Thanks a lot - that works. I was under impression that PasteSpecial needs to be called on source range and not target one. As an added bonus I can now preserve BOTH formulas and column width:

foreach $tab_idx (1..3) {
   $wsheet_out = $wbook_out->Worksheets($tab_idx);
   $wsheet_out->{Name} = $tab_names[$tab_idx - 1];
    
   $range->Copy();
   #to preserve formulas and column widths
   my $range_out = $wsheet_out->Range($wsheet_out->Cells(1,1), $wsheet
+_out->Cells(1,1));
   $range_out->PasteSpecial({Paste => $xlPasteFormulas});
   $range_out->PasteSpecial({Paste => $xlPasteColumnWidths});
   $wsheet_out->Paste();
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