German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG released its second quarter and half year 2024 earnings on Tuesday morning, with the company seeing an average performance in the second quarter, due to the agricultural market environment becoming tougher.
ADVERTISEMENTThis led to the company seeing increased sales, but falling earnings in the second quarter of 2024.
The Bayer Group saw group sales of €11.1bn for the second quarter this year, which was a 3.1% rise on a currency and portfolio-adjusted basis. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items in Q2 2024 was €2.1bn, which was a fall of 16.5%.
Core earnings per share came up to €0.94 in the second quarter of the year, a decline of 23% compared to the second quarter 2023.
For the first half of the year, Bayer recorded group sales of €24,909m, which was an increase of 1% from the first half 2023. Germany sales came up to €1,388m in H1 2024, down from €1,406m in H1 2023.
The Crop Science branch saw a slight hike in sales in Q2 2024, compared to the corresponding quarter last year, boosted mainly because of increased sales of soybean seeds and glyphosate-based herbicides. On the other hand, sales of non-glyphosate-based herbicides struggled.
Pharmaceutical sales also increased during the second quarter, mainly because of increased demand for Bayer’s chronic kidney disease drug Kerendia, its prostate cancer drug Nubeqa and its wet macular degeneration drug Eylea. However, its anticoagulant medication Xarelto saw a drop in sales.
The Consumer Health arm also saw a growth in sales, primarily because of the nutritionals, dermatology and digestive health sections doing well.
Bayer’s chief executive officer Bill Anderson said in a statement: “Our crop science business nearly offset headwinds in a challenging agricultural market environment.
“One of the central commitments we made at capital markets day is that this organisation will consistently perform while simultaneously addressing the longer-term roadblocks holding us back. The 154 days since 5 March have been pretty good evidence that we can do both.
“In just the past 90 days, we’ve taken big steps toward filling the mid-stage pipeline, expanding labels and advancing late-stage assets. Our pharma pipeline is one of our biggest levers for value creation.”
The company also reiterated its group outlook for the full-year 2024, with the crop science branch expected to see currency and portfolio-adjusted sales growth to be between -1% and 3%. The EBITDA margin before special items for this division is expected to be between 20% and 22%.
For the pharmaceuticals arm, the company now expects to see a currency and portfolio-adjusted sales growth of somewhere between 0% and 3%. The previous expectation was between -4% and 0%.
Bayer continues layoffs in the US
Bayer recently announced that it would be laying off a further 70 employees at its US headquarters in Whippany, New Jersey where 90 employees were laid off four months ago.
The layoffs are part of Bayer’s new restructuring plan aimed at cutting bureaucracy and bringing dividends down to the legal minimum level in the next three years.
Back in June this year, the company’s pharmaceutical department revealed to Reuters that it would also continue to cut managerial roles in Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. The department has already downsized significantly in the US, Mexico, Canada, Italy, the Nordic countries and Australia.
ADVERTISEMENTAs reported by Fierce Pharma, Bayer said in an email statement, “We are adopting a new operating model and with it, a new organisational structure. Our new way of working will enable more agility, empower employees to innovate and act, and deepen the focus on our mission.
“Aligned with this shift, we are adjusting our US structure, resulting in some positions being eliminated or redesigned, and a few new roles being created.”
