Bayer shares fell sharply on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Monday morning, after a US court ordered the German group, owner of Roundup, to pay $2.25 billion to a plaintiff who accused the herbicide of causing his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The verdict, handed down by a Philadelphia jury, calls for $250 million in restitution and $2 billion in punitive damages.

Bayer reacted to the decision by reiterating that the jury's verdict contradicted the scientific evidence and the regulatory approval given to glyphosate.

'We think it likely that the company will appeal the verdict and seek a reduction in the damages, deeming them excessive', commented analysts at UBS this morning.

The research firm points out that the company has so far won 10 of the 16 Roundup-related lawsuits, and that its strategy should continue to be to systematically appeal unfavorable judgments, with the aim of reducing the amount of damages it is ordered to pay.

UBS is concerned, however, about a possible upward revision of the company's legal reserves, which currently stand at 6.1 billion euros.

At the end of the third quarter, there were still 52,000 glyphosate-related cases deemed admissible but not yet settled, compared with 46,000 at the end of the second quarter", the analysts point out.

Following these announcements, Bayer shares fell by 5.2% in early trading on Monday, posting by far the biggest drop on the DAX index on the Frankfurt stock exchange.

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