Syngenta restates sales, earnings following segments restructure

As announced in February, Syngenta will adopt new segment reporting of sales and profitability starting with the first half 2012 results, to be announced on July 26.

The new segments reflect the company's integrated strategy and align reporting with previously announced changes in management structure. As such, segment reporting is based on the four geographic regions, with the exception of the global Lawn and Garden business which is reported separately.

This press release provides restated figures for the first half of 2011 and the full years 2011 and 2010. In addition, 2011 quarterly sales performance is reported in line with the new segment structure. Group earnings are unaffected by the restatement.

Reclassification of certain expenses

-- The boundary between Marketing and distribution / Research and development expenses has been redefined. Syngenta's global Research and development organization now manages all field trial sites and activities worldwide, including those related to maintaining product registrations.

-- In order to maximize cost efficiency, the provision of support services in Finance, Information Systems, Human Resources and Indirect Procurement has been centralized through Syngenta Business Services. The allocation of these costs by expense line has changed to reflect the usage of the services. The allocation of costs for these services at a regional level is based on the level of transactional activity in revenues and costs, with revenue-related charges included in Marketing and distribution.

-- Some costs of the integrated organization do not relate to a geographic destination and are reported as non-regional. These include global marketing teams, Research and development and corporate headquarter functions. In addition, regional gross profit performance is based on budgeted product costs: variances to the budget are reported as non-regional in order to align the reported results with organizational accountability.

These reclassifications have no impact on consolidated operating income or on consolidated income before taxes.