Bayer Healthcare boosted by new drugs, but group EBITDA barely changed

Germany’s Bayer (BAYN: DE) saw its shares dip 1.3% to 79.60 euros in early trading this morning, as the company released first-quarter 2013 financial results, showing that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and special items (EBITDA) increased just 0.4% to 2.45 billion euros ($3.19 billion), falling short of the 2.55 billion-euro average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Group sales rose 2.1% to 10.27 billion euros. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects (Fx & portfolio adj), the business expanded 3.7%. Net income increased 12% to 1.16 billion euros, while core earnings per share rose 1.8% to 1.70 euros. Earnings before interest and taxes grew 8.6% to 1.77 billion euros. Special items, which in the first quarter of 2013 resulted entirely from restructuring, amounted to costs of 45 million euros. EBIT before special items came in at 1.82 billion euros, up 0.9%.

New pharmaceutical products spurred growth at HealthCare division, and there was continuing strong development at CropScience, but MaterialScience business saw cost pressure, the company said. The gain in the Emerging Markets, at 6.8% (Fx adj), was nearly three times larger than in the industrialized countries (Fx adj plus 2.5%). Bayer expanded business especially strongly in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the company noted.