BERLIN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer AG said on Monday that it had increased year-on-year net income by 20 percent to 1.49 billion euros (1.62 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020.
Bayer's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) grew by 10.2 percent to 4.39 billion euros.
Group sales rose by 6.0 percent on a currency and portfolio-adjusted basis to 12.8 billion euros in Q1.
Free cash flow, however, amounted to minus 793 million euros, significantly lower than last year's positive result of 508 million euros. This was mainly attributable to the lower operating cash flow caused by changes in working capital, especially in the Crop Science Division, Bayer said.
EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) jumped 40.4 percent to 2.5 billion euros, "in part due to a decline in net special charges to 639 million euros." These special charges primarily related to "legal fees, ongoing restructuring programs and the integration of Monsanto."
In 2018, Bayer had finalized the acquisition of the U.S. biotech and seed company Monsanto for 63 billion U.S. dollars, the most expensive takeover ever performed by a German company.
Bayer stressed that the forecast published in February 2020 did not take into account the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but still "continues to reflect the company's targets." However, according to Bayer, "it will not be possible to reliably assess the positive and negative effects until later in the year."
Following the announcement, Bayer's shares jumped almost four percent on the German DAX index of the country's 30 largest listed companies on Monday. (1 euro = 1.085 U.S. dollars) Enditem
