Bayer Sets New Sales Record In Anniversary Year

The Bayer Group posted a strong fiscal report for 2013, setting a new record in sales and forecasting further growth in sales and earnings for 2014.

Sales of Bayer Group rose by 1.0% in 2013 to EUR 40,157 million compared to 2012’s EUR 39,741 million. Dr. Marijn Dekkers, Management Board Chairman of Bayer Group, said on Friday at the Financial News Conference in Leverkusen, “We met important business objectives in our anniversary year… This is a new record in our company’s 150-year history.” Sales grew by 5.1% when adjusted for currency and portfolio effects.

Net income for the company grew by 32.7% to EUR 3,189 million, while core earnings per share increased by 5.8% to EUR 5.61 compared to 2012’s EUR 5.30. Gross cash flow advanced by 28.0% to EUR 5,832 million, while net cash flow climbed by 14.2% to EUR 5,171 million. Bayer Group also reported that net financial debt fell by EUR 0.3 billion compared to December of last year to EUR 6.7 billion. CFO Werner Baumann explained, “Due to the strong cash flow, we were able to slightly reduce debt despite high capital expenditures and the acquisitions of Conceptus and Steigerwald.”

The group attributed its significant sales gains in the HealthCare subgroup to several recently launched products. These included anticoagulant Xarelto, eye treatment Eylea, and cancer drugs Stivarga and Xofigo, the combined sales of which hit EUR 1,520 million compared to 2012’s EUR 368 million. Pulmonary hypertension medicine Adempas also took off after receiving marketing approval in North America.

“In light of this very positive performance, we have now significantly increased our estimate of the combined peak annual sales potential of these five products to at least EUR 7.5 billion,” said Mr. Dekkers. “We are also optimistic about 2014. We aim to maintain the growth of our recently launched products in the Life Science businesses and improve profitability at Material Science,” he concluded.

Source:

http://press.healthcare.bayer.com/en/press/news-details-page.php/15416/2014-0028