Oman Daily Observer

Bayer profits soar in 2017

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FRANKFURT: German chemicals and pharmaceut­icals giant Bayer said on Wednesday that its profits soared 2017 and it is confident the planned mega-merger with US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto will go ahead this year.

Net profit at the Leverkusen-based maker of Aspirin jumped 62 per cent to 7.3 billion euros ($8.9 billion) last year.

Operating, or underlying profit grew 2.9 per cent to 5.9 billion euros on the back of almost flat revenues at 35 billion euros.

“2017 was a year of ups and downs on the operative level,” Chief Executive Werner Baumann said, pointing to unfavourab­le currency effects and unplanned costs, including some related to the Monsanto merger, that burdened the operating result.

Neverthele­ss, “we have made a lot of progress towards the planned Monsanto takeover,” Baumann added.

If the $66 billion tie-up goes ahead, it will be the largest in German corporate history. The deal has already been approved by more than half of the regulatory authoritie­s around the world that need to give it a green light, Bayer said.

But one of the weightiest competitio­n watchdogs, the European Commission, has yet to do so.

Bayer has now pushed back the date by which it hopes to complete the deal from early 2018 to some time between April and June.

Meanwhile, revenues and profits fell for both over-the-counter medicines and the agrochemic­al business. — AFP

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