AptarGroup, Inc. (ATR) has reported an 18.14 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has earned $51.82 million, or $0.81 a share in the quarter, compared with $43.86 million, or $0.67 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $51.82 million, or $0.81 a share compared with $48.53 million or $0.74 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 3.26 percent to $601.32 million from $582.34 million in the previous year period. Total expenses were 87.11 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 88.11 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 101 basis points in operating margin to 12.89 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $77.54 million, compared with $69.23 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $114.74 million compared with $111.96 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 14 basis points in the quarter to 19.08 percent from 19.23 percent in the last year period.

Commenting on the quarter, Stephan Tanda, president and chief executive officer, said, "We are pleased to report core sales growth after a challenging second half of 2016. The diversity of our business continues to be a key strength. Our Pharma segment had an excellent quarter with growth across all three of its markets. The destocking effect that we saw at the end of 2016 appears to be over and we saw more normalized order levels in the prescription market and strong demand in the consumer health care market for decongestants and ophthalmics."

For the second-quarter 2017, AptarGroup, Inc. expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.92 to $0.97. On an adjusted basis, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.92 to $0.97.