FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A judgment for damages of historic proportions caused Bayer's share price to slide on Monday. Around midday, the shares of the agrochemical and pharmaceutical company lost 4.7 percent to 30.805 euros at the end of the Dax. They thus remained only just above their December low of 30.22 euros - below this level, there is a risk of a slide to the lowest level since 2005. 2024 has so far seen a drop of 8.4 percent, after the shares were already among the biggest losers in the leading German index last year.

With an amount of 2.2 billion dollars, a US jury sentenced Bayer to the highest damages payment to date in lawsuits concerning weed killers containing glyphosate. The company intends to appeal. The verdict contradicts the scientific findings and assessments of the authorities, a spokesperson criticized.

The company is appealing against all the lawsuits lost in the first instance in order to at least reduce the payment, commented analyst Jo Walton from the major Swiss bank UBS. He referred to a statement from the company, which expects to "have strong arguments on appeal to overturn this judgment or at least reduce the unconstitutionally excessive damages". Bayer went on to say that the damages had also been reduced by more than 90 percent in lawsuits lost to date. The company also pointed out that it had prevailed in court in ten of the most recent 16 cases.

Nevertheless, expert Walton sees the risk that higher provisions will become necessary. Bayer currently has USD 6.1 billion for glyphosate payments and a limited amount for lawsuits in connection with the PCB chemical group and the weedkiller Dycamba. When the figures for the third quarter of 2023 were presented, around 52,000 glyphosate lawsuits were pending and no verdict had yet been reached, Walton emphasized. In addition, there were challenges for Bayer due to unproductive research and development activities as well as high risks from copycat products in the pharmaceutical business./gl/bek/stk