Bayer faces profit slump, cuts thousands of jobs

BERLIN, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — Bayer’s quarterly report released on Tuesday revealed that the German pharmaceutical and agribusiness giant is facing a profit decline amid ongoing restructuring efforts.
Despite a slight increase in sales to 11.1 billion euros (12.12 billion U.S. dollars), earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) before special items slumped by 16.5 percent to 2.1 billion euros in the second quarter.
Bayer announced that its net loss for the second quarter was reduced to 34 million euros, compared to a loss of 1.89 billion euros in the same period last year.
According to the report, the group’s agricultural division in particular is showing weaknesses. EBITDA before special items at Crop Science decreased by 27.7 percent to 524 million euros.
As of the end of the second quarter, Bayer employed 96,567 people, down from approximately 102,000 a year earlier.
In May, Bayer lowered its annual targets due to increasing currency effects, forecasting an EBITDA before special items between 10.2 billion euros and 10.8 billion euros for full-year 2024, compared to 11.7 billion euros in the previous year. The company reaffirmed the targets on Tuesday, with its CEO Bill Anderson saying, “We are well on track to achieve our targets.” (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollar) ■