Syngenta Group with significantly lower sales and profit
Published: Thursday, Aug 29th 2024, 08:20
Back to Live Feed
Syngenta posted significantly lower sales and earnings in the first half of 2024. The agricultural group was held back by a whole range of factors.
The Syngenta Group's sales shrank by 17 percent to 14.5 billion US dollars from January to June, as the crop protection and seeds manufacturer announced on Thursday. At constant exchange rates, the decline would have been slightly lower at 15 percent.
Syngenta explained that the sharp decline in sales was partly due to the ongoing industry-wide reduction in stocks of crop protection products. Higher interest rates have been prompting wholesalers and retailers to reduce their stocks for some time now.
According to Syngenta, this was compounded by lower prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and other crops, which reduced farmers' income and thus their spending on crop protection products. Unfavorable weather conditions also had an impact on sales - particularly at the start of the growing season in the USA. In addition, there was an oversupply of some crop protection products on the market.
Sales declined in all business areas. The sharpest decline was in the largest business with crop protection products (-21%). The Israeli subsidiary Adama (-16%) also posted significantly lower sales than in the same period last year.
The Seeds division fared somewhat better, with sales falling by only 4 percent. Meanwhile, sales in Syngenta Group China, which is reported separately, fell by 16 percent. The market there contributed 5.4 billion dollars to total sales.
Profit clearly down
This was clearly reflected in the profit figures: operating profit at EBITDA level fell by 36 percent to 2.1 billion dollars. In addition to lower sales, an unfavorable product mix also had an impact, explained Syngenta. The company had also reversed a provision in the previous year.
In view of the challenges, the Group has taken additional measures. These include reducing investment expenditure and working capital. At the same time, the markets are expected to stabilize in the second half of 2024, with improved sales and rising margins.
The Syngenta Group is based in Switzerland and is under Chinese ownership. It comprises the business units Syngenta Crop Protection (crop protection) based in Switzerland, Syngenta Seeds (seeds) based in the USA, Adama based in Israel and Syngenta Group China.
The group, which is owned by the Chinese state-owned conglomerate ChemChina, was formed in 2020 and originally wanted to list on the Shanghai stock exchange. The company ultimately withdrew its application for a listing in the spring. Syngenta was previously listed on the Swiss stock exchange, but was then swallowed up by ChemChina in 2016 for 43 billion dollars.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic