Bayer announced a $11.2 billion loss for the second quarter of Fiscal 2020.  This reflects the $9.6 billion settlement with plaintiffs over claims that glyphosate herbicide was potentially carcinogenic.  Bayer has yet to resolve the question of the $1.25 billion offered to settle future claims, which may exceed this value by a wide margin, given obvious latency related to non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

For the second quarter, revenue fell 6.2 percent from the corresponding quarter in 2019 to $9.0 billion.  The Consumer Care division fell 16.7 percent following forward purchasing during COVID panic buying in the first quarter.  The Crop Science division rose 0.3 percent in revenue mainly due to increased sales in Latin America and Asia.

Forward guidance on revenue was downgraded to $36.1 million, representing a one percent increase for FY2020. This compares to the previous forecast of a rise in revenue of three to four percent.

Bayer recently completed the sale of its Animal Health busines to Elanco Animal Health.