will actively support a seamless transition over the coming months to ensure continuity and stability for the company and the entire team.

And Reinhard, many of you have already met, I'm more than happy that he's on Board now. I'm convinced that Christian and Reinhard will form a strong leadership team, bringing in expertise and fresh perspectives.

So looking at our financials for fiscal year 2025, I am pleased to report that we have delivered on our specified targets. Our revenue growth at constant currencies came in at our guidance of around 6%, demonstrating the strength and resilience of our business model even in a volatile market environment. In terms of profitability, we came in at the upper end of our specified expectation, achieving an EBITDA margin of 28.4%.

So in summary, our financial performance in 2025 shows the effectiveness of our growth strategy and our ability to achieve our targets. So let me now share my thoughts on this year's developments in the market. So we continue to see that the pharmaceutical industry evolves rapidly, shaped by several megatrends that are transforming patient care as well as manufacturing. So I'm confident in saying that we remain ideally positioned to leverage these developments with our specialized portfolio and industry partnerships.

And today, I would like to dive deeper into some of these trends shown on the left-hand side and how we address them, with our extensive product portfolio on the market, shown on the right-hand side of the slide, and I will also explain how we benefit significantly from these trends.

Biologics remain a major growth engine for the sector with new therapies, such as GLP-1, ADCs and mRNA-based treatments, driving demand for advanced packaging solutions. The global uptake of GLP-1 drugs for diabetes, obesity and new indications like dementia and Parkinson's is accelerating, and we continue to benefit from this growth.

In mRNA, research momentum remains strong with expanding applications beyond COVID-19 including flu, combined flu-COVID vaccines and norovirus. ADCs, so-called antibody drug conjugates, are also gaining traction, further approval is expected in the future. So our comprehensive offering of prefillable glass and polymer syringes, ready-to-use vials or ready-to-use cartridges and specialty vials ensures we can support our customers across these innovative therapeutic areas.

Homecare Solutions, another key trend, as the industry shifts toward drug administration models that enhance patient comfort and reduce healthcare costs. This is further supported by the move from intravenous to subcutaneous administration, enabled by technologies like Halozyme.

Our large and small volume prefillable glass and polymer syringes as well as ready-to-use cartridges are specifically designed to address the requirements of home care and high-volume self-administration. So manufacturing processes are undergoing a fundamental transformation with the industry moving decisively toward ready-to-use solutions, supported by regulatory momentum and the growing significance of industry associations such as the Alliance for Ready-to-Use, which we co-founded.

Our extensive ready-to-use portfolio covering vials, cartridges and syringes in both glass and polymer position us as a leading innovator and trusted partner for our customers, as they adapt to new manufacturing standards. Sustainability is an ongoing priority for our customers and the industry at large. We are driving the transition to more sustainable processes through initiatives such as our closed-loop recycling project with other industry players such as Takeda and Corplex and the introduction of optimized nest designs that significantly reduce waste across the supply chain.

So this combination of megatrends, biologics, home care, manufacturing shifts and sustainability, together with our strong market positioning, is fueling our growth and supporting us to deliver value even in a volatile market environment. We remain committed to meeting the evolving needs of our customers and supporting the future of healthcare.

So shifting our revenue towards HVS remains essential to our growth. What we see is that building upon our strategic pillars of innovation, expansion and trustful partnerships continues to pay off. We are steadily advancing our portfolio towards more HVS to serve the increasing market demand. So with the broad offering of HVS, we are ideally positioned to grow faster than the overall market while improving our profitability.

And even in a volatile market environment, the demand for our HVS solutions remains high, underlining the strength of our strategic approach. So despite headwinds of fading mRNA vaccination demand, we were able to further grow our revenues -- revenue share from 55% to 57% last fiscal year, and we are on track to achieve our midterm goal of generating more than 60% of our revenue from HVS.

So let me now turn to how we are delivering on our innovation agenda and advancing solutions that align with major industry megatrends, which I have just described. First, we are improving home care with large volume drug delivery systems. So this year, we introduced the first 5.5 milliliter prefillable staked-needle glass syringe for Ypsomed’s YpsoMate 5.5 autoinjector. And this is a significant step forward as it enables high-dose medications to be administered at home, supporting greater patient autonomy and convenience.

And in addition, our partnership with SHL Medical has allowed us to launch a large volume sterile cartridge for auto-injectors, further supporting the self-administration of high-dose therapies in a home setting. So second, we are driving innovation to protect sensitive biologics. We launched the first ISO-compliant ready-to-use polymer cartridge, expanding the range of design and device options for our customers.

We also introduced the SCHOTT TOPPAC freeze polymer syringe, which enables the storage and delivery of medications at ultra-low temperatures as low as minus 180 degrees Celsius. And this is particularly relevant for cell and gene therapies where product stability is critical.

And finally, we are redefining safety, efficiency and sustainability in healthcare. So in collaboration with Schreiner Medipharm, we developed the next-generation SCHOTT TOPPAC infuse polymer syringe system. And this system was specifically designed to improve safety, efficiency and sustainability and has already been recognized with the CPHI Pharma Award. Additionally, we are seeing further growth of our alliance to ready-to-use, which is enhancing collaboration and production efficiency across the industry.

So in summary, our focus on innovation and partnerships enables us to deliver solutions that address the evolving needs of patients, healthcare providers and the pharma industry. So we are confident that these advancements will continue to drive SCHOTT Pharma's growth and dealership in the years ahead.

So now, let us look at the developments during the last 12 months with regard to our other strategic pillar, namely expansion. So on this map, you can see our global footprint with all SCHOTT Pharma manufacturing sites. So we are present in all major pharma hubs globally. The dark blue points represent our existing locations, while the light blue points indicate where we continue to execute our expansion program in 2025.

So first of all, we have expanded our HVS capacities for new modalities. In Switzerland and Hungary, we are expanding our portfolio of ready-to-use cartridges and glass syringes to support the growing demand for GLP-1 therapies. In Mulheim, we are advancing specialty vials for antibody drug conjugates, and we are also increasing our capacity for large-volume glass syringes in Switzerland. And as a reminder, most of our HVS projects are based on customer contracts and often co-financed by customers.

So secondly, we act on changes from geopolitical and geoeconomic developments. In the U.S., we are currently evaluating further capacity expansion. And in India, we continue to support the growth of our very successful joint venture, SCHOTT Poonawalla. We are also optimizing our local footprint. The relocation of ampule production to Serbia has enabled us to establish the largest ampoule hub in the region, which has been running since April this year. So this new site is a major milestone, enhancing our competitiveness in drug containment solutions and reinforcing local supply chains for our customers across the region.

So in a nutshell, our ongoing investments in capacity and geographic reach positioned SCHOTT Pharma to capture growth opportunities, support our partners and reinforce our leadership in the industry.

With that, I now hand over to Reinhard for a closer look at our financial performance.

Thank you, Andreas. Also, a warm welcome from my side. I will now take you through our fourth quarter and fiscal year in detail. Please turn to Slide 12 for the revenues. Our Drug Delivery Solutions segment, or DDS, continues to focus exclusively on high-value solutions, encompassing both glass and polymer prefillable syringes that serve rapidly expanding therapeutic areas such as biologics. The Drug Containment Solutions segment, or DCS, remains anchored in our core vials, cartridges and ampules, complemented by high-valuable products like ready-to-use and specialty vials and cartridges.

Turning to the top line for the fourth quarter. We delivered another period of robust revenue growth. Q4 revenues reached EUR 247 million, up 4.2% year-on-year and 6.6% at constant currencies. This performance was driven by a strong momentum in the DCS segment, particularly with high-value solutions. DDS revenues totaled EUR 113 million in the fourth quarter. While this is slightly below last year's record revenue level, glass syringe demand remained strong, largely offsetting softness in polymer syringes. While the segment is impacted by lower demand for vaccinations, it continues to benefit from the increasing demand for biologics and self-administration therapies.

The DCS segment achieved quarterly revenues of EUR 134 million, up from EUR 119 million in the prior year. At constant currencies, DCS delivered double-digit growth of 11.9%, propelled by strong demand for high-value solutions, especially in sterile cartridges and specialty vials.

For the full fiscal year, we achieved record revenues of EUR 986 million, representing 3% growth year-on-year and 5.8% growth at constant currencies. High-value solutions contributed 57% of total revenues, which demonstrates that we are successfully delivering on our strategic direction.

I would also like to point out that the foreign exchange effects had a moderate impact on results with overall FX headwinds similar to last year. Main effects stem from Argentinian peso, Hungarian forint and Swiss franc. DDS full year revenues were EUR 439 million on par with prior year despite softness in polymer syringes. DCS reported revenues of EUR 548 million with strong growth in the sterile cartridges and specialty vials. Summarizing, our focus on high-value solutions continues to drive profitable growth, supported by robust development in our core business.

Now, let's take a closer look at our EBITDA development on the next Slide 13. As highlighted earlier by Andreas, we are very pleased to report another year of strong profitability. In Q4, EBITDA reached EUR 67 million, up 2.9% year-on-year at constant currencies with a corresponding margin of 26.9%. This result was driven by the good revenue development and ongoing cost improvements in operations, which more than compensated for increased ramp-up costs in Serbia and Hungary and lower utilization in polymer.

Within the DDS segment, Q4 EBITDA was EUR 38 million. While this is lower than last year's exceptionally strong quarter, the segment's performance was supported by continued strength in glass syringes, which partly offset the impact of ramp-up costs in Hungary and the just mentioned lower utilization in polymer.

The DDS margin reached 33.9%, which compares to 38.1% in the prior year. DCS delivered a significant improvement with Q4 EBITDA rising to EUR 28 million, up from EUR 17 million in the prior year. This strong margin uplift was driven by positive product mix and efficiency improvements in the operations.

Looking at the full year, EBITDA increased to EUR 280 million, representing year-on-year growth of 11.5% at constant currencies. The EBITDA margin came in at 28.4%, up 1.5 percentage points versus prior year. DDS contributed EUR 153 million to the full year EBITDA, while DCS delivered EUR 128 million. DCS showed particularly strong EBITDA growth of 35% at constant currencies, with margin expanding by 4 percentage points to 23.5%, driven by product mix and operational improvements. DDS came in with a margin of 34.6%, which is below last year's 37.9%, but still maintains an industry-leading profitability level. In summary, our strong profit growth in 2025 was underpinned by a continued shift toward high-value solutions and improved operational efficiency.

Please follow me further down on the P&L in the next slide. EBIT grew by 4.3% to EUR 201 million, up from last year's EUR 193 million. Higher interest costs affected the financial results, while on the tax side, we faced increased tax costs due to global minimum taxation or Pillar 2 and country mix effects. As a result, earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.97 after EUR 0.99 in the previous year.

Following the positive operational development and results, we proposed to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of EUR 0.18 per share, which is an increase of EUR 0.02 versus prior year. Payout corresponds to 18% of net income and aligns with our capital allocation policy. This is our third consecutive dividend increase since our IPO.

Now, let me take you through our cash flow and investments on the next slide. In the fiscal year, our cash flow from operating activities remained robust and continued to support our growth strategy. For the fiscal year 2025, cash flow from operating activities was EUR 180 million. While this represents a decrease compared to last year, it is important to note that the reduction was primarily due to higher working capital requirements and timing of increased tax payments, which more than offset the improvement in EBITDA. Despite this development, our operating cash flow was sufficient to fully self-fund our ongoing strategic investments in fiscal year 2025.

Our cash flow from ongoing investing activities for the year amounted to EUR 143 million, broadly in line with the prior year. The majority of the outflows related to CapEx for capacity expansions, particularly in high-value solutions. As a result, free cash flow for the full year was EUR 37 million.

In the fourth quarter, cash flow from operating activities was EUR 52 million with investing cash flow at negative EUR 55 million, resulting in a slightly negative free cash flow of minus EUR 3 million for the quarter. This quarterly pattern reflects the typical year-end investment cycle and timing of major project expenditures. Overall, our cash generation remains strong and underlines the resilience of our business model.

Finally, let's take a look at our guidance for 2026. Profitable and sustainable growth remains at the core of our strategy. We are navigating a complex environment with a clear focus on innovation, expanding our high-value solutions and strengthening industry partnerships. For fiscal year 2026, we expect organic revenue growth of 2% to 5% at constant currencies. This outlook reflects moderate growth in a challenging market environment and also takes into account the revised forecast from a key customer, which leads to lower demand for glass syringes. When looking at the sequence of growth, we expect the first quarter to be the weakest.

Looking at our segments, revenue growth will be driven entirely by the DCS segment, supported by the continued ramp-up of ready-to-use cartridge production and further recovery in core vials. The DDS segment will be flattish to prior year as we are impacted by one key customer in glass syringes and our polymer business to be on par to prior year.

While we foresee a further decline in mRNA vaccination revenues within our polymer syringe business, we expect a broad-based and healthy growth in other fields, including IV, animal health, long-acting injectables, mental health and aesthetics.

On profitability, we target an EBITDA margin of around 27% for fiscal year 2026. The EBITDA margin in 2026 is being affected by product mix effects, temporary underutilization of DDS capacities and ramp-up costs for new factories in Serbia and Hungary.

Beyond our guidance, I also want to comment on additional other financial figures. For the fiscal year 2026, we will continue to invest significantly in growth with planned CapEx in the range of EUR 140 million to EUR 160 million, focused primarily on expanding HVS capacity and supporting our innovation pipeline. We expect HVS sales to remain on last year's level. Tax rate should be similar to last year's level of around 22%.

Finally, we remain committed to ensure that our shareholders participate in the company's success. We continue to target a dividend payout ratio of 10% to 20% of net income.

With this short-term outlook, I conclude our financial update. We view 2026 as a bridge year, while the overall underlying market momentum is still intact, which Andreas will explain now.

Thanks, Reinhard. So let us turn to the midterm outlook. So we update our revenue CAGR target for the period 2027 to 2029, now expecting a growth rate of 6% to 8% from prior above 10%, reflecting a more balanced view of current market dynamics. So the EBITDA margin should now increase towards 30%, which compares to low 30s before. And both is underpinned by our strategy to expand our HVS portfolio. So the fundamental of our market remains strong and fully intact. We continue to see an increasing number of innovative therapies entering development and reaching patients.

This progress is supported by demographic changes, rising levels of welfare and improved access to medication across many regions. So these factors provide a solid foundation for long-term growth. So at the same time, we must recognize recent challenges and market dynamics. We have observed dampened momentum in vaccination programs, including mRNA-based vaccines, which were strong growth drivers in the recent past. In addition to that, geopolitical shifts are influencing global supply chains and creating new uncertainties that require us to remain agile and resilient.

And looking ahead, both short- and long-term drivers, especially for our high-value solutions business are strong. Demand for injectables is rising sharply, particularly in areas such as GLP-1 therapies, and this trend is supported by a strong research and development pipeline that includes biosimilars and antibody drug conjugates. We also see an increase in therapies designed for subcutaneous self-administration enabled by large volume delivery devices that improve convenience and patient adherence.

So on the manufacturing side, the industry is moving steadily towards ready-to-use formats such as ready-to-use vials and cartridges. And these solutions enhance efficiency, reduce complexity and improve patient safety. So this shift underscores the importance of our strategic investments and innovation efforts.

So in summary, while we navigate short-term challenges, the long-term outlook for our industry and for our company remains strong, and we are well positioned to capture growth opportunities and deliver sustainable value.

So with that, I would like to end today's presentation. Thank you all very much for your attention, and we now look forward to your questions. So Tobias, please take over.

Yes. Thank you very much, Andreas and Reinhard. We now welcome all your questions and open the Q&A session. I guess, Beatrice will give you some guidance on that.

[Operator Instructions]

The first question comes from Giang Nguyen from Citibank.

Hope you can hear me. Two questions from me, please. So the first one is, can you please provide more color around the expected or the unexpected lower glass syringe demand in fiscal '26? And would you be able to confirm that it is related to GLP-1 auto-injectors or which of the customers? And the follow-up is that key customer going to someone else for glass syringes. And then maybe I have one follow-up, but I'll just leave it there for now.

We cannot disclose customer names because we have signed NDAs with all our customers -- our big customers. And that's something we have to respect. So therefore, we cannot tell you much more about that topic than that -- other than that, yes.

And maybe to add to Andreas' point to your second part of the question, I mean, it is a customer which faces market demand reduction. And we are participating in that market demand reduction. So it's not a shift from a technology or towards another competitor, it's a market demand reduction and it affects us, potentially others, too.

Helpful. And just one clarification for me. So in your 2026 outlook remarks earlier, you said that DDS is slightly flat and polymer syringes also flat. Just wanted to check if that -- if I got that correctly, meaning that glass syringes is flat overall, including this customer decline.

Giang, that's exactly correct. I mean, we have basically highlighted in the Q3 report already that we expect polymer business development to be flattish on par in 2026. That's what we see today as well. But with this one customer declining its demand towards us, we now also see that glass syringes in 2026 is flattish while we see strong prospects in the years '27 to '29. So there is this underlying growth still there. But this one customer effect, this single event takes charge on 2026 outlook.

The next question comes from Odysseas Manesiotis from BNP Paribas.

My first one is on your mRNA exposure. You previously said mRNA sales were around 10% of your sales in the last full year. Is it fair to say that we're now less than 5% as of full year '25? And just to understand, is the Q1 weakness that you expect, Reinhard, to be the relatively weakest quarter? Is that because of that remaining comp there? Is that how we should understand it? And then I have a follow-up.

Odysseas, thank you for the question. I mean, we had mRNA exposure in the path of beyond 10%. We have that to basically get into an 8%-ish for 2025, and we expect that to be 5% points-ish for 2026 onwards. And that's part of our flattening expectation on the -- well, on the mRNA and polymer whilst this reduction in mRNA is compensated by the other drivers, which I highlighted in my speech, whether it's IV, long-acting injectables and the other ones.

So this is a further reduction of mRNA, compensated by other positive developments in further applications. The Q1 weakness is indicated by exactly the reduction of this one customer, and that's why we address this upfront so that there is the expectation exactly around the sequence of growth for 2026 and weakness in the first quarter to be expected.

That's very helpful. And could you also remind us your total vaccine exposure as a percentage of group sales? Is it fair to say that with your guide next year, you're not only assuming weakness from that particular customer on the glass side, but you're also taking in, let's say, some conservative assumptions regarding flu vaccinations and other vaccinations given some guideline changes we've had here?

I would say in total mix picture, on the one hand side, yes, we have the weakness of one customer that's definitely influencing us. In total, we also see a little bit reduced vaccination in total, also globally, of course, influenced also by these discussions from the U.S. and new policies. So there is some reduction in vaccination short term.

In the longer term or mid- to longer term, we see increase in vaccination. Yes. So it's not that overall vaccination is significantly going down. That is not the case. Of course, the U.S. influence there has some influence and there are some specific influence by one customer. But overall, I would say, within the next 2, 3 years, we see that the market is recovering.

And the dip in vaccination, honestly, is not that big. Of course, U.S. is not small, but they are representing 5% of the global population. So there is an influence also having in mind that not all people are having access. Yes. But overall, that is not the only region of the world, but some impact.

And in terms of group sales for vaccination, is 10% a fair estimate excluding mRNA that is?

I did not get it specifically. Can you please repeat?

Yes. I was asking in terms of your group exposure to vaccines, 8% to 10%, essentially, we estimate if I exclude mRNA.

Yes, yes. That is in the low double-digit region. Yes. Is that okay?

Yes. Very clear.

Very good. Next question comes from Fynn Scherzler of Deutsche Bank.

So the first question is on the difficult market environment. So you just said there may be some weakness in vaccine demand. Could you maybe expand on that to what extent do you also maybe see an increase in competition? And then I was wondering, you said 2026 is a bridge year, but then 2027, the environment should improve again. So what precisely should then improve again in 2027? And then, I would have a follow-up for that.

Well, to say, honestly, we don't see that we are going to lose market shares. Honestly, we are really okay, I would say, perhaps even a bit better because we have outperformed in many areas of competition in the last year. So we are doing today or we are trying to do today. So that is not the main driver for it. But I really cannot tell you in detail who's delivering what. This is really something I don't know.

Okay. And then for your expectations for things to get better in 2027, is that then more vaccine demand again? Or which factors do you have in mind?

I'll take that. Obviously, I mean, what we do see is a rising demand on the GLP-1 syringe cartridge area. That is one driver of growth going forward. We see a continuation of the strong demand on specialty vials for different applications, amongst them ADCs. And then, let's say, the ready-to-use vials, the ready-to-use cartridges, that is the main driver. The, let's say, rollout of our expansion project is going to contribute then with growing volume. Those are the main drivers based on underlying contracts with key customers and supported by market momentum.

That's very helpful. And then, I have one additional question on your midterm target. So in terms of the phasing over the 3 years, should we think of the growth and also the margin as sort of a straight line improvement, so meaning can 2027 already be at the midpoint of, for example, the revenue guidance corridor?

And then it would be helpful if you could maybe also speak about the contribution of the 2 segments in terms of growth and margin.

I mean, obviously, we give a guidance for the frame, a CAGR of 6% to 8% from 27% to 29%. We are not particularly guiding whether it's front-end or back-end loaded, Fynn. But on the margin, it will not be, let's say, a big jump in the beginning. It will more continuous flow of improvement alongside volume growth, which is the main driver of that, utilizing the capacities, which we have then in place, and bring them into production. That's the main driver. And obviously, alongside volume growth and efficiency gains, margin will expand over time line.

Next question comes from Olivier Calvet, UBS.

I just have a couple of questions left. Maybe just a follow-up on an earlier question. Your total vaccination exposure in 2025, ex-mRNA, was that 10% to 15%? Would that be fair?

Then the second question would be just on the U.S. growth plan. So I just wanted to confirm that your current CapEx guidance is ex U.S. growth and ask how much CapEx you would need if instead of your initial plans you decided to, let's say, add a syringe plant to the Lebanon site. That would be question number 2. Maybe I stop there for now.

So let's start with the vaccination exposure '25 without mRNA. Yes, you're right. With your assumption of about 10% to 15%, you're absolutely right. And talking about U.S., what we're actually doing is we are working on further expansion plans, I have to say, in the U.S., mainly glassrooms is under discussion. Yes. And as you know, we have already expanded last year sterile vial production in the U.S., which was definitely helpful, and we have also expanded vial production. So that is already done, and now, we are discussing next possible phase.

Okay. Okay. And then just on ...

Maybe Olivier, just to, let's say, complement to what Andreas just said, as you highlighted a question around CapEx. I mean, in the CapEx outlook for 2026, we have not included a U.S. expansion project yet. And that would at least not in the beginning, be material. Let's put it like that.

Yes. Makes sense. And then just on drug containment. So it was up nicely in Q4 after being down in Q3. So I'm just wondering if you expect this to grow in the similar magnitude as in Q4 next year? Or what's your expectation in drug containment for '26?

Olivier, can you repeat your question? It didn't come across to our side.

Sure. So drug -- or our core containment, it was nicely up in Q4 after being down in Q3. I just wanted to check if you had any color on your expectations for next year.

Yes, that is a good question and a good, let's say, pick up. I mean, we see our core business as a good prospective business in which we have also invested, I mean, with the plant in Serbia. And we see that a continuous growth at lower single digits. But actually back to a growth mode again after the destocking effect is done.

Okay. That's helpful. And final one, just on the generic sema opportunity. Could you give us a sense of whether your 2026 guidance includes any benefits from the generic semaglutide in international markets? Or is that not really a benefit?

I would say it's a bit too early. Of course, we know that there are many people entering or starting to enter the field, yes, as we have many players in India. Basically, with one source, there are 10 players behind. And then, we have, of course, all these China activities. But it's a bit too early, I would say that we really see it significantly in our numbers.

So we have 12 more minutes, and we have some more people on the queue, so please reduce to 1 or 2 questions.

The next question comes from Charles Weston from Royal Bank of Canada.

Firstly, just a statistics question, please. How much of your 2025 revenue is related to GLP-1? And what do you envisage that being in 2026?

And then, my second question is on CapEx. You've guided to EUR 140 million to EUR 160 million, which is kind of mid-teens as a percentage of revenue, but you've only got medium-term growth in the mid- to high single digits, and you've invested substantial amounts in Serbia and Hungary and others. So why do you need to spend so much -- continue to spend so much? And can you perhaps refer to utilization rates of your current sites? And might your investments drop over the next few years?

Thank you, Charles, for your question. So I start with, obviously, the GLP-1 portion, although I will not be precise on that as we are not guiding by, let's say, separate application. Though, actually in 2026, it's going to be a growth element of the guidance clearly because we see a strong uplift of volumes in that segment, whilst we have the negative one, which obviously goes against that. Yes. And that is in a different sector in a way. And we expect GLP-1 being the main contributor amongst the specialty and ready-to-use contributions for the growth '27 to '29. So we see a very intact underlying market dynamic for us towards GLP-1.

When it comes to CapEx investments, I mean, these are CapEx investments typically ranging over 2 to 3 years. So a program started in '24 will end in '26 or '27. And obviously, we will complete the, let's say, started investments, which are focusing on high-value solutions in the first place that we are reconsidering some investments for new geopolitical, let's say, directions like what Andreas has mentioned that we potentially put another line into the United States or even accelerate investments in India, for instance. That is a normal undertaking of assessing opportunities, demand changes, and let's say, patterns within our, let's say, end customer areas. So the length of investment, you should expect as our trust in future business. And that's why we keep that up.

Okay. So mindful of time, but just if I can just slightly push you on the GLP. You've given us quite a specific information for mRNA. You've given us a relatively tight range for vaccines. And obviously, GLPs would be a major growth driver for the next few years. So can you give us some sense of what that percentages was or is going to?

I mean, I would like to give you a little bit of a reflection. The GLP-1 portion of revenue in the prior year significantly improved over 2025 and is now clearly double-digit revenue share of total revenue. And we expect to be a contributor of revenue growth at a double-digit rate for us. And that should give you a little bit of indication. So from 2024, below the double digit into double-digit 2025, continuing with a strong growth momentum. Other than, I cannot be more precise. Thank you, Charles.

Next question comes from Christian Ehmann from Berenberg.

I'm left with only one. Going forward for your GLP-1 assumptions and market growth expectations, what is your internal model for the difference between or the share between orals and injectables going forward?

Oral, of course, we have also many discussions about that, that will be somewhere in the range, I would assume 2030, 15% to 20%. But of course, we have to look into it. There are other numbers also around. We know that. And what we are doing is basically, as we have our contracts with the big guys, of course, we are trying to approach the new ones there and be also part of the game and will have a certain -- yes, certain percentage in the portfolio is also for sure. But so far, we are fully booked with what was agreed between us and the customers and looks stable from today's point of view, I would say. And then, of course, you have new opportunities with new players.

Next question comes from Pallav Mittal from Barclays.

A couple of questions. So firstly, I mean, in FY '24, you had lost a polymer syringe customer, which impacted FY '25. Now, you are highlighting a glass syringe order loss from a key customer, which will impact FY '26. So what I'm trying to understand is, how can you make sure that you don't lose such big orders irrespective of the, I would say, market sort of challenging environment every year? And how does your visibility look like in terms of those longer-term contracts? So that's the first one.

And then secondly, can you just quantify the impact from ramp-up costs in 2025? And how that should change in 2026?

I'll take the first one. What we cannot avoid is when we are working with big customers and big volumes that something like that is happening. But just to give you one example, what we are doing, right, we talked about the lost polymer customer in the past. So in these cases, when the risk is extremely high, we have -- usually, we have contracts in place, and these contracts are fully covering our expenses. At least, the investment is fully covered by customer contracts that can be either prepayment or that can be take-or-pay conditions.

So the money is not a risk, which we spend for the investment. What is, of course, a risk is further future turnover sometimes and margins or EBIT. So -- and of course, we prefer to sell instead of getting just the money from the contracts. That is clear. But if you want to play in these games, you have to take also some certain risks and the insurance which you can get is somehow by prepayment as a customer through financing. But you cannot fully avoid that something is not -- that everything is developing as you expect. That is 100%, you cannot guarantee that that's possible. That is an entrepreneurial risk which you have to take. And what you can do is you can reduce the risk exposure by having good contracts in place. And that is something we always have. That's something we had with mRNA vaccinations, for example. We have it also with vaccination programs, and we have it also with GLP-1 exposures. So it's big contracts.

And to the second point, I mean, ramp-up costs for, let's say, factory build-out in Serbia and Hungary have been, and I say, in the high single digits for 2025 and expected to be in the mid-single-digit euro for 2026. So a little bit of a reduction, but still a substantial additional ramp-up until the factories are fully operational.

So the next and the last question comes from Ed Hall from Stifel.

Just one from the annual report, it mentions that customers are still working through their own stock. I was wondering if you could quantify which product segment? Is this still reference to vials? Is this related to syringes or a mixture of both? I think that would be quite helpful.

And then finally, just on GLP-1 growth, how much was coming from syringes versus other areas like vials and cartridges, just given the prominence of compounders in the U.S. this year? That would be really helpful.

That is really going too much into detail. These are numbers we will not disclose, that we redefine by product group, GLP-1 syringe, cartridge, sterile cartridge, vials. So that is far too much, yes. And that's something we would also not disclose in the future. Sorry for that answer, but there's too much detail.

And just for the first question, you mentioned that customers are working through their own stock. Is there any reference to that? Is this still related to prior issues that you as an industry had seen? Or is this reference to new areas?

I mean, what we do see that in the DCS segment, we have basically overcome the stock topic, and basically, the depletion of stock in 2025. So that's why we see growth. And obviously, we have within the other areas the normal stocking areas for new applications to come. And not that we have specifically guided that we see, let's say, a stocking issue to my knowledge. I don't know where you make this reference to.

Thank you very much, everyone, for the interest in SCHOTT Pharma, your time today and your questions. This concludes our call. We are looking forward to meeting you in person during the upcoming conferences, be it in New York, Frankfurt or London. Also, on behalf of Andreas and Reinhard, I wish you a great rest of your day, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2026. Thank you very much, and goodbye.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SCHOTT Pharma's Third Quarter Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Tobias Erfurth.

Thank you, Anna. Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for joining us for our third quarter earnings call for the fiscal year 2025. My name is Tobias Erfurth, I'm the Head of Investor Relations. It's my pleasure to guide you through today's call.

Joining me on the panel are our CEO, Andreas Reisse, and our new CFO, Reinhard Mayer, who joined our management Board only 12 days ago. In just a moment, you will have the opportunity to get to know him personally.

Before that, on Slide 2, please take a moment to review our disclaimer. Please note that we talk about the fiscal year 2025, we are referring to the period from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. This third quarter relates to the period from April 1 to June 30, 2025. And with that, over to you, Andreas.

Thanks, Tobias. Also warm welcome from my side. Reinhard on behalf of everyone at SCHOTT Pharma, welcome to the team. I'm delighted that you joined SCHOTT Pharma and that you are joining us today in this format for the first time in your new role. So I'm looking very much forward to a great collaboration. And may I invite you to briefly introduce yourself?

Thank you, Andreas. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for making the time for our earnings call today. I'm very pleased to be meeting you already in my second week at SCHOTT Pharma. I'm excited to have joined SCHOTT Pharma, a remarkable company with an impressive track record and strong prospects for the future. It's innovative strength, global footprint, and clear commitment to sustainability and social responsibility have impressed me from the outset.

A few words on my background. Over the past 20 years, I have held various CFO roles in listed, multinational corporations across several industries, including medtech. Most recently, I served at Nilfisk Holding AS, a leading global provider of cleaning equipment and services in Denmark. I look forward to working with the SCHOTT Pharma team and with you to build the next stages of our company's development together. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Reinhard. With that, we will now turn to our strategy and business update.

So I'm pleased to share with you an update on our results from the past quarter as well as the latest developments and strategic achievements. So we look back to -- on a solid third quarter, very much in line with our expectations. Our top line continues to grow. Our profitability is improving and we are making strong progress towards expanding our HVS business. So group-wide revenues reached EUR 256 million in quarter 3. The year-on-year growth of 3% at constant currencies reflects a particularly strong prior year quarter, which has benefited for demand in the Drug Delivery Solutions segment.

While this year's Q3 was marked by a normalization of demand patterns. So the main revenue driver of the past quarter was our Drug Containment Solutions business, which continued its positive momentum for HVS. The Drug Delivery Systems segment showed sequential growth, yet overall, it declined slightly against a strong prior year quarter. So with the beneficial product mix and efficiency measures, we managed to improve our profitability to record levels. We increased our EBITDA by 11% year-on-year to EUR 83 million in the third quarter, with an EBITDA margin of 31.7% at constant currencies.

So the continued high demand of our for our high-value solutions, especially sterile solutions and specialty vials is fueled by various industry trends. And in turn, we expanded our HVS revenue share increasing it by 5 percentage points to 60% year-on-year in quarter 3 of the fiscal year.

So shifting our revenue towards HVS is an essential goal of our strategy, building upon trustful partnerships, innovation and expansion continues to pay off. We are steadily advancing our portfolio towards more HVS and expanding manufacturing capacities to serve the increasing market demand. So with the broadest offering of HVS, we are ideally positioned to grow faster than the overall market while improving our profitability. And even in a volatile market environment, the demand for our HVS remains high, underlining the strength of our strategic approach.

So with a revenue share of 60% from HVS in Q3 and 57% in the first 9 months of this fiscal year, we are well on track to achieve our midterm goal of generating more than 60% of our revenues from HVS. So as mentioned, one of the core elements of our business strategy is trustful partnerships. We are thrilled to report that we have once again achieved outstanding results in this year's customer survey, which encompasses feedback from 168 customers across 37 countries. Our customer loyalty index has reached an impressive 90 percentage points, standing significantly above other industry competitors. This positive feedback underscores SCHOTT Pharma's reputation as a reliable supplier and leader in innovation, providing high-quality products that truly add value and address the industry challenges.

Our customers' trust in us is reflected not only in our past growth trajectory, but also a foundation for future growth. So speaking about innovation, our second strategic pillar. We have enhanced our portfolio with two market introductions in the last month. With cartridges performing outstandingly in Q3, we are even more excited to offer additional options with new value and benefits to our customers. So firstly, we introduced the first large volume 5-milliliter ready-to-use cartridges that seamlessly work with a large volume of auto injectors of our partner, SHL Medical. It enables patients who self-administer substantial amounts of medication easily and comfortably at home, especially for the treatment of chronic autoimmune or neurological diseases. This represents a major step forward.

So the harmonized and pretested system of large volume cartridge and auto-injector accelerates the time to market for pharma companies and creates greater convenience for patients. And secondly, with the SCHOTT TOPPAC polymers cartridge, we have introduced the industry's first ready-to-use polymer cartridge that meets ISO standards. It was specifically developed for the requirements of sensitive biologics such as cell and gene therapies or emergency medications along with patient-friendly administration. So the cartridge offers enhanced break resistance and an inert surface with low silicon levels and greater design flexibility for integration into an injection systems.

So at the same time, we are advancing sustainable transformation for us and the industry through strong strategic partnerships. Our strategic glass supplier, SCHOTT AG is building the first electric melting tank for pharmaceutical glass powered by green electricity, setting a new industry standard. As of 2027, the new Fire Lux coal glass tubing coming from that tank to significantly reduce the product footprint for our drug containment solutions and delivery systems. To give you 1 example for a typical 2-milliliter vial, the product carbon footprint can be reduced by approximately 30% compared to the current technology. This glass is already qualified across all of our product categories and sites with many leading pharmaceutical companies having already chosen to utilize this more sustainable glass.

So these innovations again reinforce our position as a pioneer when it comes to new drug containment and delivery solutions that meet patients' and customers' needs. So the last pillar of our strategy is expansion which is essential to securing our future growth. Our global expansion program is progressing as planned. And personally, I'm very happy about this during the volatile environment we are living at the moment. So I would like to highlight 2 developments in Hungary from the third quarter. First one is in our glass syringe production facility inaugurated last year, we have commenced commercial supply. All production lines have successfully completed customer qualifications and deliveries are now underway.

On top of that, we are investing another EUR 100 million to expand our manufacturing capacity for sterile ready-to-use cartridges in Hungary. And with this, we are responding to the rapidly growing demand for HVS, particularly for diabetes and obesity therapies and further enhance supply security for our customers.

And with that, I will now hand over to Reinhard for a closer look at our financial performance.

Thank you, Andreas. Although I'm only on board since August, I'm pleased to walk you through our financial results for the third quarter and first 9 months of SCHOTT Pharma's fiscal year 2025. I already mentioned that we are satisfied with the solid performance in the third quarter, where we increased revenues by 3% year-over-year on constant currencies to EUR 256 million over last year's exceptionally strong Q3 with organic revenue growth of 21%. At the same time, we grew our EBITDA even stronger by 11% to EUR 83 million to a record margin of 31.7% at constant currencies.

This development was driven by a product mix shift towards HVS and efficiency gains. A very strong performance in a volatile market environment. But the strong earnings dynamics could not be fully offset and translated into earnings per share which decreased marginally by 1% to EUR 0.30 in the third quarter. This reflects higher depreciation and slightly lower financial results as well as increased tax expenses from changed regional mix compared to the prior year period. We continue to invest in our growth. Capital expenditure amounted to EUR 38 million in the third quarter, a year-over-year increase of EUR 14 million.

On the next slide, let's dive deeper into the top and bottom lines of those business segments. As usual, we differentiate between our Drug Containment Solutions, short DCS, business in the light gray bar and Drug Delivery Systems, short DDS, in the dark blue bar. The overall top line development in the third quarter was mostly supported by a good performance of DCS, which grew 4% to EUR 142 million. Excluding FX headwinds, DCS grew even stronger at 8% year-over-year.

High-Value Solutions was a key driver for this development, growing more than 50% year-over-year. We saw particularly high demand for sterile cartridges for GLP-1 and other biologics and for specialty vials for novel cancer therapies based on antibody drug conjugates or short ADCs. The core business showed a muted performance with improving order patterns for core vials. Despite a slight decline of 2% in revenues, DDS showed encouraging developments most notably by the strong performance of prefillable glass syringes recording double-digit growth. As a result, segment sales held steady at EUR 114 million, showing strong resilience amid expected polymer softness.

It is also important to note that the prior year quarter represented an exceptionally strong comparison base with revenue growth at constant currencies of 38% year-over-year.

Looking at the year-to-date performance, we recorded 5% revenue growth at constant currencies and generated revenue of EUR 739 million. Segment-wise, DCS contributed EUR 414 million, continuing its growth trajectory, both on a reported and constant currency basis, driven by sustained demand for high-value solutions. DDS generated EUR 325 million, showing a stable development compared to the prior year. Like in Q3, the strength in the glass syringe business helped to maintain overall revenue levels and to compensate for the muted polymer syringe volumes.

Please also note that in the last year, the first 9 months showed a high comparable base with revenue growth at constant currencies of 32% year-over-year, which was following the expansion of manufacturing capacities. The FX impact on revenues in Q3 was similar to Q2 2025.

With that, let's look closer to our profitability. We significantly improved our bottom line performance. Our Q3 EBITDA totaled EUR 83 million, an increase of 11% both on a reported basis and at constant currencies. As a result of this strong EBITDA growth, we increased our margin by 2.3 percentage points at constant currencies to the quarterly record of 31.7%. This strong performance was driven primarily by a favorable shift in our product mix towards our strong high-margin value solutions and the positive impact of our ongoing efficiency initiatives.

We are particularly satisfied with the result as this more than offset the impact of polymer underutilization as well as ramp-up costs for our capacity expansion in Hungary and Serbia. The positive impact of the good High-Value Solutions performance was specifically strong in the DCS segment, where we grew our reported EBITDA by 28% to EUR 38 million, improving reported margins by 5 percentage points to 26.8%. DDS contributed EUR 42 million to the Q3 EBITDA, which was highly profitable at 36.9% reported EBITDA margin. The margin was slightly below prior year level. While the strong operational performance in the glass syringe business provided support, it did not fully offset the negative effects from ramp-up costs related to the expansion in Hungary and the continued underutilization in the polymer syringe segment.

In the first 9 months, EBITDA grew faster than revenues at 11% year-over-year to EUR 213 million. Consequently, the EBITDA margin expanded by 2.2 percentage points to 28.8%, both on a reported basis and at constant currencies.

Now let me take you through our cash flow and investments. Our operating cash flow came in at EUR 55 million in Q3 2025, decreasing slightly from EUR 58 million in Q3 2024. Higher working capital and increased tax payments did offset the positive contribution from increased EBITDA in the quarter. Cash flow from investing amounted to EUR 38 million in Q3 and was entirely driven by capital expenditures. These investments are primarily growth-oriented representing a year-over-year increase of EUR 14 million. As a result, we generated a solid free cash flow of EUR 17 million in the third quarter down from EUR 34 million in Q3 2024. For the first 9 months, free cash flow reached EUR 39 million.

Finally, let's take a look at our guidance. Our focus remains on growing our business sustainably and profitably. In a volatile market environment and against a high prior year base, we recorded a solid third quarter. With 9 months of the fiscal year, we are completed, we now have greater visibility into our full year performance and have, therefore, specified our targets last week.

We now expect organic revenue growth of around 6% at constant currencies. This specification reflects the most recent market dynamics following increased uncertainty given ongoing global policy discussions, which impact industry sentiment. We're also specifying our EBITDA margin outlook. The EBITDA margin for financial year 2025 is expected to be around 28%, above the previous guidance up approximately at the level of full year financial year 2024, which was 26.9%. This is mainly driven by a favorable product mix shift towards high-value solutions and positive impact of operational efficiency measures.

We'd also like to provide additional context for other financial metrics for the fiscal year 2025. We remain optimistic about maintaining a strong High-Value Solutions revenue share and therefore, are increasing our ambition to above 55% of HVS. With regards of CapEx, we reaffirm our expectation to EUR 140 million to EUR 160 million for the full financial year.

Depreciation should continue to increase compared to last year. We expect our current level after 9 months to be a good indicator for the full year. Finally, our outlook for the full year tax rate is anticipated to be around 22%, which is slightly above the previously communicated 20%. This adjustment is primarily driven by the higher tax rate observed after the first 9 months and reflects a change in the regional earnings mix.

With that, I will now hand back to Tobias before we start with the Q&A session.

Many thanks, Andreas and many thanks, Reinhard for your presentations. Anna will now -- our operator, will now give you the technical introduction. Afterwards, we welcome your questions and open the Q&A session. Please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions]

Thanks for the technical introduction. The first question comes from Giang Nguyen from Citigroup.

Hopefully, you can hear me. I have two 3 questions, please. The first question is around the DCS and specifically on HVS products within DCS. You guys delivered another quarter of strong demand. Can you comment on the order dynamics going forward in this aspect? I remember a quarter ago, there was some hesitancy around whether we should see the strength continued and we definitely did. How sustainable do you think this demand is as you look into fiscal year '20? I'll ask my second question after this.

So Giang, I would take over that question. From our point of view, that these dynamics will continue because they are based on the trends. As you know, there's ADC is definitely a strong trend, and we are almost in all products with our products, so which is very positive and will positively contribute. And then on the other side, of course, in the Sterile business is developing very nicely. I also believe that we have a competitive advantage over others, and we will definitely benefit from it from my point of view, and that is also shown by the strong investments we are now doing in Hungary for the expansion of the sterile business. So all in all, it's 1 of the strong growth drivers for the next years. And it will continue.

That is clear. And then my second question is around the efficiency gains in the quarter. Can you quantify the contribution to margin that you saw? And can you comment on any expectations from the magnitude of savings going forward? And just as a very quick follow-up, can you provide some examples of what is being done in the business?

Of course, we have -- as giving the market environment, honestly, we have really started with efficiency measures. I will not disclose precise numbers, but it's definitely a nice double-digit million amount, which we will achieve this year. And that will, of course, continue in the next years. And we are starting new measures also to further increase productivity, but not only in production but also in the admin processes by digitalization and other measures. So we are continuously working on it.

Next question comes from Falko Friedrichs from Deutsche Bank.

My first question is on your polymer syringe business. When can we expect this business to return to growth? And does the fourth quarter still save a tougher comp? Then my second question is on your DCS margin, which was extremely strong in the third quarter. How should we think about demand margin entering the fourth quarter and also entering next year? And then my third question is a bigger picture one on the overall end markets. How are all of these geopolitical points affecting your end markets at the moment? What are the headwinds and is this destocking now completely over?

[indiscernible] quite I have to say, Polymer syringes, I would say growth is perhaps a little bit too early, but I would say it is not further shrink. We're not giving you guidance today for DDS, but I would say the growth is over. We saw these headwinds, as you know, from M&A, mainly, but we are already compensating more than we thought at the beginning of the year with new value syringes and new applications. So I would say it's getting back but not -- of course, not immediately to the same levels that we have seen before when we had this COVID vaccination. So that's one. And the second one is something you can take, Reinhard?

Thank you, Andreas. Maybe I'll take the impact of geopolitical topics. Of course, that is the tariff situation on one side, which we have the forecast will be a low single-digit million euro for the full year, so not really significant, but there is, let's say, in our guidance an embedded impact already included. The other thing is geopolitical topics impacting the sentiment. And that is a reflection, which we obviously see in the demand side to the various businesses, which we have, so to say, encompass now in the current guidance.

Okay. And maybe on the DCS margin?

Yes. Okay. DCS margins will further improve from my point of view because we have also in DCS, our strategy is to increase the HVS share and that will have a positive impact also in the future. And it's mainly 2 things in DCS. On the 1 hand side, higher percentage of HVS, which will contribute to margin expansion. And secondly, of course, cost measures, which will also benefit our business. So all in all, it will get better. And then you had 1 question specifically about vials, sorry?

Correct.

For fourth quarter, now first of all, vials taking, vials wise, I would say that, that is over, but there is this volatility in the market, which is really not in favor at the moment. We have to say, in some regions, we are running very well or normal like South America and also Asia is okay. But still, Europe is not on the level which we would like to have it. But all in all I would say it's not destocking. It's small volatility of the market at the moment and cost measures also by pharma companies. And as you know, there are probably 1,000 customers behind that. We have to go into all single customers. But all in all, I would say it's coming back, but it could be a bit better, honestly.

And the margin development was, was it margin in polymer or margin of quarter 4?

DCS margin now that they've been so strong in Q3, I was wondering how we should think about it in the fourth quarter.

Do you want to take that, Reinhard?

Yes. I mean Q3 certainly has a peak in the full year perspective as we have basically full demand supply, et cetera. In the fourth quarter, we have a lot of shortages coming out of the supply chain with vacation periods and lower demand, and that is impacting our fourth quarter margin. if you look to previous patterns, you will get a good reflection of this development.

Next question comes from Olivier Calvet from UBS.

Maybe I'll take them one by one. First question on succession. So good to see Reinhard joining the company. Just wanted to ask you, Andreas, we've seen your mandate extended to, I believe, April next year. Could you give us some thoughts on how to think about that time line, flexibility for you to extend beyond that and all the state of the search for a successor? That would be the first one.

Of course, can you imagine that question I get sometimes. Yes. No, but April 6, I just wanted to make it a little bit because my contract ended in July but then I thought with the CFO change, that's not really good when everybody is leaving at the same time. So therefore, I agreed on prolonging it a bit and to give and the Supervisory Board, of course, look for a successor. That was the reason. But also on the other side, I also have to say April is now fixed. So I will not stay longer because I'm turning 65 and honestly, I have enough energy, but I also want to extend my energy on other topics, yes. So that will be over in April for sure.

Successor,of course, I cannot comment at the moment. I would expect that, that will be disclosed, let's say, 6 months before.

Okay. Okay. Makes sense. The second question was just on the -- so maybe one for you, Reinhard. The DCS -- within DCS, so bulk credit yes, was it in constant currency positive or not in the third quarter? I see around basically close to 10% year-on-year decline reported. I just wanted to get a sense of whether it was positive or not in local currency.

Thank you, Olivier. Obviously, we need to take a perspective of what was the performance of the bulk in Q3 2024. At that time, we had a super strong organic growth, so but it was more or less on a, let's say, medium, low performance basis in that respect, so mainly driven DCS growth by the HVS solutions.

Okay. Okay. And your expectation is that bulk this year is positive year-on-year in Q4 or...

Yes. We see both segments contributing to growth. in the fourth quarter. And when you make the math for fourth quarter, you will see that obviously, the expectation is on a positive note for the fourth quarter.

Yes, exactly. That was going to be my next question, but I wanted to ask about core specifically in this DCS. But maybe just also to ask that, I mean you're clearly saying around 6% organic growth in -- over the full year, and you've done 5% in the 9 months. You -- so an acceleration here and at the same time, a sort of deceleration on the EBITDA margin because, say, around 28%, but you've done close to 29% in 9 months. So I just wanted to get a better sense of if you're expecting a strong recovery at the both containment in Q4? Are you just being cautious on the margin side? Just some color there would be helpful.

I think the point is clearly growth in top line is going to be visible as you have indicated, coming towards our updated guidance. And the other effect is the pattern from the past continues as well in 2025, meaning that through the summer season, we have obviously factory shutdowns, which have an effect on our contribution margins and EBITDA margins. And here, that development is going to be similar. And that's why an overall perspective for the full year is around 28%.

Okay. And the final one, just in the slides, you mentioned this is just a small one, but customer loyalty index. I'm not sure how you define that. That's something along the lines of the share of sales with existing customers? Or is that not really the way to read it?

I'm not sure how to define it. It's I think very much in line with standards service, which other people are doing same methodologies. And also comparable, we always stood in the same way since I don't know, 15 years, 20 years, I'm not 100% sure. But since long, yes, and what I can say, 90 points, I'd say percentage points in the presentation. So it's not correct 90 points is a very high score. That there is something like top 10 of the industry, also comparable to really comparable numbers. So it's extremely high, extremely positive. Then, of course, you -- the second part, I have to ask, share of customer is, I didn't get that what you meant, Olivier. Can you repeat that?

I was just wondering if that -- I understand from what you're saying that it's not what it means, but I was wondering if it may basically the share of sales with existing customers from...

Okay. That is, of course, something we don't know because it's -- of course, the answers are not public. We don't know from whom the answer came, you send it out to 600 customers, something like that. And we got, as I said, something like 170 responses. So we don't know who was answering, who not. But I would say, statistically, it was more than 100, you have a good, yes, good relatively stable statistics, I would say.

And the next question comes from Ed Hall from Stifel.

I have a couple. Firstly, just on the U.S., could you just expand on the U.S. revenues and the sequential change there? And sort of why is there a drop now? I think previous seasonality hasn't shown that. I think that would be my first question. And then I think expanding on cartridges obviously looking really, really strong. I think how could we look at the current order book specifically for cartridges? And how should we think of pricing in this versus potentially bulk cartridges? And then maybe just finally, just a clarification on the guide. Obviously, you mentioned it ties to global policy discussions and sentiment. But my understanding was that lead times for quite a lot of your at least HVS products are quite long. So has it -- could you confirm if there's been any cancellation of orders through the year or through this quarter that has led to the revised guidance?

Okay. I hope I can answer that. Cancellations, we have not seen of any orders. First of all, that is an easy one. Then saw strong details on demand is as a pricing topic, of course. If you really differs a lot here. It really differs a lot. I have told you that we are now introducing a new product [indiscernible] cartridge together with the SHL auto-injector system. Of course, it is a supply price, you can imagine low volumes. And then you have the other one, which is more dedicated to GLP-1. Of course, these numbers are coming down. In average, you can say, as we said also in previous meetings, the price difference between bulk and sterile in the range of 5 to 15x for normal products, 5 to 15x let's take 10x as an average. And then I would say it's okay for the normal commercial supplies of higher volumes, so that is more or less in the revenue development, honestly, I have to ask here. Okay. Sorry. There, I see it as U.S. revenues have increased significantly, double digit, very positive development during the financial year.

Maybe just to follow up on the U.S. question. Just if we -- if we look at seasonality in 2024, I mean, it improved sequentially between 2Q and 3Q. Is that just from a steady ramp up? Or is that -- do you normally expect 3Q to be EUR 14 million lower than the prior year just to make sure?

I'm not really quite sure that I understand your question when you make the sequential comparison I think what we can say to the U.S. revenues, obviously, we see 9 months growth, we also see a growth within the third quarter, not at the same pace as for the full 9 months. Given say also a very strong comparison base versus prior year. And that's really the effect. It's more the seasonality within the year, which has changed in Q3 over Q4. But if you look at the full year perspective, United States revenue actually did support strongly our overall growth. Although we do not specifically, let's say guide here but it's a very strong positive effect. And we see growth as Andreas said, mainly from GLP-1 customers at driving it and then supported by other specialty vials.

That's very clear. And maybe just a follow-up, final question. Just on the sort of the compounding pharmacies in the U.S. I mean, how material is the revenue contribution from these customers in this quarter or maybe the first 9 months? I don't know if there's a quantum you could give, that would be really helpful.

Component, 3B compounders in the U.S., I don't have the specific number. But as you know, there was boost at the beginning when there was shortage of GLP-1 drugs and that was partly taken over by components. And that is, of course, now over, but I don't know the specific number. It's not that big. It was a positive contributor, but not that big.

Next question comes from Curtis Moiles from BNP Paribas.

I have a few here, please. First, I just wanted to clarify a little bit the comments that you made earlier on polymer syringes. I just wanted to understand how are you thinking about that in Q4 and into 2026? Is it going to be still declining a little bit? Or is there kind of room to start growing from the level that we're currently at? And then secondly, I wanted to see if we can maybe get a little bit more color on how much vials grew in the quarter? I know that I think the sterile was very strong, but in particular, the core vials, have you seen some growth there? And any kind of context would be appreciated. And then last but not least, for that large volume sterile cartridge autoinjector that you developed with SHL Medical. I just wanted to understand, can you discuss maybe the opportunity there a little bit? You already have some customers or drugs lined up for that product? Or how are you thinking about that?

It's very difficult [Audio Gap] because it's not so easy to answer, honestly, because I don't have all information what you can say about polymer syringes, I would say we have reached bottom already. That is my impression that we are more or less now on the lowest level, I would not specifically comment about Q4 or something. We're not looking to in the quarter. Of course, we have the forecast. I don't get me wrong, yes, also of quarters. But we -- the growth rates we don't compare by quarterly basis, we really look more into the longer term or at least a year development. But polymers as said, I would say -- my impression is that we have reached bottom, and we are optimistic that we can develop new business or value streams.

And that is already -- we have already shown that this year, as I said, nice double-digit amount of new sales with new value streams. And vials, honestly, I don't know. That was the second question about how much core vials grew in Q3. I don't know that -- do have the numbers? Do we disclose that? No, no. I cannot answer that one. And the SHL Medical large volume, that's, of course, mainly for rare diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurological diseases. So that is basically home care or subcutaneous. And here we are working together with SHL as we are also doing with [indiscernible] so that -- because we want to deliver really complete solutions, completely tested systems to the market. which is, of course, at the end of the day, for the pharma company, a huge benefit because it's time to market. We get completely tested and validated system. Of course, we have to test it with that drug. But to get a full system supplied, we don't have to do the integration work. And finally, we are talking about time savings and patent lifetimes as you know, and time to market.

So it's very positive development. But also I have to say, it takes like always a few years until that really contributes to significant turnovers and the EBIT margins.

Maybe a little bit of supplemental info to what Andreas said, especially around the growth of core vials. I mean our bulk business as such, was more or less stable when we look to the third quarter. Though we have a specific development with special vials driving strong growth and that means to the opposite, that core vials are, let's say, muted demand and slightly declining numbers. We give a little bit more quality of that. So -- but development overall, let's say, same when it comes to reported values driven by strong growth, strong double-digit growth in special vials.

Hence,, which is the larger piece of it, seeing a slight decline. I hope this gives you a little bit more flavor to your question.

Next question comes from Pallav Mittal from Barclays.

Pallav Mittal on behalf of Gaurav Jain. I have a couple. So firstly, if you could just talk about the ramp-up cost in the quarter that you were highlighting in Hungary and Serbia. And how much should we expect in Q4 and next year? That is my first question. And then secondly, you have lowered your FY '25 revenue guide to 6%, but you maintain your medium-term at above 10%. So how do you -- or where do you see that growth acceleration coming from? If you could just talk about the drivers, specifically in DCS and DDS businesses, that would be helpful.

Yes. Thank you, Pallav, for your question. I will speak to the ramp-up cost. Obviously, we are not specifically guiding for the ramp-up cost for our Hungarian and Serbian new plant, but for the full year, they are double-digit million euro. And they have more or less a linear ramp-up for the quarters. Hence, you would -- if you are within 2 to 3 5, you are most probably directionally there.

I will take the second one as drivers, of course, in DCS. On the 1 hand side, we said not already special vials. That is 1 of the big drivers influenced by ADCs, but also other drug categories. That is 1 of the drivers. And the other 1 is, of course, sterile solutions that is vials also, to some extent, but to a larger extent, sterile cartridges and sterile cartridges both are biologics, large volume as well as obesity and diabetes. And that is driving in DCS and DDS is mainly as we expected from the beginning of the year that glass syringes growth, which is significant will compensate polymer decline. So that is exactly the situation we are now we're seeing also for the last quarter now that basically that is balanced to glass syringes expanding the decline polymers as said at the beginning of the year already.

So all in all, I would say, quite successful that we have been able to compensate that more or less fully. But of course, we have not seen those numbers. And growth drivers of course, Hungary, with the ramp-up and expansion of search.

Thanks to all of you. We have no more questions in the queue in the line. So this concludes our today's call, our Q3 call for 2025. Thank you for your interest, your questions and your time. We look forward to meeting you at the upcoming conferences in Frankfurt, Munich and London. Our next results will be the full year results, which we want to publish on December 11. Thank you very much for your interest, all the best. Thank you, and goodbye.