Sales fall at Syngenta
The world's largest agrochemicals group, Basel based-Syngenta, has reported sales for the first quarter of 2001 of $1.91 billion (SFr3.3 billion) compared with exceptionally strong sales of $2.17 billion for the first quarter of 2000.
The company blamed the poor performance over the first quarter on depressed commodity prices, bad weather and a lack of confidence in Europe following a series of farm crises.
Syngenta said in its statement on Thursday that strong cost control, coupled with planned progress in realizing synergy projects, has resulted in profit margins at the same level as the first quarter of last year.
Some recovery in the sales trend is expected in the rest of the year. The group said that new product introductions are proceeding according to plan, including the launch of the new corn herbicide, Callisto.
Syngenta was formed last November with the merger of the agribusinesses of Novartis and AstraZeneca.
The company ranks first in crop protection worldwide, and third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Pro forma sales in 2000 were approximately $6.9 billion. Syngenta employs more than 20,000 people in over 50 countries.
swissinfo
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.