Syngenta: On Track To Meet Growth Objectives

06 Feb 2014 --- Sales $14.7 billion, up 3 percent; up 5 percent at constant exchange rates; Integrated sales up 6 percent1; underlying growth excluding corn rootworm royalty 8 percent.

- EBITDA $2.9 billion: 7 percent lower
- lower royalty income, non-recurring seeds costs
- Earnings per share2 $19.30: 12 percent lower
- Proposed dividend increased by 5 percent to CHF 10.00
- New program to accelerate operational leverage: ~$1 billion annual savings by 2018

Mike Mack, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"Over the last three years we have put in place a new integrated business model, which has meant a rapid pace of change across our company. Tangible benefits are already coming from leveraging a combined sales force, which has produced clear gains in a number of territories, with increasing acceptance of our integrated offers in the field. However, our financial performance in 2013 did not meet expectations. While this was mainly due to non-recurring costs in our seeds business, we are determined to intensify our focus on cost and capital efficiency while maintaining our ambitious growth objectives. Today we are announcing a program to accelerate operational leverage across the organization.

"Our growth rate over the last three years has been in line with our sales target for the eight key crops of $25 billion in 2020. In each year we have achieved double digit growth in the emerging markets, where the huge scope for productivity improvements is driving an accelerated pace of technology adoption. At the same time growth in developed markets has been underpinned by the strength of our field force and by innovation. As we continue to bring major new products to market while scaling up our integrated offers, we look forward with confidence to sustained profitable growth and cash generation."