Profit soars, sales drop in fourth quarter for German pharma Bayer

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG reported on Tuesday that it had seen a surge in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year based on a decline in costs and expenses, but sales fell over the same period.

Looking forward the company expects revenue that is lower than last year's.

For the fourth-quarter, Bayer reported a net income of €1.337 billion ($1.451 billion), or €1.36 per share, higher than €611 million, or €0.62 per share, reported for the same period last year.

Core earnings per share were up €1.85, from last year's €1.35 per share.

Pre-tax profit stood at €1.644 billion as against €870 million in 2022.

Earnings before interest, taxes (EBIT) were at €2.189 billion, higher than the previous year's €1.432 billion.

Excluding special items, EBIT was €1.942 billion, compared with €1.453 billion a year ago.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) before special items was at €3.023 billion as against €2.462 billion in 2022.

Research and development expenses dropped to €1.070 billion from €1.614 billion a year ago.

Selling expenses moved down to €2.839 billion from the previous year's €3.706 billion.

Cost of goods sold was at €4.486 billion, compared with €4.768 billion in 2022.

Sales were €11.862 billion, down from €12 billion last year.

For the full year, the company will pay a dividend of €0.11 per share, less than the previous year's €2.40 per share.

Looking ahead, for the full year, the group expects core earnings per share of €5.10 to €5.50, with EBITDA before special items of €10.7 billion to €11.3 billion, on sales of €47 billion to €49 billion.

For the full year 2023, Bayer recorded core earnings per share of €6.39, with EBITDA before special items of €11.706 billion, on sales of €47.637 billion.