Dekkers said Bayer is particularly pleased with the progress made in its pharmaceuticals pipeline. "Not only are we happy to see the first sales generated by products recently introduced to the market. We are also happy that these products are giving doctors and patients new treatment options." For example, Bayer made further progress in cardiology with the anticoagulant Xarelto?, he said. Xarelto? is now registered in more than 120 countries in a variety of acute and chronic indications.

Dekkers also outlined the potential of further important development candidates from the pharmaceuticals pipeline, such as riociguat to treat two serious, life-threatening forms of pulmonary hypertension. In oncology, Bayer also has high hopes for its medicines Stivarga? to treat advanced colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and radium-223 dichloride (Alpharadin) to treat bone metastases in prostate cancer. In the field of ophthalmology, Dekkers explained, EYLEA? is also making progress in the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, for example. Overall, the company believes these five products have peak annual sales potential in excess of 5.5 billion euros, with Xarelto? alone planned to achieve sales of more than 2 billion euros.

"As in HealthCare, we are also successful with innovations in our CropScience subgroup," Dekkers continued. Bayer has development pipelines in both crop protection and seed technology that are well stocked with promising projects, the management board chairman said. He explained that products with estimated launch dates between 2011 and 2016 have a peak sales potential exceeding 4 billion euros. "These products have properties that benefit farmers and consumers," Dekkers underscored. He demonstrated this by describing the specific advantages of selected new developments in various applications ranging from tolerance to saline soils and flooding in rice cultivation through the enhancement of yields in major field crops to longer storability of fruit and vegetables.

Ambitious aspirations for 2015

Dekkers said Bayer is also optimistic for its further development, thanks mainly to its innovative life-science products. The company therefore has ambitious aspirations for the period through 2015, he explained.

Bayer wants to accelerate its growth momentum at HealthCare through 2015. The driving factors here are the five major new pharmaceutical products, which should contribute more than 2.5 billion euros to sales in 2015, pending the respective approvals. In light of that, Bayer expects to see this subgroup grow by an average of about 6 percent (Fx& portfolio adj.) a year toward 22 billion euros in 2015, while Pharmaceuticals would expand by an even more substantial approximately 7 percent (Fx& portfolio adj.) toward 13 billion euros. Additionally, the EBITDA margin before special items of HealthCare is planned to grow from 27.2 percent last year toward 29 percent by 2015.

At CropScience, Bayer aims to grow faster than the market and improve sales toward 10 billion euros by 2015. The crop protection products Bayer has introduced since 2006 or will launch in the future are intended to contribute about 1.9 billion euros to this figure. For CropScience overall, this means average growth of about 6 percent (Fx& portfolio adj.) annually and an EBITDA margin before special items of around 24 percent, which would continue to be a leading level of profitability.

In the MaterialScience business, Bayer anticipates that it will be able to achieve a volume-driven expansion in business beyond the growth rate of the global economy. The current high capacities on the world market are likely to be absorbed by rising global demand in the coming years. Bayer nonetheless intends to respond to the commoditization of the business through further efficiency measures that should contribute 1.5 percentage points to the EBITDA margin before special items by 2015.

Bayer: continuing growth momentum

? Group targets achieved in 2012 – sales and earnings before special items increase in all subgroups

? Sales increase by 8.8 percent to 39,760 million euros

? EBIT 3,960 million euros (minus 4.6 percent) - Net income 2,446 million euros (minus 1.0 percent)

? Further accounting measures for legal claims

? EBITDA before special items rises by 8.8 percent to 8,284 million euros

? Core earnings per share improve by 10.8 percent to 5.35 euros

? Encouraging growth in the emerging markets

? Steady progress with innovation pipeline strengthens life-science businesses

? Forecast for anniversary year 2013: continuing record development