Profit warning batters Bayer in stock market

Reduced growth forecasts at German life sciences group Bayer (BAYN: DE) hit the company’s stocks hard on Thursday morning, with its share price sliding by 3% to 108.65 euros in the fours hours after the announcement of the latest quarterly financials.

Bayer’s pharma unit is performing well but declines in crop science have hit the group’s overall outlook for the year, with the company now expecting its sales to be more than 49 billion euros ($57.4 billion), having previously predicted 51 billion euros.

The company’s preferred profit measure, adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), will increase by a high-single digit percentage, Bayer now predicts, compared to earlier estimates of growth in the low teens.