Bayer's First Quarter Is Perceived As Disappointing

Despite improvements in earnings and sales, Bayer of Germany'sperformance in the first quarter of 1997 has been received by industry observers as disappointing.

Turnover for the group advanced 8.2% to 13.2 billion Deutschemarks ($7.6 billion), with the main reason for the rise being favorable shifts in exchange rates. Sales growth in local currency terms was 3.5%. Bayer said that intense competitive pressure led to an average 2% reduction in prices compared with the same period last year. Volumes advanced 5.5%.

Group pretax earnings were 1.1 billion marks in the quarter, an increase of 5%. It was noted that at Bayer AG, the "totally unsatisfactory" price trend caused pretax income to decline 4.4% to 650 million marks.