Syngenta to sell vegetable seed business, repurchase shares

Syngenta recently announced actions to accelerate shareholder value creation through unlocking the considerable inherent worth in its global seeds portfolio. As stated in the company's full and half year results, this will be achieved in a number of ways such as driving profitability improvement, strategic partnerships or divestments.

Pursuant to this, the company announced its intention to divest its global vegetables seeds business. This industry-leading, high margin business has a significant global footprint and a wide array of best-in-class varieties. As such, it is expected to attract significant third-party interest.

The company also announced its intention to return significant levels of capital to shareholders through a share repurchase program. The initial program of more than $2 billion will commence in the coming weeks. This will be in addition to the progressive dividend policy which the company has followed for several years.

Michel Demare, Chairman, said: "The Board and management are determined to accelerate shareholder value creation and our actions today underpin our commitment to do so. Our commitment is also shown by the significant capital return program that we announced today."

Mike Mack, Chief Executive Officer, said: "By demonstrating and unlocking the inherent worth of our leading global seeds portfolio we can create significant additional value. I look forward to updating shareholders in the coming months on progress, including providing further visibility on the underlying profitability of our portfolio of assets.

"We continue to make excellent progress with our AOL program which, together with our clear intent to drive margin improvement across the business, underpins our confidence in our 2018 margin target of 24-26%. For 2015 we reiterate the full year guidance that we outlined in July."