Bayer sees FY25 sales roughly at prior-year level

Expects EBITDA before special items and core EPS to decline. CEO Bill Anderson said, “We all look forward to being able to pay out a larger dividend to shareholders. However, at last year’s Capital Markets Day, we communicated that Bayer’s (BAYRY) rejuvenation would take two to three years. Since that time, we have seen many positive developments that make us optimistic about our medium- and long-term prospects. One example is our pipeline of new products that will enable future growth. But 2025 will be another challenging year. As communicated in fall, our expectations for sales are fairly modest, and we expect our earnings to decline. However, we plan to counteract this by accelerating our efforts to cut costs and boost efficiency. And we are working hard to continue improving in cash conversion. We are expecting major developments on the litigation front in 2025. In the glyphosate litigation, we will file a petition for review with the US Supreme Court, as we’ve announced previously. We have also made considerable progress in our talks with policymakers at the federal and state level, and legislation has been introduced in Congress and numerous states. These laws would give farmers and manufacturers more legal certainty regarding labeling. We are receiving a great deal of support from farming associations who are concerned about the availability of one essential product, glyphosate. Without reforms, the United States runs the risk of losing a domestically manufactured crop protection tool that has time and again been classified as safe by regulatory authorities all over the world. Last year, we received positive outcomes in six of the eight trials heard in a court of first instance, and are appealing the other verdicts. We will continue to defend ourselves in court, backed by the strong scientific and regulatory consensus. However, we are also prepared to settle when it is in the company’s interest. The same applies for PCBs. Here, too, we could see an important judgment in the coming months, in this case by the Washington Supreme Court. One of the questions at issue is whether punitive damages are even permissible in this state. An important thing to bear in mind in the PCB litigation is that we will continue to fight to ensure that the former customers of Monsanto honor their contractual commitments and shoulder the costs of these legal disputes.”