Welcome to the Aptar Group Annual Meeting of Stockholders. My name is Marcia, and I'll be your operator. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. I will now turn the call over to Stephane Tanda. You may begin.
Thank you, Marcia, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Apta Group Inc. I am Stefan Tienda, a director and president and chief executive officer of the company. I am acting as chairman of this meeting. In light of public health concerns regarding the COVID-nineteen pandemic and related travel restrictions, this year's annual meeting is being held in a virtual only format via live audio webcast.
We are conducting this meeting in accordance with our bylaws and the meeting rules of procedure. The meeting rules and agenda are available on the virtual meeting website. At this time, I call the meeting to order. I would like to thank everyone for attending the meeting. I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce George Fotitis, who is in attendance at today's meeting.
Mr. Fotitis is the Chairman of Aptar's Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cantel Medical Corp, and Director of Cantel Medical Corp and Prologis Inc. Also in attendance is Bob Kuhn, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary of the company. He's also acting as Secretary of this meeting. I would also like to introduce Dan Finneran and Garrett Dickens of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's independent accountants.
Mr. Finneran and Mr. Dickens will be available to answer any questions you may have later in this meeting. The secretary of the company will now proceed with the matters on the agenda.
Good morning. My name is Bob Kuhn, secretary of the company. I have received from Broadridge an affidavit of mailing of the notice of annual meeting. In the interest of expediency, we will dispense with the reading of the notice of annual meeting and the affidavit of mailing of the notice. However, copies of these documents will be filed with the minutes of the meeting.
The Board of Directors has set the close of business on 03/13/2020 as the record date for this meeting. As Secretary, I also have a record of stockholders as of that date, which is available for inspection by stockholders during the meeting using the registered stockholder list link found on the virtual meeting website. The company has appointed Glen Wittenberg of Broadridge to act as Inspector of Election for the meeting. I have been advised by the Inspector of Election that no less than a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of the company are represented via webcast or by proxy at today's virtual meeting. Accordingly, a quorum is present and the formal business of the meeting may proceed.
The polls are now open for voting on all matters to be voted on at this annual meeting as set forth in the notice of annual meeting. As a reminder, stockholders attending the virtual meeting can vote their shares or change their votes online from now to the closing of the polls by logging into the meeting website as a stockholder using the 16 digit control number you received with your proxy materials and clicking the link provided on the screen. If you have previously voted and do not wish to change your vote, your vote will be cast as previously instructed and no further action is required. The virtual meeting website will also allow you to submit questions for the question and answer session following the formal business of the meeting. Since the company was not notified of the intention of any stockholder to nominate a director or to present a motion at this annual meeting in accordance with the bylaws of the company, the only nominees for director who may properly be nominated at this meeting and the only matters which may properly come before this meeting are those nominees and matters set forth in notice of annual meeting.
As indicated in the proxy statement that accompanies the notice of annual meeting, three members of the Board of Directors are to be elected by the holders of common stock. The Board has nominated George L. Fotides, D. Craig Owens and Doctor. Joanne C.
Smith to serve as directors until the twenty twenty three Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The remaining items of business are as follows: the proposal to approve the resolution on executive compensation, the proposal to approve an amendment to the 2018 equity incentive plan, and the proposal to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. The Inspector of Election has recorded the proxies executed in advance of this meeting and will record all votes received electronically at the meeting today. If you have not yet voted, please do so now online by logging into the meeting website as a stockholder and clicking the link provided on your screen since we will be closing the polls at this time. Now that everyone has had an opportunity to vote, polls are now closed for voting on all matters.
Based on a preliminary count of the votes, the inspector of election has certified that each of the three nominees for director has received the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast, present via webcast or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on the election of directors. The proposals to approve the resolution on executive compensation, to approve an amendment to the 2018 equity incentive plan, and to ratify the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm for 2020 have received the affirmative vote of a majority of shares of common stock present via webcast or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on each such matter.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have heard the report of the inspector of election, whereas the necessary votes have been cast in favor of the election of each of the nominees for director and in favor of each of the proposals. I hereby declare one, that each George L. Fortitis, B. Craig Owens, and Doctor. Joanne C.
Smith has been duly elected to serve as a director of ABDA Group Incorporated until the twenty twenty three annual meeting of stockholders. Two, that resolution on executive compensation has been duly approved. Three, the proposal to approve an amendment to the 2018 equity incentive plan has been duly approved. And four, that the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm for 2020 has been duly ratified. The inspector will furnish a written report to the final vote count with respect to the election of directors, the approval of the resolution on executive compensation, the approval of the amendment to the 2018 equity incentive plan, and the ratification of the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm for 2020, which report shall be included in the minutes of this meeting.
Since there is no further business to come before this meeting, the meeting is adjourned. I will now share an overview of the business. I would like to briefly share our safe harbor language. Please refer to our reports filed with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could impact future results. Now turning to slide three, I will start by sharing an update on COVID-nineteen as it relates to our company.
Our facilities are open and operating, albeit some at reduced capacity. Aptar is an essential supply chain partner supporting industries such as pharmaceuticals, consumer products, food, and healthcare. All industries identified as critical by the US Department of Homeland Security, and by most other governments in the 20 countries in which we operate. On slide four, you will see about a sample of our global solutions, which are critical to society during this time. Our drug delivery, dispensing, sealing, and active packaging solutions can be found on a number of medicines, sanitizers, cleaners, food and beverage products.
We have great pride in what we do, and our customers have expressed their immense gratitude for all of our people's efforts during this time. Now turning to an update on the business. Aptar is a company with over seventy years of experience, a deep entrepreneurial spirit, a culture of innovation, a strategy that can be adapted to the changing times, and an ever evolving geographic presence. This slide highlights our broad product portfolio, diverse customer base as a partner to many of the world's leading brands, along with the many markets we serve and regions in which we operate. This broad diversification is one of Aptar's great strengths.
Slide six highlights our board of directors, which is comprised of multicultural, experienced, and diverse professionals who come from a wide variety of backgrounds across three continents. 50% of our board has been renewed in the past five years. Today, our board of directors is comprised of 40% women leaders, and all board committees are shared by women. Turning to slide seven. 2019 was an exciting year for our great company, and we are extremely proud to be recognized by two US national publications for our efforts to make Aptera an even more sustainable, truly global, and inclusive company.
Aptar was named one of the top 100 most sustainable US companies for 2019 and 2020 by Barron's. And one of America's most responsible companies for 2020 by Newsweek. Slide eight now shows our long term financial targets that are still valid and have not changed. Turning to slide nine, for the 2020, core sales excluding currency and acquisition effects declined 2% due to passing through of lower resin costs and COVID-nineteen related impacts. First quarter adjusted earnings per share totaled $0.93 Turning now to slide 10.
We continue to execute our strategic priorities in parallel with our near term actions related to COVID-nineteen. To advance our capabilities and reach in Asia, we completed our strategic equity investment in BTY, a leading manufacturer of metal and decorative accessories for the beauty market. We entered into a partnership with digital platform provider Sunmo to bring to market new connected platforms for respiratory related therapies. We also completed the acquisition of FusionPKG, adding agile concept to launch and turnkey capabilities for the North American beauty market. While we invest for the long term in high growth areas of our beauty business, we remain committed to bring our transformation initiatives over the finish line with our goal to reach our long term EBITDA margin target range.
We also continue to work towards a circular economy where most packaging is reused and recycled. We are exploring opportunities for sustainable resins and collaborating with customers on refillable products. And finally, we continue to seek new applications for our material science active packaging solutions, and have invested in growing our service platforms. Our balance sheet remains one
of the
strongest, least leveraged in the industry. And with our ability to generate consistent cash flow, we are able to continue to return value to shareholders with this balanced approach. As shown on Slide 11, we continue to invest in our business through recent acquisitions and partnerships. The current dividend policy is fully intact. We will however temporarily pause our share repurchasing program as a precautionary measure
The next slide speaks to the steps we are taking to lead in gender diversity and equality in the workplace, by enabling a diverse workforce, and nurturing an inclusive and welcoming culture. ABTAR is included in the SPIDER SSGA Gender Diversity Index, an exchange traded fund, ticker symbol she. We have also set and are working toward the following goals. Women leaders to account for 30% of our leadership team, that is VP level and above, by 2025. And of course, all of Aptar's leadership teams will complete diversity and inclusion training by the end of this year.
In closing, I would like to leave you with a few key takeaways. We are very proud to live up to our purpose and responsibility to society, especially in these times. Most of the products and solutions we make at Aptar play an important role in everyday life, maybe now more than ever. I continue to have great confidence in our opportunities for growth and long term value creation. We have a broad portfolio of innovative and differentiating solutions that serve diverse and attractive end markets, regions and customers.
We have weathered severe recessions in the past, and we will navigate the current challenging conditions with our strong balance sheet, cash flow generation ability, cost containment focus and commitment to our customers. It is my pleasure now to begin the Q and A session. As a reminder, you may submit questions by logging into the meeting website as a stockholder, and entering your question in the text body that appears on the meeting screen. We will attempt to answer as many questions in accordance with the meeting rules of procedure as time allows. Again, as a reminder, you may submit questions by logging into the meeting website as a stockholder and entering your question in the text body that appears on the meeting screen.
We have no further questions from our stockholders. So that concludes the question and answer portion of the meeting. I want to close by thanking everybody who participated in the virtual meeting, and those stockholders who submitted questions in our roadshows. And everybody have a great day. With that, I turn it back to the operator.
Thank you for participating in today's annual meeting. You may now disconnect. The moderator has ended the conference. Goodbye. Thank you for calling.