Bayer reaffirms 2023 outlook provided on July 24

The company said, “The Bayer Group lowered its outlook for full-year 2023 on July 24, mainly due to a significant further decline in sales of glyphosate-based products. When communicating its first quarter results, Bayer had already guided towards the lower end of the forecast it had previously issued. On a currency-adjusted basis, Bayer now expects to generate sales of between 48.5 and 49.5 billion euros. This now corresponds to a decline of 2 to 3 percent on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis. EBITDA before special items is now expected to come in at 11.3 billion to 11.8 billion euros on a currency-adjusted basis. The company now anticipates core earnings per share of 6.20 to 6.40 euros on a currency-adjusted basis. In addition, it now projects free cash flow of approximately zero euros and net financial debt of approximately 36 billion euros on a currency-adjusted basis. Bayer now expects to take special items of around minus 3.5 billion euros in EBIT after adjusting for currency effects. With respect to the divisions, the company now expects Crop Science sales to fall by around 5 percent year on year and Pharmaceuticals sales to show a roughly 0 percent change against the prior-year level after adjusting for currency and portfolio effects. The currency-adjusted EBITDA margin before special items is now projected to come in at around 21 percent at Crop Science and approximately 28 percent at Pharmaceuticals. The forecast for Consumer Health remains unchanged, with sales growth of roughly 5 percent on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis, and a currency-adjusted EBITDA margin before special items of around 23 percent.”