Syngenta H1 Profit Slides - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Swiss agribusiness company Syngenta AG (SYT) Wednesday reported a 5% drop in first-half net income attributable to shareholders to $1.41 billion, or $15.23 per share, from last year's $1.49 billion, or $16.17 per share.

EBITDA amounted to $2.18 billion in the latest quarter, a 3% decrease from $2.25 billion reported a year back. Excluding restructuring and impairment charges, earnings per share stood at $15.92 during the period.

On the other hand, quarterly sales reached $8.39 billion, up by 2 percent on both a reported and constant currency basis, compared with the prior-year figure of $8.27 billion. Underlying integrated sales, adjusted for corn rootworm trait revenue in 2012, advanced 7 percent (CER) with volume up four percent and prices three percent higher, the firm added.

Looking forward, the company sees an acceleration of underlying sales growth in the second half of the year, based on the positive outlook for Latin America and Asia Pacific.

For the full year, Syngenta said it remains on track to deliver sales growth in line with its longer term objective, also expecting to achieve growth in underlying earnings and to generate substantial free cash flow. Looking further ahead, it maintains EBITDA margin target in the range of 22 to 24 percent in 2015, and would focus on delivering sustained sales growth and further growth in profitability supported by cost efficiency and the leverage of its integrated offers.