Ahead of the release of its second-quarter 2025 results, scheduled for Wednesday, August 6, Bayer AG is providing an update on key financial data. Thanks to better-than-expected performance in the pharmaceutical business in the first half of the year, Bayer is raising its full-year forecast for sales and earnings, adjusted for currency effects.

On a currency-adjusted basis (i.e., based on average monthly exchange rates for 2024), Bayer now expects group sales of €46–48 billion (previous forecast: €45–47 billion) and EBITDA before special items of €9.7–10.2 billion (previous forecast: €9.5–10.0 billion) for the full year 2025. The company is also raising its forecast for net earnings per share, adjusted for currency effects, to €4.80–5.30 (previous forecast: €4.50–5.00). The free cash flow forecast, adjusted for currency effects, remains unchanged at €1.5–2.5 billion. The company's guidance, adjusted for currency effects, for net financial debt remains unchanged at €31.0–32.0 billion.

For the Pharmaceuticals Division, Bayer now expects sales growth, adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, of between 0% and +3% (previous forecast: -4% to -1%) and an EBITDA margin, adjusted for currency before special items, of between 24% and 26% (previous forecast: 23% to 26%). For Crop Science, the company maintains its previous guidance. For the Consumer Health Division, the company now expects sales growth, adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, at the lower end of the forecast range of +2% to +5%, while the forecast for the EBITDA margin, adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, remains unchanged at 23% and 24%.

Bayer continuously assesses the impact of current geopolitical developments, particularly related to the tariffs imposed by the U.S. government. The currently anticipated financial impacts are included in the updated full-year forecast.

The group expects currency effects to reduce Group revenue by approximately €2 billion, EBITDA before extraordinary items by approximately €500 million, and net earnings per share by approximately €0.35. Regarding net financial debt, the company expects a positive currency impact of €1.2 billion.

Subject to a final data review, Bayer generated Group sales of approximately €10.7 billion in the second quarter of 2025. While the Crop Science division increased sales by 2.2 percent on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis (adjusted for exchange and portfolio effects), the Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health divisions recorded sales in line with the previous year, +0.6 percent and +0.2 percent, respectively (adjusted for exchange and portfolio effects).

Group EBITDA before special items stood at approximately €2.1 billion. At the division level, EBITDA before special items increased to €0.7 billion in Crop Science and decreased to €1.1 billion in Pharmaceuticals. In Consumer Health, EBITDA before special items was slightly above the prior-year level, reaching €0.3 billion. In reconciliation terms, EBITDA before special items improved to -€13 million.

Net earnings per share increased to €1.23, primarily due to improved financial performance compared to the previous year and lower tax expense. Free cash flow stood at approximately €0.1 billion, while net financial debt stood at €33.3 billion.

Special EBITDA items totaled approximately -€1 billion, primarily related to approximately €0.8 billion in impairment reversals from Crop Science impairment testing, as well as approximately €1.7 billion in provisions and liabilities for litigation in the United States. For the full year, Bayer now expects special EBITDA items to be -€3.5 billion to -€2.5 billion (previous forecast: -€1.5 billion to -€0.5 billion).