By Patricia Weiss
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Bayer's CEO is facing increasing investor pressure to deliver on turnaround efforts and reverse a forecast earnings decline this year, as the group prepares to release quarterly results on Wednesday.
CEO Bill Anderson is in the middle of cutting managerial jobs, speeding up decision-making and slashing red tape, and has put on hold plans to break up Bayer diversified businesses.
But investors are questioning whether he is doing enough amid a plethora of problems that have dragged shares lower.
Taking the helm in mid-2023, Anderson inherited costly U.S. litigation over disputed claims that Bayer's weedkiller glyphosate causes cancer. Later that year, a once-promising blood thinner flopped in a trial, leaving a massive gap in Bayer's drug development lineup.
Late last year, the drugs and pesticides maker said weakness in global agriculture markets, the lifeblood of Bayer's Crop Science unit, meant the earnings decline was likely to extend into 2025.
"We want to see successes that will actually support the share price," said Ingo Speich, head of sustainability and corporate governance at mutual funds firm Deka, a Bayer shareholder.
"By the end of the year, Anderson will have been chief executive for almost three years. If a CEO cannot make an impact over such a period of time, he will not be the right one for the job," he added.
Markus Manns, a portfolio manager at mutual funds firm Union Investment, another Bayer shareholder, said Anderson had made steps in the right direction, but the stock market was waiting for more.
The upcoming fourth-quarter results "will arguably be one of the last few opportunities for Bill Anderson to change course", said Manns.
Recent market trends may provide some respite, with U.S. agrichemicals firm Corteva last month posting a smaller fourth-quarter loss helped by strong sales volumes, and Germany's BASF, also competing with Bayer in farming products, flagging volume gains during the fourth quarter.
But more specific to Bayer, investors will look for clues on how severely a delay in U.S. approval of a new generation of soy seeds to go with weedkiller Dicamba will dent earnings.
Analysts on average expect 2025 adjusted operating income to slip to 9.44 billion euros ($9.96 billion), down from an estimated 10.0 billion in 2024. For the fourth quarter of last year, they expect a 25% decline to 2.27 billion.
Bayer's $63 billion purchase of U.S. seeds and pesticides producer Monsanto under Anderson's predecessor in 2018 was a long-term bet on robust growth in farming supplies that has misfired.
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The deal has left a persistent debt burden, projected by Bayer to decline slightly to up to 33.5 billion euros at the end of 2024.
The CEO has vowed the company would do more to contain litigation uncertainty and boost operational performance, on its way to a "bright future".
He has pointed to strong launches of the pharmaceutical unit's new drugs, Nubeqa for prostate cancer and Kerendia for kidney disease. Bestselling blood-thinner Xarelto, however, is in decline as it loses patent protection.
($1 = 0.9481 euros)
(Additional reporting and writing by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Jan Harvey)
