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Early departure: Liam Condon is
leaving the Bayer Group
Photo: Malte Ossowski;
Sven Simon / imago images
At Bayer, the head of the important agricultural business throws in the towel. Executive board member
Liam Condon
(53) asked the supervisory board to terminate his contract, which actually runs until the end of 2023, at the end of this year, the Leverkusen-based pharmaceutical and agrochemical company announced on Tuesday. His successor is to be agricultural expert
Rodrigo Santos
(48), a manager from Monsanto who has been responsible for the division's operational business since June and, following the takeover of Monsanto in 2018, headed the agricultural business in the important Latin American market. Condon worked for Bayer for more than 30 years and for Schering AG, which was taken over by Bayer in 2006, and was responsible for the CropScience agricultural business for nine years.
In the third quarter, sales and earnings in the division increased significantly. Since taking over the US company Monsanto, Bayer has not been able to get out of the negative headlines and agricultural business has not really been going smoothly. Investors demanded at the annual general meeting in the spring that the group must finally get the legal risks and legacy issues of Monsanto under control. Because with the takeover, Bayer had brought a wave of lawsuits into the house because of the glyphosate-containing weed killer Roundup from Monsanto, which the company is still working on today and is costing billions. Plaintiffs allege Roundup to be carcinogenic.
Speculations about the replacement of Condons had already made the rounds.
Internal bets were already running as to how long supervisory board chairman
Norbert Winkeljohann
(64) will hold Condon, manager magazin reported in September.
Bayer boss
Werner Baumann
(59) had unwaveringly stuck to Condon despite criticism.
"Bayer’s Crop Science business is excellently positioned to set new standards in terms of innovation and sustainability. The task now is to use this as a basis to fully exploit the huge potential for added value in the coming years," Winkeljohann said.
"We would like to thank Liam Condon most sincerely for his achievements in the more than 30 years of his career at Bayer."
Quarterly result increases significantly
In the third quarter, the Leverkusen-based group increased its earnings more than analysts expected. Adjusted operating profit (Ebitda) climbed by more than 16 percent to 2.089 billion euros. Sales increased by 15 percent to 9.78 billion, adjusted for currency effects, an increase of 14.3 percent was posted. Bayer benefited from growth in all three business areas - pharmaceuticals, non-prescription health products and the agricultural sector. While earnings in Health Products and Crop Science increased, Bayer had to digest a decline in pharmaceuticals due to high marketing costs and research expenditures.
Bayer continues to expect sales of around EUR 43 billion for 2021.
Adjusted for currency effects, this now corresponds to an increase of around 7 instead of 6 percent.
The Ebitda margin adjusted for special items should now amount to around 25.5 (previously: around 25) percent.
Last year, the company achieved adjusted earnings of EUR 11.46 billion on sales of EUR 41.4 billion.
cr / Reuters