LEVERKUSEN (dpa-AFX) - German conglomerate Bayer AG's (BAYZF.PK, BAYRY.PK, BYR.L) Chairman Marijn Dekkers,while speaking at the shareholders meeting in Cologne on Friday said the company has increased dividend to 2.50 euros per share.
Bayer Chairman also noted that it will take necessary steps to transform the company into a pure Life Science company.
The chairman has confirmed the outlook for 2016, after a successful first quarter. In 2016, Bayer expects to achieve sales of approximately 35 billion euros in the Life Science businesses, in other words excluding Covestro. This corresponds to a mid-single-digit percentage increase on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis. Bayer also assumes that EBITDA before special items of the Life Science businesses will move forward by a mid-single-digit percentage. The Bayer Group as a whole including Covestro expects to raise sales to more than EUR 47 billion.
Further, the chairman said for the full year core earnings per share from continuing operations advanced 16 percent to 6.83 euros. EBIT climbed 15.8 percent to 6.3 billion euros and before special items it was up 18.2 percent to 10.3 billion euros. Sales for the full year were up 12.1 percent to 46.3 billion euros. Sales at Pharmaceuticals climbed by 9.9 percent to 13.7 billion euros.
Bayer Board proposed Hanneke Faber, chief commercial officer and member of the executive committee of Koninklijke Ahold N.V. (Zaandam, Netherlands) and Professor Wolfgang Plischke, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Evotec AG (Hamburg, Germany), be elected to this supervising body.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX