Shares hit by Bayer results but pharma growth continues

A fourth-quarter 2016 dip in income hit the 2016 financial results of Germany’s Bayer (BAYN: DE), which have shown just how crucial the strong performance of pharma is to the group's revenue and profit, in particular its anticoagulant Xarelto (rivaroxaban).

Bayer dubbed it another record year for the company and one which was successful strategically and operationally – referring in particular to the $66 billion acquisition of the USA’s GMO giant Monsanto (NYSE: MON) – but markets were not initially convinced by the results as shares dropped by 2.5 % to 106.30 euros ($111.58) by Wednesday lunchtime.

Annual sales across the group increased by 1.5% to 46.77 billion euros ($49.15 billion) compared to 2015, with pharmaceuticals accounting for 16.42 billion euros of this, a rise of 7.3%.