Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SCHOTT Pharma Conference regarding the results of the fiscal year 2025. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. 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 two, I would like to remind all participants to 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 1st to September 30th. This fourth quarter relates to the period from July 1st to September 30th, 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. Yeah, 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 at 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, a further step towards our midterm ambition. And we also made significant 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 Meisel as CEO from May 26th onwards, and I'm glad that Christian will lead our extraordinary company into its next chapter. As an industrial engineer with a 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'm 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 mega trends 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 with further approvals 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. Home care solutions are 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, positions 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 mega trends, 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 trustworthy partnerships continues to pay off. We are steadily advancing our portfolio towards more HVS to serve the increasing market demand.
With the broad offering of HVS, we are ideally positioned to grow faster than the overall market while improving our profitability. Even in a volatile market environment, the demand for our HVS solutions remains high, underlining the strength of our strategic approach. Despite headwinds of fading mRNA vaccination demand, we were able to further grow our revenue share from 55% - 57% last fiscal year, and we are on track to achieve our midterm goal of generating more than 60% of our revenue from HVS. Let me now turn to how we are delivering on our innovation agenda and advancing solutions that align with major industry mega trends, which I have just described. First, we are improving home care with large-volume drug delivery systems. This year, we introduced the first 5.5-milliliter prefillable staked needle glass syringe for YpsoMate, 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 steroid cartridge for autoinjectors, 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.
In collaboration with Schreiner MediPharm, we developed the next-generation SCHOTT TOPPAC infuse polymer syringe system. This system was specifically designed to improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability and has already been recognized with the CBHI Pharma Award. Additionally, we are seeing further growth of our Alliance for Ready-to-Use, which is enhancing collaboration and production efficiency across the industry. 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. We are confident that these advancements will continue to drive SCHOTT Pharma's growth and leadership in the years ahead. Now let us look at the developments during the last 12 months with regard to our other strategic pillar, namely expansion. On this map, you can see our global footprint with all SCHOTT Pharma manufacturing sites.
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. 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 Müllheim, we are advancing specialty vials for antibody-drug conjugates, and we are also increasing our capacity for large-volume glass syringes in Switzerland. As a reminder, most of our HVS projects are based on customer contracts and often co-financed by customers. 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 ampoule 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 are positioning 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 solution 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 Solution segment, or DCS, remains anchored in our core vials, cartridges, and ampoules, complemented by high-value 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 steroid 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 the prior year, despite softness in polymer syringes. DCS reported revenues of EUR 548 million, with strong growth in the steroid cartridges and specialty vials. Summarizing, our focus on high-value solutions continues to drive 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 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 the 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 Two, 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 the 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 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%-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-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%-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.
We update our revenue CAGR target for the period 2027-2029, now expecting a growth rate of 6%-8% from prior, above 10%, reflecting a more balanced view of current market dynamics. 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. 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. These factors provide a solid foundation for long-term growth. At the same time, we must recognize recent challenges in 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 toward 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. I now look forward to your questions. So Tobias, please take over.
Yeah, 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. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press nine and star on your telephone keypad. In case you wish to withdraw your question, please press three and star. Please press nine and star to register for a question.
Okay, so I think everybody pressed the stars or whatever you needed. The first question comes from Ngan Nguyen from Citibank. Please go ahead.
Thanks, and hope you can hear me. Two questions for 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 2026? 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, 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,
yeah. 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.
Thank you. Helpful. And just one clarification for me. So in your 2026 outlook remark earlier, you said that DDS is slightly flat and polymer syringes also flat. Just wanted to check if I got that correctly, meaning that glass syringes is flat overall, including this customer decline.
Ngan, 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 2027- 2029. So there is this underlying growth still there, but this one customer effect, this single event, takes charge on 2026 outlook.
That's clear. Thank you.
Welcome.
The next question comes from Odysseas Manesiotis from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my questions. 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-y ear 2025?
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 past 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 mRNA and polymer, while 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 the weakness in the first quarter to be expected.
Thank you very much for the detail there, Reinhard. 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?
Yeah, I would say in total mixed 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 an increase in vaccination. Yeah, so it's not that overall vaccination is significantly going down. That is not the case. Of course, the U.S. influence, there is some influence, and there's some specific influence by one customer. But overall, I would say within the next two, three years, we see that the market is recovering. And the dip in vaccination, honestly, is not that big. Of course, the U.S. is not small, but they are representing 5% of the global population. So there is an influence. We're also having a mindset not all people are having access.
Yeah, but overall, that is not the only region of the world, but some impact.
Thank you, Andreas. And in terms of group sales for vaccination, is 10% of our estimate, excluding mRNA days?
I did not get it acoustically. Can you please repeat?
Yes. I was asking in terms of your group exposure to vaccines, is 10% a sensible estimate if I exclude mRNA?
Yeah, yeah. That is in the low double-digit region.
Thank you.
Yeah? Is that okay?
Yes, very clear. Thanks, Andreas.
Very good. Next question comes from Pin Schatzlaut, Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
So the first question is on the difficult market environment. So you just said there's maybe some weakness in the 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 rich 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, it's good 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 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 areas. 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, 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.
Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. And then I have one additional question on your midterm targets. So in terms of the phasing over the three 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 two segments in terms of growth and margin.
I mean, obviously, we give a guidance for the frame, a CAGR of 6%-8% from 2027 - 2029. We are not particularly guiding whether it's front-end or back-end loaded in. But on the margin, it will not be, let's say, a big jump in the beginning. It will be more a continuous flow of improvement alongside volume growth, which is the main driver of that, utilizing the capacities which we have then in place and bringing them into production. That's the main driver. And obviously, alongside volume growth and efficiency gains, margin will expand over timeline.
Thank you very much.
Welcome. Next question comes from Olivier Calvet, UBS. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my questions.
I just have a couple of questions left. Maybe just to follow up on an earlier question. Your total vaccination exposure in 2025, ex- mRNA, was at 10%-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 a question number two. Maybe I stop there for now.
So let's start with the ex-vaccination exposure 25 without mRNA.
Yes, you're right with your assumption of about 10%-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 glass syringes under discussion. 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 the next possible phase.
Okay. Okay, thanks. And then just on both.
Maybe Olivier. 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.
Yeah. Makes sense.
And then just on bulk 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 similar magnitude as in Q4 next year or what's your expectation in bulk containment for 2026?
Olivier, can you repeat your question? It didn't come across to our side.
So bulk or 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, pickup. 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 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 semaglutide 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. We have many players in India, basically with one source, 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.
Okay. Many thanks.
So we have 12 more minutes, and we have some more people on the queue, so please reduce to one or two questions. Thank you very much. The next question comes from Charles Weston from Royal Bank of Canada. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking the question. 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 140-160, 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. 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 27-29. 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 two to three years. So a program started in 2024 will end in 2026 or 2027. 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 level of investment you should expect, as our trust in future business. And that's why we keep that up.
Okay. Thank you.
Mindful of time, but just if I can just slightly push you on the GLP, you've given us quite 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 percentage is, 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 is 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 that, I cannot be more precise.
Thank you, Charles.
Thank you.
Next question comes from Christian Ehmann from Warburg Research. Please go ahead.
Hello, and thanks for taking my questions. 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 or the share between orals and injectables going forward? Thank you.
Overall, of course, we have also many discussions about that. That will be somewhere in the range, I would assume, 2030, 15%-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. And be also part of the game. And orals will have a certain percentage in the portfolios 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, we have new opportunities with new players.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Welcome. Next question comes from Pallav Mittal from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Good morning. A couple of questions. So firstly, I mean, in FY 2024, you had lost a polymer syringe customer, which impacted FY 2025. Now you are highlighting a glass syringe order loss from a key customer, which will impact FY 2026. 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 cost in 2025 and how that should change in 2026?
That takes 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 of what we are doing, we talked about the lost polymer customer in the past. So in these cases, when the risk is extremely high, usually we have contracts in place, and these contracts are fully covering our expenses. At least the investment is fully covered by customer contracts. It can be either prepayment or that can be take or pay conditions. So the money is not at risk, which we spend for the investment. What is, of course, a risk is further, as a future turnover sometimes and margins or EBITDA.
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 or 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.
Pallav, 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.
Thank you.
Welcome. So the next and the last question comes from Ed Hall from Stifel. Please go ahead.
Good morning, all. Thanks for taking my questions. 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 referenced 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. Thanks. That is really going too much into detail. These are numbers we will not disclose that we really define by product group, GLP-1, syringe, cartridge, sterile cartridge, vials. So that is far too much. And that's something we would also not disclose in 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. 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.
Okay. Thank you.
Okay. 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 in New York, Frankfurt, and London. Also, on behalf of Andreas and Reinhard, I wish you a great rest of your day, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year 2026. Thank you very much, and goodbye.