Proposals to Stockholders' Meeting to Authorize Bond Issues and Share Buyback
LEVERKUSEN, Germany, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer is to pay a dividend of
DM 2.00 per share for 1998, an increase of DM 0.10 over the year before. The
company's Supervisory and Management Boards resolved to submit the proposal to
the Annual Stockholders' Meeting on April 30, 1999. The capital stock
entitled to the dividend for 1998 is DM 3,652 million and is divided into
730,341,920 no-par shares.
The tax credit for domestic stockholders comes to DM 0.65 (1997: DM 0.81),
giving a gross dividend of DM 2.65 per share (1997: DM 2.71). The reason for
the lower tax credit is a reduction in the proportion of the distributed
profit on which German income tax has already been paid. Subject to the
approval of the stockholders, the total dividend payment will be
DM 1,461 million (1997: DM 1,388 million), yet another record.
The Bayer Group consolidated financial statements were prepared and
audited according to the rules of the International Accounting Standards
Committee, London.
Bayer Group sales fell slightly, by 0.2 percent, in 1998 to
DM 54.9 billion (1997: DM 55.0 billion). Income before income taxes, however,
increased by 4.5 percent to DM 5.3 (5.1) billion and the net income by
7.3 percent to DM 3.2 (2.9) billion. Capital investments were
DM 5.2 (4.6) billion and research and development expenditure was
DM 3.9 (3.9) billion.
Parent company Bayer AG improved its sales in 1998 by 3.7 percent to
DM 19.4 billion (1997: DM 18.7 billion). The operating result, on the other
hand, fell by 3.1 percent to DM 1.6 (1.7) billion.
The Supervisory and Management Boards will propose to the Stockholders'
Meeting that the company be authorized to issue convertible bonds or bonds
with warrants attached and to buy back up to 10 percent of its own shares.
SOURCE Bayer Group
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Related links:
http://www.bayerus.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/092575.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 092575
CONTACT:
Guenter Forneck of Bayer AG, +49 214 30
50446, or E-mail, guenter.forneck.gf@bayer-ag.de
EDITORS' ADVISORY: Full details of the Bayer Group's performance
in 1998 will be given at a news conference in Leverkusen on March
16, 1999
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