MADRID, 4 years ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
German chemicals and pharmaceuticals group Bayer posted a net profit of 2,993 million euros in the first half of 2022, against the “red figures” of 246 million recorded in the first half of last year, the multinational reported , which has revised upwards its forecast for the full year.
Bayer’s first-of-the-year sales reached 27.458 million euros, 18.4% more than the same period of 2021, including a 27.8% increase in revenue from the agricultural activity (CropScience), up to 14.908 million, while the pharmaceutical field increased its sales by 6.6%, to 9,442 million. The non-prescription drugs business billed 18.3% more, to 3,008 million.
Between January and June, the Leverkusen giant assumed an extraordinary negative impact of 2,071 million euros, compared to 3,886 million euros in the first half of 2021, including impairments of intangible assets in the Crop Science division and additional provisions as part of negotiations in the United States to resolve an ongoing case, which involves Monsanto legacy products.
Thus, the German company’s adjusted gross operating income (Ebitda) between January and June reached 8,600 million euros, or 28.5% more than the figure corresponding to the first half of 2021.
In the second quarter of the year, Bayer recorded losses of 298 million euros compared to the negative result of 2,335 million euros recorded between April and June 2021, after assuming a negative impact of 2,111 million euros due to atypical.
For its part, the German company’s sales between April and June increased by 18.1% or 9.6% discounting the impact of the exchange rate, up to 12,819 million euros.
“We delivered a strong operational performance,” said Werner Baumann, Chairman of Bayer’s Board of Directors. “Given our strong business performance and higher growth expectations, we have raised our guidance for the full year,” he added.
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In this way, the multinational now expects to generate sales of between 47,000 and 48,000 million euros in 2022, compared to the previous forecast of 46,000 million, which corresponds to an increase of approximately 8%, compared to the Previous 5%, on a basis. adjusted for exchange rate and portfolio.
Similarly, Bayer expects to achieve an Ebitda before outliers margin of around 26% to 27%, compared to previously expecting around 26%, with an Ebitda before outliers of around 12, 5 billion euros, compared to the previous forecast of around 12.5 billion euros. billion.
Bayer’s basic earnings per share are also expected to be around €7.30, down from around €7 previously, with free cash flow around €2.5 billion, down from €2 billion previously. .
As for the net financial debt at the end of the year, the company calculates that it will be between 33,000 and 34,000 million euros without taking into account the contractually agreed disposal of the Environmental Science Professional business.
On the other hand, the Bayer chairman pointed out that the company currently sees no significant financial impact in 2022 from potential gas supply bottlenecks as a result of the war in Ukraine.
In this regard, he pointed out that Bayer has taken steps to ensure that the direct impact of any potential gas shortages on its own production capacities this year is contained to the greatest extent possible.
“From a technical perspective, we are well prepared to significantly reduce our dependence on natural gas by switching to alternative and renewable energy sources. We have also launched energy conservation programs and increased our inventories of products as far as possible,” he said.
However, he acknowledged the higher degree of uncertainty associated with the company’s indirect exposure through its global supplier network as Bayer expands its supplier network and builds additional inventory of key raw materials.