Bayer Faces Surge in Roundup Plaintiffs
30 Octubre 2019 - 02:26AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Ruth Bender
BERLIN -- Bayer AG said the number of plaintiffs claiming its
Roundup herbicides caused cancer more than doubled to 42,700 in the
past three months, adding pressure on the
chemicals-to-pharmaceuticals company to resolve the legal battle
that continues to eat into its market value.
The spike in plaintiffs from 18,400 in early July comes as Bayer
and plaintiff lawyers discuss a potential settlement.
Bayer, which warned about a surge in plaintiffs earlier in
October, blamed the rise on plaintiff lawyers doubling advertising
spending over the period to file more cases before any settlement
might be reached.
"The number of lawsuits says nothing about their merits," the
German company said Wednesday in a statement on its third-quarter
results.
Bayer has suffered one of the worst crises in its 156 year-old
history since it inherited thousands of lawsuits with its $63
billion acquisition of Roundup inventor Monsanto Co. last year.
Since August 2018, three juries have found Bayer's products were
responsible for causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma in people, pummeling
its share price. Uncertainty over how much Bayer will end up paying
to resolve the lawsuits have axed roughly 30% off the company's
market value.
Bayer, which has argued that Roundup and its active ingredient
glyphosate are safe, said it was "constructively engaging" in the
mediation process and intended to defend itself vigorously in the
appeals proceedings.
Amid the legal issues, the company said sales in its crop
science division recovered from last quarter's weakness, when Bayer
was grappling with the effects of a bad planting season.
Sales in its crop science business rose 5.8% to EUR3.95 billion
($4.4 billion) in the third quarter, driven by growth in Latin and
North America.
This helped the company post an overall rise in sales to EUR9.83
billion, slightly beating analysts' expectations, according to
estimates from FactSet.
Sales in the pharmaceuticals unit, which still counts for a
little more than half of group sales, rose 8.2% to EUR4.5 billion,
driven mostly by its two blockbuster drugs, blood thinner Xarelto
and eye treatment Eylea.
Net income dropped 65% in the quarter to EUR1.04 billion, due
mostly to a large divestment gain recorded in the comparable period
last year.
Bayer confirmed its full-year outlook of a 4% rise in sales. In
July, the company had warned that the severe weather that affected
its crop-science division could put its 2019 sales target out of
reach.
Write to Ruth Bender at Ruth.Bender@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 30, 2019 04:11 ET (08:11 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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