Bayer Crop Science Q1 2025 Results and Strategy Update Highlights and Analysis

Index

1. Q1 2025 Results

2. Crop Science Strategy Webinar Highlights and Analysis

3. Go-to-Market Adjustments

   a. Farmer Focused

4. Corn Seed & Trait

5. Biologicals

6. Digital

7. Licensing

8. R&D

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Each quarter in Upstream Ag Professional, I shrewdly analyze publicly traded agribusiness earnings, cutting through the noise to highlight the key takeaways that matter for those of us working in the agriculture industry.

By breaking down earnings results and executive commentary, I provide the strategic insights agribusiness professionals need to stay ahead of their competitors, their suppliers and ultimately their customers.

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Q1 2025 Agribusiness Earnings Results: Bayer AGM, Yara International, and Valmont Industries - Upstream Ag Professional

FY 2024 Ag Equipment Manufacturer Earnings Highlights and Analysis - Upstream Ag Professional

FY 2024 Crop Protection & Seed Company Results: A Deep Dive into Themes, Highlights and Analysis - Upstream Ag Professional

FY 2024 Fertilizer Company Highlights and Analysis - Upstream Ag Professional

Q1 2025 Results

Bayer Crop Science Q1 2025 Results - Bayer

Crop Science

• Revenue was down 4.1% to €7.58 billion (↓ 4.1% reported, ↓ 3.3% Fx adj. & portfolio adjusted)

• EBITDA (before special items) was down more than 10% to €2.56 billion.

• EBITDA Margin was down to 33.7% (↓ from 36.0%), but higher than expected.

• EBITDA was down more, but special charges of €401 million came in, mainly related to Roundup litigation (~€380 related to Roundup).

• R&D Spend was down €616 million (↓ 1.4%). More notes on the future of their R&D spend in the Crop Science investor day comments.

Regional Results

• North America was down 6.1% reported / ↓ 8.2% (adjusted) primarily impacted by dicamba label vacatur (inability to sell due to court overturning registration) and volume phasing.

• Latin America was down 11.9% reported / ↓ 0.9% (adjusted) primarily impacted by glyphosate volume timing.

• Europe/Middle East/Africa was up 0.7% reported / ↑ 1.7% (adjusted), whille Asia/Pacific was up 10.0% reported / ↑ 9.6% (adjusted).

Business Segment Highlights

• Corn Seed & Traits were down slightly to €3.19B (↓ 1.6%) — Growth in EMEA and Asia offset by volume delay in North America and price pressure in LATAM.

• Herbicides were down to €1.59B (↓ 0.9%) — Non-glyphosate herbicides up with glyphosate sales ↓ 11.1% due to timing.

• Fungicides were down €916M (↓ 2.0%) with stable volumes, but slight price decline

• Soybean Seed & Traits were down to €522M ( - 13.6%) with the major hit from dicamba ruling in the U.S. Seemingly upside for Corteva on this front. Bayer alluded to the a lot of this being licensing related, while Corteva noted an increase in licensing.

• Insecticides were down to €387M (↓ 15.7%) with the biggest reasonf or the decline being Europe due to Movento™ registration expiry. LatAm insecticide sales were strong.

• Cotton Seed was down to €232M (↓ 20.0%), primariuly related to regulatory issues in the U.S. In Q3 2024, Bayer took impairment losses to the Crop Science BU of €3.77 billion, largely attributable to dicamba dynamics. This included goodwill impairment of €510 million for Cotton Seed.

  Other

• Bayer stated that they think some of the growth is being transferred to Q2 vs. Q1 which makes the numbers look bad now, but expecting more positive Q2.

  Glyphosate

  

Tariffs

There is likely a small impact on seed from the potential of seed treatment, but unlikely to be significant.

Crop Science Strategy Webinar Highlights and Analysis

Overview

This week Bayer Crop Science executives held a Crop Science Investor Update to address the direction for the business.

After continued challenges from the cyclicality of the market, to pricing dynamics, to regulatory, to litigation, the business has been in constant uncertainty for more than 5 years.

The company is trying to reign in challenges, signaling an enhanced focus on operational discipline, pipeline execution, and long-term value creation.

The event served three key purposes:

1. Restore Confidence in the Core Business - With profitability under pressure and market skepticism mounting around glyphosate exposure, Bayer aimed to demonstrate the underlying strength of its Seeds & Traits (S&T) and Crop Protection (CP) platforms, especially 2027 and beyond.

2. Showcase a Structured Turnaround Plan - The company laid out a five-year strategic framework to improve margins by €1 billion, release €1.5 billion in working capital, and drive €3.5 billion in incremental sales through innovation and geographic expansion—particularly in corn, soy, and biologicals.

3. Reaffirm Leadership in Ag Innovation - Bayer emphasized its unmatched R&D engine, digital capabilities, and ability to scale new value pools such as biological crop inputs, and next-generation biofuels.

Bayer is working to shift the narrative from short-term volatility to long-term leadership in the future of agriculture, leading to improved outcomes for farmers and shareholders.

The event emphasized that this is to begin with cost rationalization and discipline in the next ~2 years, and then begin to ramp up from innovation starting around 2027 and beyond.

Bayer highlighted their current position in the market surrounding crop protection and seed globally as a positive base:

And reinforced their innovation focus:

They went on to show what their approach in shifting from products to systems, can look like:

They state they are the only entity that can deliver these new system approaches to the farm. Based on the timelines to delivering short-stature corn, CoverCress etc, it seems as though Corteva is very close with them as well based on what Corteva shared at their 2024 Investor Day.

One notable aspect is that carbon/sustainability programs, part of Bayer’s ForGround initiative, was much less prominently emphasized as part of the "new value pools.” Biofuels and biologicals were much more prominently emphasized:

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