Bayer's 2nd-qtr beats expectations, helped by Xarelto and currencies

German life sciences major Bayer (BAYN: DE) posted strong second-quarter 2015 financials this morning, revealing that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) climbed 33.2% to 2.9 billion euros ($3.18 billion), helped by currencies and beating the 2.7 billion-euro average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Bayer’s shares gained 4.8% to 136.15 euros by mid-morning trading, giving it a market capitalization of around 112.6 billion euros.

Net profit grew to 1.15 billion euros, in line with Wall Street expectations. Group sales leapt 18.2% to 12.09 billion euros. Sales of the Bayer Healthcare unit leapt 28% to 5.9 billion euros, with a stellar showing from the blood thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban) and the recent acquisition of US pharma major Merck & Co’s over-the-counter (OTC) medicines business.

"All three subgroups contributed to the gratifying improvement in earnings," said Bayer chief executive Marijn Dekkers, expressing his continued optimism for the year as a whole: "We are confirming our group forecast for the operational performance of continuing operations."