Syngenta's sales down 1% in 2017
Date:02-16-2018
Syngenta's sales were 1 percent lower, 2 percent at constant exchange rates (CER) in 2017. Crop protection sales were 3 percent lower, 4 percent at CER, at $9.2 billion. Seeds sales grew 6 percent, 5 percent at CER, to $2.8 billion.
3 Excluding Controls, including sales to seeds; 4 Excluding Flowers
Erik Fyrwald, Chief Executive Officer, said: “2017 was an historic year for Syngenta with the closing of the ChemChina transaction.
We achieved record free cash flow despite another challenging year for agriculture with continued pressure on farm incomes. Unfortunately, we were not able to overcome these challenges to revenue and Crop Protection sales declined.
To help support faster growth in Seeds, in November 2017 we announced the purchase of Nidera Seeds from COFCO International. This will further strengthen our Seeds offer in the key Brazil and Argentina markets.
Our commitment to bringing customers new technology was evident in the successful launch of ELATUS® in France, Germany and the UK and of FORTENZA® seed care for insect control in corn and soy in Latin America.
In September 2017, plaintiffs and defendants in the MIR 162 Corn Litigation reached a settlement, subject to court approval, allowing both sides to avoid uncertainty of ongoing litigation.”
Sales by region
Sales grew 1 percent (CER) in Europe, Africa and Middle East with continued growth in the CIS markets largely offset by softness in other markets.
Sales were up 5 percent (CER) in North America driven by strong sales in corn and soy seeds and a 2 percent (CER) improvement in CP sales, with solid growth in Canada.
Asia Pacific sales were flat (CER) with growth in ASEAN offsetting declines in India.
Sales in Latin America fell 14 percent (CER) with continued difficult Crop Protection market conditions and measures to resolve channel inventory issues in Brazil more than offsetting growth in the rest of the region.
Flowers and Controls sales were 3 percent higher at $0.7 billion.
Outlook
Erik Fyrwald, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Farm economics continue very challenging because of low grain prices. For the full year 2018, with our focus on bringing innovation and value to our customers along with working capital and productivity improvement efforts, we expect low single digit growth in sales and continued strong free cash flow generation.”
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