German chemical and drug maker Bayer AG said yesterday that its second-quarter net profit increased by 11.3 percent, helped by sales growth at its health care unit.
Bayer also announced a re-structuring plan for its CropScience unit that will lead to about 1,500 job cuts by the end of 2009, mainly in North America.
Leverkusen-based Bayer's net income for the April-June period was 452 million euros (US$578 million), up from 406 million euros a year earlier. That was slightly short of the 461 million euros analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted.
Total sales rose by 5.8 percent to 7.07 billion euros from 6.69 billion euros. Bayer's core health care unit posted the strongest advance, with sales increasing by 12.7 percent.
Bayer has acquired fellow German drug maker Schering in a deal worth nearly 16.9 billion euros, aimed at strengthening the health care business and creating a "national champion."
Bayer included Schering data in its figures starting June 23, just before the quarter ended, and the Berlin-based company contributed 144 million euros to second-quarter sales.
Sales at Bayer's MaterialScience division also rose by 5.4 percent, but sales at CropScience, the company's crop protection unit, slipped by 1.6 percent. Bayer cited a "difficult market environment."
Bayer adjusted its full-year outlook to reflect Schering's inclusion, but excluded its diagnostics business, which it sold to Siemens AG in June. It expects higher operating profits this year.
Bayer raised its earnings target for its health care unit, saying it now expects underlying earnings before interest and taxes from continuing operations -- excluding Schering -- to grow by about 20 percent, compared with a previous forecast of more than 10 percent.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft