Bayer Reports Second-Quarter Earnings

By Cecilia Butini

Bayer, the German pharmaceutical and agricultural company, has released its second-quarter earnings. Here are the key details:

Sales

• Sales for the quarter amounted to 11.04 billion euros ($12.15 billion), compared to EUR12.82 billion in the same period last year.
• Preliminary figures released last month were in line with this result.
• Analysts surveyed by FactSet had predicted sales of EUR11.60 billion.

EBITDA Before Special Items

• Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization before special items (EBITDA) were EUR2.53 billion.
• This figure aligns with the prerelease and represents a decrease from EUR3.35 billion in the previous year.
• Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected EUR2.46 billion.

Key Focus Areas:

Crop Science

• The agricultural business at Bayer experienced significant declines in results.
• The company recorded impairment losses of EUR2.30 billion for this unit.
• Bayer has revised its guidance for the division, projecting a 5% decrease in sales for 2023.
• Citi analyst Peter Verdult notes that the main reason for this revision is the prices of glyphosate, but expects volume recovery and increased market prices for the weedkiller substance in the second half of the year.

Pharma

• Bayer expects flat sales for its pharmaceutical business by the end of the year, instead of the previously anticipated 1% increase.
• Although the pharma business contributed to the downward revision of company guidance, there were no significant updates on the company's pharma pipeline according to Citi's Verdult.

Guidance

• Bayer had already revised its guidance on July 24 due to declining herbicide sales.
• The company reiterated this guidance on Tuesday, providing additional details about its divisions.
• Deutsche Bank analysts note that the new guidance is 3% below consensus on adjusted EBITDA and 5% below consensus on adjusted EPS.