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Leverkusen (dpa) - Almost three years have passed since the first ruling in the US legal dispute over alleged cancer risks of fertilizers containing glyphosate - the issue is still not ticked off for Bayer.
Due to billions in provisions for the disputes and high depreciation in the agricultural business, there was a loss of more than ten billion euros in 2020.
With a loss of around a third, Bayer shares were at the bottom of the German benchmark index Dax in 2020.
The criticism of the shareholders of the agrochemical and pharmaceutical company at the online general meeting on Tuesday was correspondingly harsh.
Bayer boss Werner Baumann promised improvement.
In view of the expensive glyphosate legacy that Baumann acquired in 2018 with the takeover of the US seed company Monsanto, he and Bayer lost a lot of investor trust.
"Bayer must finally get the legal risks and legacy of Monsanto under control," said the expert of the credit union fund company Union Investment, Janne Werning.
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In principle, Werning welcomed the partial agreement reached last year, in the course of which settlements had already been reached with tens of thousands of plaintiffs.
But he also emphasized that a solution had to be found for the open handling of future lawsuits.
Against this background, the coming weeks will point the way: On May 19, a hearing before the responsible federal judge Vince Chhabria is on the agenda. The date was postponed by a week for organizational reasons, as the Bayer management explained. It is about the new proposal from Bayer and the opposing side to deal with this crucial part of the billion dollar glyphosate comparison. The judge rejected the first proposal last year. Baumann emphasized again at the annual general meeting that both parties to the dispute “with the revised agreement conscientiously addressed the questions raised by the court”.
With a view to day-to-day business, Baumann is counting on a recovery after a difficult year in which adverse weather in the USA and a weak Brazilian real weighed on the agricultural business and the corona pandemic caused headwinds in the pharmaceutical business.
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While the virus crisis is not over yet, the prospects for agriculture have at least brightened in the past few months.
Corn and soy prices rose sharply, so farmers should be prepared to spend more money on seeds from Bayer, for example.
Baumann spoke of a successful start to the year.
"In the agricultural business in particular, we see a market environment that is increasingly positive for us."
Investors rate the strategy of the pharmaceuticals division in the area of gene and cell therapies, which Bayer recently strengthened with takeovers, as positive.
The general manager of the German Association for Protection of Securities, Marc Tüngler, praised the latest developments and hopes that they will help to compensate for lost sales after the gradual expiry of the patents on Xarelto.
However, the potential of the business with gene and cell therapies, as proclaimed by the Bayer executive suite, will only become apparent in the medium to long term.
Ingo Speich from the Sparkasse fund subsidiary Deka Investment therefore warns against excessive optimism.
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Bayer boss Baumann approached the shareholders.
«We want to regain your trust.
And we will deliver. "
The shareholders, who used the general meeting to vote on top management, seem to rely on Baumann's words.
As they did a year ago, they voted with a little more than 90 percent to discharge the board of directors.
In 2019, when the glyphosate crisis was the determining topic at a shareholders' meeting for the first time, the shareholders had refused to discharge the board of directors.
However, this had no consequences.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210427-99-376454 / 2