Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the AptarGroup Annual Meeting. I will now turn it over to the President and CEO, Stephan Tanda. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the annual meeting of stockholders of AptarGroup Inc. I'm Stephan Tanda, a director and president and chief executive officer of the company. I am acting as Chairman of this meeting. To increase access for all of our stockholders, 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 this meeting. I want to highlight that after nearly 10 years as president and CEO, I have decided to retire.
Gael Touya, an Aptar leader with more than 30 years at the company and currently President of Aptar Pharma, will become President and CEO on September 1, 2026. I will continue in my role until then and stay on as an advisor through year-end to support a smooth transition. I also expect to retire from the board at the end of the year, and the board expects to appoint Gael as a director on September 1, 2026. I would like to welcome Gael to say a few words.
Thank you, Stephan. I'm pleased to join the annual meeting today. I'm privileged to step into this role on September 1st. Aptar has been my professional home for more than 30 years, and I'm so energized by the opportunity to help shape the company's future alongside our global teams. I deeply want to thank Stephan for his outstanding leadership and the foundation he has built for our continued success.
Thank you, Gael. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome members of our Board of Directors who are in attendance at today's meeting. Also in attendance is Irene Hudson, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary of the company. She's acting as secretary of this meeting. Also joining us today is Vanessa Kanu, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the company, and Mary Scafidas, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Communications. I would also like to introduce Molly Selby and Rachel Treinen of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's independent accountants. Ms. Selby and Ms. Treinen 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. I am Irene Hudson, Chief Legal Officer and 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 March 13, 2026 as the record date for this meeting. As Secretary, I also have a record of stockholders as of that date, which has been made available for inspection by stockholders. The company has appointed Louis Larsen as Broadridge's Representative to act as Inspector of Election for the meeting.
I have been advised by the inspector of election that no less than the 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 have been open since the beginning of this meeting for voting on all matters to be considered at the 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 through 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 also allows 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 the notice of annual meeting. As indicated in the proxy statement that accompanied the notice of annual meeting, four members of the board of directors are to be elected by the holders of common stock.
The board has nominated George L. Fotiades, Candace Matthews, B. Craig Owens, and Julie Xing to serve as directors until the 2029 annual meeting of stockholders. The remaining items of business are as follows. One, the proposal to approve on an advisory basis Aptar's executive compensation. And two, the proposal to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026. 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 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 the opportunity to vote, the 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 four nominees for director has received the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast, present virtually via webcast or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on the election of directors. The proposals to approve on an advisory basis after its executive compensation and to ratify the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm for 2026 have received the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares of common stock present virtually via webcast or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on each such matter.
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 George L. Fotiades, Candace Matthews, B. Craig Owens, and Julie Xing each have been duly elected to serve as a director of AptarGroup, Inc. until the 2029 annual meeting of stockholders. Two, that Aptar's executive compensation has been duly approved on an advisory basis. Three, that the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm for 2026 has been duly ratified. The inspector will furnish a written report of the final vote count with respect to the election of directors and approval of each of the other proposals, which report shall be included in the minutes of the meeting.
Since there is no further business to come before this meeting, the meeting is adjourned. And I will share an overview of our business and recent results. I would like to briefly share our safe harbor language. Our business review may contain forward-looking statements. We remind you that our actual results can differ materially. Please refer to our reports filed with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could impact future results. Additionally, I would like to remind you that during this presentation, I will discuss some non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is included in our reports filed with the SEC and available on our website. Now turning to the next slide, I will share some of the many highlights from 2025.
A year driven by our purpose, we innovate and transform ideas into solutions that improve everyday life. Our technologies deliver medications that treat chronic diseases, bring convenience and security to consumers, and we continually work to make our solutions more recyclable, reusable, and sustainable. For 80 years now, we have been combining product design, engineering, and science to create core differentiating technologies intended to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. In 2025, our reported sales increased 5% to $3.8 billion compared to $3.6 billion in the prior year. Core sales were up 2%, reflecting steady demand across key product categories. We returned $486 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. 2025 also marked our 32nd consecutive year of paying an annually increasing dividend.
Turning to our segments performance, we continue to be very excited about the strength and diversity of our Pharma pipeline, backed by a growing number of systemic nasal drug delivery projects and a higher participation in injectable projects, including projects for GLP-1 and NX-1. Our Pharma segments reported sales grew 6% in 2025 to $1.74 billion on strong demand for emergency medicine and central nervous system products and higher royalties. In our Beauty segment, reported sales increased 7% in 2025 to $1.31 billion, with currency and acquisitions contributing positively and core sales showing modest growth. In our Closures segment, reported sales grew 2% in 2025 to $730.3 million, including a currency benefit and core sales growth slightly.
Turning to capital allocation, we have focused on preferably investing in our higher returning and faster-growing businesses, especially Pharma. We remain committed to returning capital to shareholders consistent with our capital allocation framework. Over the last five years, we have returned $1.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Investing in our businesses and making acquisitions is how we create value for our shareholders first and foremost. The next slide highlights our reported results for the first quarter of 2026. Reported sales increased 11% and core sales, which adjust for currency effects and acquisitions, were flat compared to the prior year. We have become an academy company in our industry in terms of sustainability. Our consumer-facing customers, including consumer healthcare, are very keen on upping their sustainability credentials by working with us.
Focusing on safety and employee engagement. Our goal of zero injuries continues to be the top priority. During the year, we further strengthened our leadership development portfolio through continued expansion of our award-winning Corporate University. Our commitment to our communities is reflected in our charitable giving, volunteerism, and ongoing participation in local initiatives. The next slide shows the composition of our board of directors who have experience and knowledge across each of our focused end markets to help ensure robust governance and responsible business practices that support our long-term growth and resilience. Our long-term financial targets remain the same and include a profitability target of 21%-23% of adjusted EBITDA margin and a core sales growth target for overall Aptar of 4%-7%. In closing, 2025 was a strong year, and we are well-positioned for broad-based growth across all three of our segments.
We intend to continue to execute on a rigorous productivity roadmap to address the short-term headwinds and to further drive efficiencies across our operations and supply chain networks as well as SG&A. Our strong balance sheet helps to give us the ability to both invest in the future and return capital to shareholders while also retaining strategic flexibility to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise. Our board and our executive committee look forward to continuing this progress in 2026, and we thank you for your continued interest in Aptar. It is my pleasure now to begin the question-and-answer session. As a reminder, you may submit questions by logging into the meeting website as a stockholder and entering your question in the text box 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.
Thank you, Stephan. This is Mary Scafidas here. There are no questions from our shareholders at this time. That concludes the question and answer portion of the meeting. Back over to you, Stephan.
Thank you, everyone, for attending the meeting. There not being any questions, I want to close by thanking everyone who participated in the virtual meeting. Have a great day.