Discussion with the stockholders’ representatives:

“The Bayer Cross shines ever brighter”

Recognition for Bayer’s strong performance: “The company’s results are improving all the time, and the Bayer Cross shines ever brighter,” said Harald Petersen of the stockholders’ association SdK during the discussion with the stockholders’ representatives, which was led by Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Manfred Schneider.

At the Annual Stockholders Meeting, which was held at the Cologne Exhibition Center and attended by about 4,500 people, Bayer CEO Werner Wenning garnered much praise for the company's record performance in 2007.

Zoom image

At the Annual Stockholders Meeting, which was held at the Cologne Exhibition Center and attended by about 4,500 people, Bayer CEO Werner Wenning garnered much praise for the company’s record performance in 2007.

Many other visitors to the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting also had words of praise for the achievements of the Bayer Group and its employees. “2007 was an excellent year from Bayer’s viewpoint. You once again achieved record earnings, and we as stockholders will duly benefit from a payout exceeding €1 billion. This, too, is a new record,” said Hans-Richard Schmitz from the German private investors’ association dsw, adding that the value of Bayer stock had risen substantially overall, even if it had lost ground again of late.

Discussion speaker Harald Petersen of the stockholders' association SdK.

Zoom image

Discussion speaker Harald Petersen of the stockholders’ association SdK.

The discussion with the stockholders’ representatives lasted several hours and focused on the strategy and the future outlook for all three subgroups. Bayer Management Board Chairman Werner Wenning was asked about the integration status of Bayer Schering Pharma. “We are very satisfied,” he replied. “The projects are proceeding as planned.” Wenning said this was reflected partly in the steady sales growth experienced by the combined business operations in recent quarters. Considerable synergies had been already been achieved. He explained that research in pharmaceuticals is now focused on the fields of oncology, gynecology, cardiology and diagnostic imaging.

The Bayer publications aroused considerable interest: Maren Rasch and Sarah Bräutigam with Ahmad Torabian (from left).

Zoom image

The Bayer publications aroused considerable interest: Maren Rasch and Sarah Bräutigam with Ahmad Torabian (from left).

The Bayer CEO described not only longestablished medicines such as Betaferon® / Betaseron® and the products containing drospirenone, but also Xarelto® to treat venous thromboembolism and the cancer drug Nexavar® as products with blockbuster potential. He said analysts put the peak sales potential of Xarelto® at more than €2 billion. “We anticipate that Xarelto® will set itself apart from other medicines currently on the market. Here we are developing a safe, patient-friendly thrombosis treatment that also obviates the need for routine blood tests during therapy.” Business with Nexavar ®, too, is developing very well in the already approved treatment indications of kidney cancer and liver cancer, Wenning reported. “We are targeting peak sales of up to €500 million just for these two indications,” he said, adding that additional sales potential exists in further indications currently in clinical development, such as breast and skin cancer.

Asked about the patent dispute over the contraceptive Yasmin®, Wenning replied: “We have slightly reduced our earnings targets for HealthCare after losing this suit.” According to the Bayer Chairman, the subgroup is now planning to improve the EBITDA margin before special items toward 27 percent. “However, there is no change to our target margin of approximately 28 percent for 2009.”