2015 was a very successful year for the Bayer Group both strategically and operationally, company representatives said at its annual stockholders’ meeting today in Cologne, Germany.
“We have undertaken all the necessary steps to transform Bayer into a pure life science company,” said management board chairman Marijn Dekkers. “We successfully floated our plastics activities on the stock market in a difficult market environment. The life sciences are now our core business.”
At the same time, 2015 was another record year for Bayer in operational terms, Dekkers said. Bayer would like the stockholders to participate in this success with a dividend of EUR 2.50 for 2015 (2014: EUR 2.25) per share. Dekkers expressed his confidence about the company’s further development, stressing: “Innovation is the future of Bayer.”
Sales of the Bayer Group increased by 12.1 percent last year to an all-time high of EUR 46.3 billion. Adjusted for exchange rate shifts and portfolio changes (Fx & portfolio adj.), the increase was 2.7 percent. Bayer also achieved new records in terms of earnings. EBIT climbed by 15.8 percent to EUR 6.3 billion and EBITDA before special items by 18.2 percent to EUR 10.3 billion. Core earnings per share from continuing operations advanced by 16.0 percent to EUR 6.83.
Bayer is growing on a very solid foundation, Dekkers explained. To make sure it stays that way, he said, the company has further increased its investment in the future and spent around EUR 4.3 billion on research and development in 2015. That was EUR 740 million more than in the previous year. “In this way we are expanding our innovation strength – and thus safeguarding the basis for future growth,” said the Management Board Chairman.
Sales in the agricultural business (Crop Science) improved, gaining 1.7 percent to EUR 10.4 billion. “We thus grew faster than the average achieved by our most important competitors in a difficult market environment,” emphasized Dekkers.
The Bayer chairman said the company’s employees had made a significant contribution to its success. “It is our employees who invent new molecules. It is they who manufacture our new products. And it is they who attract new customers. They make our success possible in the first place,” said Dekkers. “I would like to sincerely thank our employees for their commitment.” Employee bonuses for the past fiscal year totaled around EUR 1.1 billion, which Dekkers also described as a new record for Bayer.
Dekkers reported that Bayer had also gotten off to a successful start in the new fiscal year. Bayer increased sales by 0.5 percent to EUR 11.9 billion. Clean EBITDA advanced by 15.7 percent to EUR 3.4 billion. “All Life Science segments succeeded in improving their operating performance,” said Dekkers. According to the Bayer CEO, the company has confirmed its outlook in view of this successful start.
