German chemicals group Bayer faces another difficult year

German pharmaceutical and agrochemical company „Bayer“, which saw its profits shrink again in 2024, is facing another difficult year and its financial performance is likely to remain poor, its chief executive warned on Wednesday. Still, CEO Bill Anderson noted that he expects to lead the company out of the impasse.

By 2026, „Bayer“'s performance should start to improve – primarily due to restructuring, Anderson said. In addition, a multi-year programme has been launched to revive the agricultural business, which has been hit hard by lawsuits in the United States attacking the group's agricultural pesticides such as glyphosate and PCBs.

B. Anderson hopes that the risk of these lawsuits, most of which are related to the weed killer „Roundup“ marketed by the agrochemical giant „Monsanto“ (acquired by Bayer“ in 2018), will be managed.

All „Bayer“ businesses' adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) contracted by 13.5% to €10.1 billion in 2024, partly due to the decline in pesticide prices and currency effects.

Further declines in the value of the agriculture business led „Bayer“ to a renewed loss of – €2.55 billion. A year ago, „Bayer“ made a loss of €2.94 billion. Sales in 2024 fell 2.2% to €46.6 billion.

In 2025, „Bayer“ expects sales of €45-47 billion adjusted for currency effects. The company expects adjusted EBITDA, including currency effects, to decline to between €9.3 billion and €9.8 billion.