BERLIN, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Adjusted group sales of Bayer AG in the fiscal year 2019 increased by 3.5 percent to 43.5 billion euros (47.6 billion U.S. dollars), the German chemical and pharmaceutical company announced on Thursday.
At the same time, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) before special items increased by 28.3 percent to 11.5 billion euros, Bayer stated.
"We achieved our financial targets despite coming up against a challenging market environment in the agriculture sector in particular," said Werner Baumann, chairman of the board of management at Bayer.
Bayer's agricultural business Crop Science, including the U.S. agricultural company Monsanto which Bayer had acquired in 2018, saw EBITDA before special items rise by 80.9 percent to 4.8 billion euros with its sales at 19.8 billion euros.
Sales in the agricultural business were particularly driven by insecticides and fungicides. However, Bayer recorded declining sales of soybean seeds and traits, "particularly in North America, where business was held back by a decrease in acreages, strong competition, the weather conditions and ongoing uncertainties due to trade conflicts."
Meanwhile, lawsuits from around 48,600 plaintiffs had been served in the United States in connection with glyphosate, according to Bayer. Following the takeover of Monsanto, lawsuits had been filed by people claiming that Monsanto's glyphosate-based crop protection products would cause cancer.
Bayer reiterated to continue the court-ordered mediation proceedings. The aim was to determine whether a settlement could be reached on "reasonable terms that is structured in a way that will bring this entire series of litigations to a reasonable conclusion," noted the company.
With around 982 million shares entitled to a dividend, the proposed dividend payment in 2019 would amount to 2.8 billion euros. In the fiscal year 2018, the total dividend payment was slightly lower at 2.6 billion euros, according to Bayer.
For 2020, Bayer is forecasting adjusted sales to rise to around 44 billion to 45 billion euros, which would be an increase of 3 to 4 percent. Bayer expects EBITDA to grow to between 12.3 billion and 12.6 billion euros on a currency-adjusted basis.
Following the announcement, shares of Bayer listed in the DAX decreased by more than 1 percent on early trading on Thursday. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollars)
