Good start to 2016 for Bayer as 1st-qtr earnings leap nearly 16%

Germany’s largest pharma company Bayer (BAYN: DE) saw its shares rise 1.9% to 111.75 euros in early trading, after it reported first-quarter 2016 financial results, with strong newer pharma product sales and earnings that exceeded forecasts.

The company said profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted for one-off items, increased 15.7% to 3.4 billion euros ($3.83 billion), beating average market expectations of 3.07 billion euros. Net profit for the period was 1.51 billion euros, up 13.5% compared with 1.33 billion during the same period last year, besting analysts' forecasts of 1.45 billion euros, according to a recent poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

On a reported basis, first-quarter group sales rose a modest 0.5% to 11.94 billion euros, boosted by strong sales of the company's recently launched prescription medicines. Sales of the Bayer group increased by 3.2% to 1.94 billion after adjusting for currency and portfolio changes.