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Dive Brief:
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Bayer CEO Bill Anderson is asking investors to bear with the German conglomerate through one more challenging year before a turnaround effort starts showing significant results.
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The company on Wednesday reported a net loss of 2.55 billion euros, or 2.60 euros a share, in 2024 on sales of 46.6 billion euros, or about $50 billion. Currency exchange rates hurt the company’s results, Bayer said. In 2023, Bayer reported a net loss of 2.94 billion euros, or 2.99 euros a share, on revenue of 47.6 billion euros.
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Next year will be “difficult in terms of financial performance,” with sales little changed from 2024 and earnings and cash flow falling behind the previous year, Anderson said in prepared remarks. “We see an improved trajectory starting in 2026.”
Dive Insight:
Bayer has been around since 1863, growing from a two-man partnership focused on making dyes to one of the largest players in pharmaceuticals, consumer health and crop science. But the company’s shares have been in steady decline for almost eight years amid sluggish financial results.
Anderson became CEO in 2023 promising a “radical realignment” of Bayer’s internal culture that would shed layers of bureaucracy and make the company more nimble and profitable. In the latest earnings announcement, he said the company would be adding profitability at the crop science division to its list of focus areas along with a five-year plan to improve earnings.
The outlook boosted Bayer’s American depositary receipts, which rose more than 6%, to $6.60 apiece, in early trading Wednesday. They have gradually been recovering from a sharp drop in November, when Bayer lowered 2025 earnings guidance. The ADRs traded above $33 in October 2017.
Anderson has so far resisted calls to shed any of the company’s main business units, as rivals such as Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson and Novartis have done. “We have three great businesses, with attractive long-term prospects,” Anderson said Wednesday. “We expect them to compete at the forefront of their fields. Whenever that’s not the case, we’re going to take action.”
In pharmaceuticals, Bayer is fighting through the expiration of patent protection for Xarelto, but Anderson said the company is “rejuvenating” its pipeline and expects to soon reap the rewards of that effort. Growth in the unit should return in 2027, with margins starting to expand in 2028, Anderson said.