Gerresheimer ETR: GXI reported a sequential improvement in preliminary second-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted EBITDA rising more than 50% from the first quarter as operational initiatives began to contribute across all three business segments.
Second-quarter revenue totaled €578 million, up from €523 million in the first quarter but down from €614 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA increased to €102 million from €67 million in the preceding quarter, while declining €20 million year over year. CFO Wolf Lehmann said the quarter’s recovery was in line with management’s expectations and supported the company’s view that it can finish within its full-year guidance range.
“All three segments contributed positively” to the quarter-over-quarter EBITDA improvement, Lehmann said. The company expects the second half of 2026 to be stronger than the first half, although it did not provide quarterly guidance.
Guidance and Portfolio Changes
Gerresheimer reaffirmed guidance for organic revenue in the lower half of a €2.3 billion to €2.4 billion range, an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 17% to 18%, and free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions of negative €50 million to negative €100 million. Management noted that its guidance is stated before M&A and normalized for foreign-exchange effects.
The company is pursuing the sales of Centor and its Primary Packaging Plastics business, transactions it said are central to reducing its debt burden and reshaping the group around higher-value packaging and drug-delivery products. The two businesses have a combined enterprise value of about €1.5 billion.
- Centor is in the final stages of preparations for closing, which Gerresheimer expects in October 2026.
- The Primary Packaging Plastics transaction remains targeted for completion in the first half of 2027.
- Gerresheimer intends to use the proceeds to reduce debt and subsequently refinance the remaining debt under a new long-term capital structure.
Lehmann said the company is working toward leverage of around or below three times net debt to EBITDA. Net financial debt stood at slightly more than €2 billion at the end of the quarter, while liquidity was €249 million. Under its stabilization agreement with financing partners, Gerresheimer has no debt covenant through November.
Centor has been classified as held for sale under IFRS 5. During the first six months of 2026, it contributed €97.6 million in revenue and €33.6 million in adjusted EBITDA, while free cash flow was slightly negative at €7.3 million. Lehmann attributed the negative cash flow primarily to continued growth investments and seasonal factors.
Segment Performance
Containment & Delivery Systems continued to grow in the second quarter. Revenue reached €308 million, supported mainly by the ramp-up of Gerresheimer’s Peachtree City, Georgia, facility. Adjusted EBITDA rose to €74 million, producing a margin of nearly 24%.
Management said Primary Packaging Plastics was broadly stable, while Centor was affected by foreign-exchange movements and higher input costs. Those pressures were more than offset by Medical Device Systems, where growing production volumes and efficiency measures supported earnings.
Primary Injectable Solutions remained below the prior-year level, reflecting lower sales in Syringe Systems and Tubular Glass, including lower demand for bulk vials. However, revenue increased by about €10 million from the first quarter and adjusted EBITDA nearly doubled sequentially.
Management said the syringe business remains intact despite timing effects that can affect individual quarters, and it expects the business to grow on a full-year basis. Achim Schalk, a member of the management board, also said Gerresheimer continues to have contracts containing take-or-pay clauses related to its GLP-1 franchise. The company had previously cited a target of about €350 million in annual GLP-1-related revenue across its business units and segments.
In Tubular Glass, Gerresheimer is restructuring its European operations through operational-excellence measures, footprint optimization and SG&A efficiencies. Schalk said the U.S. tubular market is healthier and that the company is working to fill capacity it has added there. The company is also reviewing the use of facilities in Asia, including India and China, which it said have stronger cost positions.
Moulded Glass Recovery and Transformation Program
Moulded Glass revenue was broadly stable from a year earlier and rose about €21 million from the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA improved to €25 million from €8 million in the first quarter, aided by higher utilization and a gradual normalization after inventory-reduction measures earlier in the year.
Lehmann said roughly two-thirds of the €17 million sequential EBITDA improvement came from higher sales or volumes, with the remainder coming from improved cost leverage and capacity utilization. He described the business as operating at an annualized EBITDA run rate of roughly €80 million and said the objective is to return it to €100 million and beyond.
The company completed the shutdown of the furnace at its Chicago Heights Moulded Glass plant during the quarter. Customer qualification and transfer activities to facilities including those in Italy and India remain underway. Gerresheimer intends to improve the performance and structure of Moulded Glass before pursuing a future divestiture.
Its Gerresheimer Transformation Offensive targets €50 million to €70 million of annualized EBITDA improvement through the end of 2027, with the full run-rate benefit expected from 2028. The program includes plant-footprint rationalization, operational improvements and SG&A reductions. Management said it is targeting more than a 20% year-over-year reduction in SG&A costs heading into 2027.
Cash Flow, Reporting and Energy Costs
Free cash flow before M&A was negative €92 million in the second quarter. Management attributed the result largely to working-capital movements, including about €60 million related to lower payables after reverse-factoring lines were no longer available because of the company’s lower credit rating. Higher receivables also reflected the quarter-over-quarter sales increase.
Net capital expenditures fell to €38 million, down about 35% from the prior year, as the company maintained tighter capital-allocation discipline. About 60% of capital spending was directed toward growth initiatives, according to management.
Gerresheimer also said it had completed quarterly allocations related to previously communicated full-year 2025 adjustments. For the second quarter of 2025, adjusted revenue increased by €13 million and adjusted EBITDA increased by €7 million versus previously uncorrected figures. The company said the BaFin investigation remains ongoing and that it continues to cooperate with authorities.
The company expects to publish its first-half 2026 financial report at the end of November and aims to return to the legally required reporting timetable with its 2026 annual report in March 2027.
About Gerresheimer (ETR:GXI)
Gerresheimer AG, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells medicine packaging, drug delivery devices, and solutions in Germany and internationally. It operates through three divisions: Plastics & Devices, Primary Packaging Glass, and Advanced Technologies. The company offers prefillable syringes, plastic and glass packaging solutions, vials, glass cartridges and ampoules, bottles and containers, and glass bottles and jars, as well as caps, closures, applicators, and accessories; development, industrialization and contract manufacturing of drug delivery programs; project and quality management; and drug delivery systems, including inhalers, injection/auto injectors, pen injectors, infusion systems, and inhalation assessment, autoinjector, and other services.
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