Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, a warm welcome to our Annual General Meeting! I am very pleased that you are here today. Before we begin, I would also like to warmly welcome Judith Hartmann, who has been on the Bayer Board of Management since March and will take over the position of CFO in June. Welcome, Judith! We are very happy to have you on board. She follows Wolfgang Nickl, who is attending his last Annual General Meeting at Bayer. Wolfgang, on behalf of all colleagues at Bayer, I thank you very sincerely for your commitment to the company and our mission. I have come to know you as an extremely likeable, competent, reliable colleague and friend. I am very grateful for our partnership-based cooperation. Thank you very much!
In March 2024, we set the agenda for Bayer for the next two to three years: revitalizing the pharmaceutical pipeline, reducing debt, containing litigation, cutting bureaucracy, and focusing our company fully on the mission. We have also since increased the ambitions for our Crop Science business. We have launched a five-year program to increase competitiveness. We want to be the first when it comes to... After two years, no area at Bayer is the same as it was. The company has become leaner and faster. The portfolio and pipeline in Pharmaceuticals are currently certainly more promising than ever before. Crop Science is implementing the plan to increase profitability. The debt burden has decreased. We have advanced our multi-pronged strategy to contain litigation. And our divisions have achieved almost all key figures for 2025. Overall, we see great progress. But the thing is: the work is not finished. Not yet. We are still in the middle of our turnaround. All strategic priorities have been significantly advanced, but none is complete. We have medicines in development that we must bring to patients. Our businesses must become more profitable so that we can finance future innovations. Debt must come down and litigation must be contained. Our new organizational model has been introduced and is delivering results, but it still needs to be established more broadly. Our list of tasks is clear. Major milestones and decisions are ahead, and I am confident that the coming months will pave the way to a better future for Bayer. Our 88,000 employees are aware of this. They have brought the company to this point with great determination. And thanks to their performance, we on the Board of Management are convinced that Bayer will be stronger at the turn of the year than it has been in a long time. But before we look further ahead, let's first look at 2025 and the forecast for this year. 2025 was a decisive year. There were patent expirations and important product launches in the pharmaceutical business. There was regulatory headwinds and pressure on our margins in the Crop Science division. And we had to realign our growth in Consumer Health. We started the year knowing that it would be crucial for our turnaround. And we delivered.
And we reduced our net financial debt to 29.8 billion euros. Adjusted earnings per share were 4.91 euros. We achieved a free cash flow of 2.1 billion euros and reduced net financial debt to 29.8 billion euros. However, as previously announced, we expect net financial debt to increase this year due to expenses for litigation. Each of our divisions has made progress. A new picture is emerging in our pharmaceutical portfolio, where Nubeqa™ and Kerendia™ more than offset the declines in Xarelto™. And there is more to come! Crop Science started its five-year program and had to make difficult decisions to stabilize margins and prioritize investments. While Consumer Health had difficulties with revenue, we were able to achieve the margin target. Our team knows exactly which brands in which markets need the most attention. Regarding our outlook, we expect an overall solid year that has gotten off to a good start. We continue to expect momentum from our product launches, with which we want to offset the declines in Pharmaceuticals and Crop Science due to patent expirations and regulatory pressure in the EU. In addition, we will continue to invest in our pipeline and launch new products in 2026 to continue growing in 2027 and beyond. At stable exchange rates, we expect adjusted earnings per share in 2026 to be approximately at the prior-year level. The Pharmaceutical pipeline: a negative free cash flow. So much for the financial figures. Now to the five strategic priorities.
In 2025, we clearly identified the challenges for Bayer and acted accordingly. Regarding the pharmaceutical pipeline: two years ago, there were still some question marks. Today, the work on it is not yet finished, but we are already seeing exclamation marks. The cancer drug Nubeqa™ and Kerendia™ grew by 68 percent together last year. The latest approval for Kerendia™ underscores the drug's potential in both heart failure and chronic kidney disease – with blockbuster potential in both indications. The launch of Beyonttra™ exceeds expectations. One year after launch, half of newly diagnosed patients in Germany receive Beyonttra™ for the treatment of a fatal heart disease. The launch of Lynkuet™, our hormone-free drug for menopausal symptoms, is running at full speed this year. We started in the US and are now expanding to the EU. And in February, we published outstanding results for Asundexian, our development candidate for secondary stroke prevention. We hope to make this drug available to patients as soon as possible.
Regarding the profitability of Crop Science: We have launched an extensive program to improve earnings power and are fully focused on its implementation. We are optimizing our portfolio and market presence. We are also reshaping our crop protection portfolio by focusing on higher-margin and more innovative molecules. Plenexos™ was launched in Colombia at the end of 2025. This is also to happen in Brazil as soon as we have approval there – and we expect that later this year. It is an insecticide that can protect crops from pests without harming beneficial insects. And it only requires a few grams per hectare. Converted, this means: If the lawn of the BayArena were a soybean field, only 17 grams of Plenexos™ would be needed for treatment – that is very precise and very sustainable. Important innovations are coming that will really come into their own from 2027 onwards. That is why our work to increase earnings power is so important this year. We are setting the course to improve our cash generation and strengthen the operational foundation of our business.
Regarding the litigation: For years, we have been working on the multi-pronged containment strategy. By early 2026, much of this has become visible. In February, Monsanto announced a settlement proposal, which received preliminary approval in early March. Numerous plaintiff law firms – even those that usually reject class action settlements – are recommending their clients accept this offer. In addition, we welcome that the US Supreme Court will hear our case on lawmakers in other states taking similar steps. This is an important milestone for farmers in the US, on which much depends. In agriculture, the US is one of the most advanced nations in the world. We have many innovations in the pipeline, including Preceon™, the short-stature corn that reduces CO2 emissions. And Icafolin, the first herbicide with a new mode of action in a generation, which works on already visible weeds. These are groundbreaking innovations for farmers, and it took decades and billions to develop them. These products are subject to rigorous regulatory review by independent experts. Why should one continue to take this on if one exposes oneself to the 600 billion dollar litigation industry? This is becoming clearer to more and more people, and we will continue to point it out. At the beginning of the month, lawmakers in the US state of Kentucky ensured that farmers continue to have access to scientifically approved crop protection products. We are grateful that a broad coalition of farmers, their associations, and a science-oriented public is advocating for similar steps by lawmakers in other states. A lot has been done to significantly contain the litigation.
We’re focused on the vital work of scaling key mechanics and practices of the new system. And decisions in the coming weeks. We are taking it step by step and are prepared for all scenarios. Our cash flow and debt reduction continue to have the highest priority. As announced, we are therefore proposing again to pay only the statutory minimum dividend. For future dividend policy, we will take a close look at the company's capital allocation strategy with our cash and debt situation. Our last strategic priority is the further development of our new organizational model. Just two years ago, Bayer operated like any other international corporation with long chains of command and strategy and budget processes that were primarily oriented toward the twelve-month Gregorian calendar. That is no longer the case. We work in concentrated 90-day cycles. We have roughly halved the number of hierarchy levels. And we have refocused the company – away from managing and toward acting – by reducing the number of management positions by two-thirds. Bayer is now faster and more flexible – and at lower costs. But there is more to do. We are focusing on the important task of scaling the key mechanics and practices of the new system. We are also well positioned for the upcoming revolution of artificial intelligence. If you look closely, you will notice that many leading companies in this area are moving in a similar direction: flatter organizations, larger teams, more agile collaboration, and faster and smoother information exchange. There is a popular saying at Bayer and probably at many other large companies, which have a wealth of experience, but it is distributed across laboratories, sub-teams, and meeting minutes: 'If Bayer knew what Bayer knows.' Soon we may know. We are working out how artificial intelligence can make the extensive knowledge at Bayer available to everyone, accelerate processes, and relieve employees so they can work on our mission with more creativity. We continue to invest heavily in our IT infrastructure, in optimizing our systems, and in simplifying data preparation so that employees and our customers can benefit from the company's knowledge. This company supplies 600 million consumers with products for daily health. It processes more than 25 billion data sets in seed genotyping. If Dynamic Shared Ownership helps us make the company more entrepreneurial, agent-based artificial intelligence can help us... Companies must ask the questions: 'What can we do?' 'How can we serve a world in turmoil?' By ensuring that everyone at Bayer has more data, more autonomy, and more resources to implement our mission: Health for all, Hunger for none.
This mission is optimistic, but it does not exist in a vacuum. We live in times when this optimism may seem far-fetched. Wars, uncertain international relations, global warming, technological disruptions, disruptions in the supply chain of key resources like fertilizer for farmers worldwide. These are times of great upheaval. In the past three months, I was on both coasts of the United States. I spent time in Germany, China, and India. I had the opportunity to speak with people who run global platforms for artificial intelligence – and with people who farm plots smaller than this room. I spoke with political decision-makers of various stripes and with people on the ground. 53 million smallholder farmers with key agricultural products and services. A great concern for our world. This is a company people can count on for the fundamentals. And the will to focus on the topics that are most important. In uncertain times, there is no room for superficiality. Companies must ask themselves the questions: 'What can we do?' – 'How can we make ourselves useful in a world in turmoil?' 'Health for all, Hunger for none' is certainly not superficial. We are committed to essential areas. We do work that people rely on for their basic needs. I am in exchange with people from all areas of the company and am repeatedly impressed by their expertise and great commitment. Last month, I visited the Bayer team in India. Our Consumer Health team there reaches at least 20 million people who otherwise have limited access to healthcare. The distribution channels range from open-air markets to delivery services that deliver within a quarter of an hour. A few weeks ago, our Crop Science site in Zambia celebrated one year of production. Just a few years ago, the region where we built this site could hardly feed itself. Now we plan to triple Zambia's corn harvest and supply up to 10 million smallholders and neighboring countries with seed by 2030. In 2025 alone, the Bayer team supplied 68 million women in lower-income countries with modern contraceptives, 53 million smallholder farmers with key agricultural products and services, and 82 million people in structurally disadvantaged communities. We are a company... This is true today, and we are working on the solutions for tomorrow. Two examples, one from agriculture and one from health. Four billion people in the world depend on synthetic fertilizer for their nutrition. And about a quarter of global fertilizer production passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Together with partners, Bayer is one of the few companies working to improve the biological nitrogen fixation of important crops like corn, which could significantly reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizer. Imagine the potential! In the area of human health, we are at the forefront of modern medicine's fight against Parkinson's. Bayer is the first company to advance both a cell and a gene therapy against this devastating disease. Clinical trials for this are currently underway. We are on unknown terrain, and that can be uncertain. But 'Health for all, Hunger for none' does not exist without pioneering spirit – we are determined to lead this fight!
In uncertain times, dear shareholders, we have a mission that matters. It is fundamental and will remain important tomorrow. Over the past two years, we have made great progress in aligning the company with this mission and cutting everything else. Bayer is a company with a strong awareness of who we are, what needs to be done, and why we exist in this world. We still have much to achieve, and we are on the right track. We have made great progress, but we are far from the finish line. Team Bayer has a significant mission and a clear plan. And we are positioning the company for a successful future. Thank you for your time, your support, and your trust, dear shareholders. We continue – for 'Health for all, Hunger for none.'
