Good morning, everybody, and welcome to our media update for the second quarter. Many thanks for joining.

Bill will begin by sharing his perspective on key achievements and our path forward. We also have Judith with us today for our first quarterly earnings call as CFO at Bayer.

She will offer her initial perspectives and provide further insights into business performance and the outlook. After that, we have time for your questions.

Now before starting, I would like to briefly draw your attention to the cautionary language included in our safe harbor statement. And with that, over to you, Bill.

Thanks, Michael. Hi, everyone.

The past 90 days have been very important for Bayer. And operationally, we're on track for the year, and we've made decisive progress on our long-term strategic priorities.

So we're going to cover both of those things today. So let's start with our performance in the first half of '26.

Across the group, our businesses are delivering what we committed. Sales are at EUR 24 billion, growing 3% on a currency and portfolio adjusted basis, which we'll refer to throughout the call today.

So core EPS is at EUR 3.66, which is also up 3% from last year at this time. Our free cash flow in the first half is at negative EUR 2.7 billion.

So this compares with minus EUR 1.4 billion last year at this point, and it's due to the litigation-related payouts that we've previously communicated. So on to our businesses.

Crop Science delivered sales growth of 5.5%, and this was driven by strong momentum in seeds and traits, including the additional licensing revenue we posted in the first quarter. EBITDA margin expanded to 31%, a considerable improvement over last year, reflecting higher-margin sales, the licensing revenue that I just mentioned and disciplined execution.

In Pharma, we demonstrated continued resilience. Sales remained flat with Nubeqa and Kerendia combining to grow 66%, overcoming significant and expected declines in Xarelto.

Eylea is down 27%, driven by pressures from biosimilars with the 8-milligram business now representing half of our Eylea sales. Beyonttra continues to progress well, and our base business is growing in part due to strong volume growth in radiology.

Our EBITDA margin is at 26%. This puts us in line with expectations as we continue to invest in future growth in the second half of the year.

Finally, Consumer Health posted growth of 3.5% with contributions from all but one category and particularly strong growth in nutritionals and dermatology. EBITDA margin is trailing prior year, but it's on track to meet our outlook.

Overall, we're pleased with our trajectory. Despite an uncertain environment, we're pacing well to meet our targets.

We'll continue executing our plan, and Team Bayer has what it takes to deliver. Now I'll touch on our strategic priorities, including some recent highlights.

In Pharmaceuticals, we've received priority review for asundexian in both the U.S. and China, and we're preparing for a planned launch in the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.

Further, we closed the acquisition of Perfuse Therapeutics, which we announced last quarter. This is a novel development medicine in glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

Crop Science continues to execute its 5-year framework, and our efforts here are beginning to deliver tangible results as seen in the expansion of our margins. We're also optimizing our business setup.

Last month, we consolidated our U.S. glyphosate business into Ruveon, a distinct entity that will be nimbler and better positioned in a commodity-driven market.

Further, we continue to build our innovative portfolio. For instance, we announced a license agreement for broad commercialization of hybrid wheat.

Wheat is one of the most important staple crops in the world. So across the company, we continue to push for productivity gains with our operating model.

Teams working on launches in pharmaceuticals, driving profitability gains in Crop Science and those making investment decisions in consumer health have much more ownership over their work. We think our lean entrepreneurial operating model positions us well to capitalize on the opportunities of artificial intelligence.

And we're investing in AI in both enterprise systems and tools for our people. So each person at Bayer can extend their productivity, making the greatest impact at the fastest pace and the lowest cost.

Finally, litigation. The last 90 days have been decisive in the company's years-long efforts to contain the litigation uncertainty.

On June 25, in Monsanto versus Durnell, the U.S. Supreme Court announced a landmark ruling for the cause of regulatory clarity for American agriculture and for the company.

The decision was in no way ideological with the majority of justices nominated by both Republicans and Democrats siding with the company. Further, the opinion was unequivocal.

The Environmental Protection Agency is the authority when it comes to regulating crop protection products. Claims grounded in states failure-to-warn theories are preempted and should be dismissed.

Lower courts have already started acting on the Supreme Court's ruling. What does the decision from the Supreme Court?

What does this mean for the company's multipronged strategy? Well, the proposed class settlement between Monsanto and leading plaintiffs firms is moving ahead, and we remain convinced it's the best path to resolution, including for plaintiffs, whose primary legal theory was deemed without merit by the nation's highest court.

Well, we're in a stronger position following the court's ruling. The final approval hearing in the state court in Missouri is now scheduled for August 19 with a final decision expected later this year.

During the interim, the company will participate in the class process, including briefing the court regarding objections and assessing the quality and quantity of opt-outs. On PCBs, as previously communicated, we aim to enforce the indemnity agreements Monsanto had in place, and there's a case now moving forward in federal court.

Overall, our containment strategy is in a strong place with some important milestones ahead. We remain focused on making the right decisions for the company, both in the moment and for the long term.

Over the past 2.5 years, we've been laser-focused on a clear set of priorities, rejuvenating the pharma pipeline, significantly containing litigation, deleveraging, improving profitability at Crop Science and making Bayer leaner, more dynamic and more productive. We've progressed in each of these areas, and each of them has demanded intense focus.

It's imperative that we maintain that focus. So we're concentrating on delivering our commitments and ensuring the best future for Bayer.

So with that, I'll hand it over to Judith to walk you through the financials as well as give some of her first impressions of the company. So she's joined at a pivotal time for Bayer, and she's been all in from day 1.

Judith, over to you.

Thank you, Bill, and welcome, everyone, to the call. It's a pleasure to be with you today, also given that it's the first time that we're actually talking in this forum.

I'm delighted to have joined Bayer at such an exciting time. The team has made significant progress on litigation, and we remain firmly focused on containing this overhang.

The goal remains that Bayer is increasingly valued for the strength of its businesses, innovation and its growth potential. Having spent my first months listening to customers, colleagues and investors, three themes stand out.

First, Bayer's innovation engine is a fundamental competitive advantage. Our leadership positions are built on long-standing R&D capabilities that farmers, patients and consumers rely on.

Our teams are committed to innovate for our mission. Second, we have attractive growth opportunities ahead of us, supported by powerful long-term trends and strong positions in very large markets with growing and aging populations.

Our new operating model has made us leaner and more customer-focused. Third, our financial priorities are clear: to continue to strengthen the balance sheet, to improve productivity and cash generation and to create flexibility to invest for future growth in next-generation medicines, ag technologies and consumer health.

While we made good progress on the transformation, there's still important work ahead, and I see a clear opportunity to build on the momentum with strong execution and financial discipline to deliver sustainable value. With that, let me turn to our financial results.

Net sales increased by 3% to EUR 24.3 billion in the first 6 months. In Q2, sales increased by 2% to EUR 10.9 billion.

EBITDA before special items rose 7% to EUR 6.6 billion in the first half, including an increase of 2% to EUR 2.1 billion in the second quarter. Foreign exchange effects were not a material headwind this quarter.

Core earnings per share came in at EUR 3.66 for the first 6 months. This is consistent with the underlying business seasonality and our expectations for the full year.

If you look at the second quarter specifically, core EPS of EUR 0.95 was 17% below prior year, given nonrecurring benefits in taxes and the reconciliation results in 2025. Both items show a more normalized pattern this year, in line with our expectations.

Let's move on to free cash flow. This year, material litigation-related payouts amounting to EUR 2.5 billion in the first half drove the negative cash flow and explained the decline versus the prior year.

For the second quarter, we saw higher incentive payouts compared to prior year. Finally, net financial debt remained rather stable with a slight increase to EUR 33.6 billion compared to the second quarter of 2025.

Compared to the end of the first quarter this year, net financial debt increased by EUR 1.1 billion, driven by litigation payouts, the Perfuse acquisition for our Pharma business and foreign exchange. In recent weeks, we successfully completed two important financing transactions.

The EUR 3 billion equity investment from Apollo marks an important strategic milestone. It strengthens our capital structure and provides additional flexibility for future financing needs.

Upon closing, it will reduce our net financial debt in the second half of the year. We have since successfully placed USD 5 billion in U.S.

dollar bonds, further demonstrating our ability to access the capital markets. These achievements have been an important team effort, and I would like to sincerely thank all colleagues who contributed to this and importantly, to our first half results.

Overall, our performance puts us well on track to deliver our full-year guidance. We thus reiterate our group outlook on sales, earnings and free cash flow at constant currencies for the full year 2026.

Our outlook reflects the strong performance in the first half, but also the anticipated dynamics for the remainder of the year. In addition, we remain mindful of the dynamic external environment.

On net financial debt, we have reflected the minority equity investment by Apollo with closing expected in the second half of this year. With that, we now anticipate net financial debt in the range of EUR 29 billion to EUR 30 billion, down from previously guided EUR 32 billion to EUR 33 billion.

Overall, we currently see a balanced risk and opportunity profile for our full-year outlook, which continues to include our latest assessments on several external factors and geopolitics. Looking ahead, we continue to closely following several key topics that remain fluid.

For Crop Science, we continue to monitor geopolitical and weather-related developments, including potential El Nino impacts. Weather volatility could affect planting and yields in some regions.

Our technology-based seed and crop protection solutions are helping growers to manage these challenges. For our Pharma business, we do not expect tariffs to materially affect our outlook this year.

At the same time, we remain focused on developments in global drug pricing, particularly around MFN policies and continue to evaluate their potential implications for our pricing and launch strategies. For Consumer Health, key variables in the second half of the year remain the trajectory of consumer sentiment in the U.S.

and other key markets, the performance of seasonal categories and developments in the macroeconomic environment. And finally, on foreign exchange rates, in line with our practice, we have updated the foreign exchange estimate based on June month end spot rates.

Compared to constant currencies, this leads to a slightly lower headwind to net sales and to core earnings per share compared to the last estimate. And with that, over to you, Michael, for the Q&A.

Many thanks, Judith. Many thanks, Bill.

Let's now start the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Okay.

Now let's get started. And the first question will come from Sonja Wind from Bloomberg and then followed by.

But the first question goes to Sonja. Sonja, over to you.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

I have two questions. The first one is on your launch strategy, which you already touched on.

So for asundexian, for example, are you planning to launch this in Europe as well, specifically Germany, where the environment has become a bit less favorable for drug makers? And secondly, on the litigation topic, do you have any comments so far or at least a timing for when you will comment on the number of opt-outs from the settlement proposal?

Yes. Thanks, Sonja.

Good to hear from you and happy summer. Let's see.

First, regarding our launch strategy for asundexian. Well, when we develop a medicine like asundexian that we think has potential to help millions of people around the world prevent secondary strokes, we certainly have every intention of launching in every country possible.

I think we urgently need more developed countries to shoulder their share of the burden on pricing. I think for too long, many countries in the West outside of the United States have kind of taken a ride on the U.S.

paying higher prices and then other countries paying lower prices. And just as an example, in the time since AMNOG was formed, prices for pharmaceuticals in Germany have gone down about 10%.

And of course, over that same time, consumer prices have increased 30% or 40%. So this is not a pricing approach that is sustainable in any way.

And in particular, it really threatens future innovation. So we hope to launch asundexian around the world, including in Europe and in Germany.

But we certainly need to have conversations, and we're having those conversations to make sure that it's appropriately valued because pharmaceuticals should not be seen as simply a cost center in a health budget. Asundexian is a great example where if you can prevent and it showed in the Phase III trial, 26% reduction in second strokes.

I mean that has enormous impact on health care systems in addition to the impact it has on patients' lives and the lives of their families. But it also has enormous consequences in terms of keeping people out of hospitals, keeping people out of rehab centers, out of long-term care facilities, and that needs to be appropriately valued.

And unfortunately, in Europe today, that's not appropriately valued. So we're working hard on this with policymakers, and we definitely need them to step up and do their part.

On the question on litigation and opt-outs. So the opt-out period, it closed on June 4, and that's been confirmed by the courts.

The final approval hearing will happen on August 19. That's the scheduled date.

And so we -- there are always some opt-outs. We have this sort of extended period between the June 4 and August 19 dates, and this is a time where we would consider allowing people that were out back in.

So that's kind of ongoing. And I don't expect that you'll hear much from us on that until the hearing date thereafter.

So the next question comes from [indiscernible] followed then by Patricia Weiss from Reuters.

I have three little questions. First, have you now completed the job cuts as part of the DSO initiative?

And how many jobs have you cut in total? The second question, are you now considering spinning off divisions?

You mentioned it in the past that sometimes it comes back. And a third political question, an important decision is coming up for the economy in August.

North Rhine-Westphalia wants to phase out coal-fired power generation. So Evonik is calling for the coal phaseout to be postponed.

Is Bayer calling for that as well? Would you be happy if coal gets more time?

Yes. Thanks, [ Sanjay ].

In terms of job numbers, in Q2 of this year, the number of jobs at Bayer was roughly stable. It was about flat.

I wouldn't think of it as necessarily indicative of what's to come. I think we've said from the beginning, we don't have a job number in mind.

What we want to make sure is that all of our people are able to do their best work every day and that we have the maximum impact that everyone has the maximum impact on our mission. And that's what our system is designed to do is basically every 90 days, each team can say, "Hey, do we keep going?

Does this team have a reason to exist? Do we keep going?

Do we break up and go join other teams? Do we get smaller?

Do we need to expand?" And these are basically dynamic decisions.

That's why we call our system Dynamic Shared Ownership is that every 90 days, we have the opportunity to adjust. I think we're going to continue to pursue increased productivity because that's in our DNA now that everyone at Bayer understands that our goal is not just to preserve the status quo, but we have this mission that's behind us here, Health for all, Hunger for none.

And our goal is to make sure that everybody at Bayer can have a bigger impact on that every 90 days. So I know you'd like a simpler answer than that maybe, but I think the simplest answer is we're going to do everything we can to make our people more valuable.

And AI, by the way, incorporation of AI, which is happening very rapidly at Bayer, and we have a lot of really amazing examples of how it's making a difference already. I think that's going to also be a significant force in making our people more impactful.

So we're going to have to see, but I think you're going to see Bayer getting leaner and more productive over time. You asked about spinning off divisions.

The structure topic is one that is always with us because we have 3 divisions that are different, and that's not the normal way of things in the world today. What I'd say about that is we -- when we started having this conversation together about 3 years ago, things were looking really not so good for our outlook, and we're in a much better position today.

We've worked really hard for that. That hasn't come easy.

But we regularly assess, and I know Judith just recently joining the team, we regularly assess what's -- hey, what's the best outcome and what's the best approach for all of our stakeholders, our employees, our shareholders. And we keep an open mind about it.

So we're always looking. But we still have these 5 key priorities that we identified at the time, and we've got really important work to do on those.

We've been very disciplined. How do we improve the pharma pipeline?

We've made progress on that, but we have more work to do. Likewise, Crop Science, productivity, profitability, we've made progress, much more to do.

The debt levels, settling litigation is an important component of improving our financial health, but it's not inexpensive. And so we've got to continue to work to strengthen our balance sheet.

We've got the need to drive efficiencies everywhere and be a leaner, faster, more innovative company. We've made great progress with Dynamic Shared Ownership.

So I'd say we've gone from a position of weakness on this of being rather on the bureaucratic end of the spectrum. Now I would say we're probably one of the least bureaucratic large companies that anyone would ever see.

But now this is a position of strength, and we can use this, and we've got momentum. So we're going to do that.

I think overall, this is paying off right now for shareholders because they see the valuation upside that comes with focus on these things, reducing the litigation overhang, increasing our financial performance like we delivered this quarter. Strengthening our balance sheet.

So we will stay open-minded on this topic, but we're not going to allow it to be a distraction for us while we've got this momentum, and we're going to keep focused, really laser-focused on those key priorities. So -- yes, that's what I have to say about spinning off divisions.

And then the question about North Rhine-Westphalia and coal-fired power, I don't think Judith or I are trying to be experts on energy policy. But I think one thing that's becoming very clear in the world today, and this is also very clear in Germany.

If you don't have energy security, you don't have national security. And this is not a trivial matter.

And so again, we're not the experts, although actually Judith has quite a bit of knowledge in the energy field. But I would strongly urge policymakers in Germany and Europe to pay more attention to this because industries are going away.

And Bayer is not the most energy-dependent company around. I mean there's a lot of other companies in Germany and in Europe that are more energy dependent than we are, and they are suffering mightily.

And that's a vital interest to all the people of Germany and of Europe. So I don't think we have an official position on that one topic.

But I would say on energy policy, we need more affordable energy for Europe, for jobs, for the economy and for the future.

So next question comes from Patricia Weiss from Reuters, followed then by Bert Frondhoff from Handelsblatt.

I hope you can hear me well.

Yes, we can.

Great. Wonderful.

Let me return to the question of Bayer's corporate structure. You recently carved out the glyphosate business into the stand-alone entity.

I'm saying the move would make the business more agile? Or is that rather the first step toward a sale or spin-off of the business?

And you also said you will stay open-minded, like what would be the most possible scenario at the moment? And does the Supreme Court ruling in Bayer's favor now effectively eliminate the risk of future multibillion-dollar glyphosate provisions?

And my last question, the debt reduction is progressing faster than expected, thanks to the Apollo deal. Will you primarily use this to further strengthen the balance sheet?

Or are you also considering larger M&A transactions to bolster the pharmaceutical pipeline?

Yes. Thanks, Patricia.

Regarding Ruveon, I don't think we would really say more than what we've said because like in anything that's a structural move, I think you have to kind of take things one step at a time and you do what makes sense at the time. And we think it makes all the sense in the world given the competitive state of that business to have this sort of semi-independent entity that can really move fast and take the actions that are required to be competitive in that space.

So I don't think there's anything else to say on that for the moment. Regarding the SCOTUS ruling and what it means for glyphosate, I mean, it certainly is a very important step because the court is acknowledging what we've been saying all along, which is that, yes, if the nation's leading authority has approved a label, and has ruled on the question of safety of a product, then a manufacturer that's done everything as Monsanto has done to provide information, updates and to keep that label current, they can't be sued for failure to warn.

That just doesn't make any sense. So I think that's -- it's a really important step for limiting litigation in the future.

That being said, I think in order to really resolve this, we need to get the class done and make sure that there's clarity for all involved. And so that's why we're pursuing that.

And I think our balance sheet, we want to strengthen that. We also -- we know we need to invest, for example, in the pharmaceutical field.

This is -- Pharmaceuticals is an area where you have a medicine for 8, 10, 12 years and then you lose patent protection and then you basically have to reinvent yourself every decade. And so there needs to be investment for that.

So yes, we want to both strengthen our balance sheet and increase our future investment, especially in the Pharma division, and we're working on that.

Okay. And the next question comes from Bert Frondhoff, Handelsblatt, followed then by Ayisha Sharma from Endpoints News.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Okay. I have the same question about the future of glyphosate and Ruveon.

But related to that, what is the profit margin on glyphosate? Could you give us a number compared to the gross margin of Crop Science in total?

Yes, Bert, we don't normally describe profit margins on individual products. But we've said many times before that the profit margin on glyphosate is -- it's very low.

I think sometimes we said it's approaching 0. It depends a little bit on what's going on in the world and what the price of the generic glyphosate is doing.

But yes, it's definitely one of the lowest profit products in our portfolio.

Next question comes from Ayisha Sharma from Endpoint News, followed then by Muller, Financial Times.

First, just on Germany's Health Spending Plan that was recently passed. How do you expect that to kind of affect drug prices on the continent and especially with regards to MFN in the U.S.?

What sort of broader ripple effect do you expect that to have on the industry? And secondly, there's been an uptick in pharmaceutical companies making deals with sort of Chinese biotech and licensing innovation from China.

I was just wondering, does Bayer also have an interest in that area? Is that an area where it's looking to expand?

Hi Ayisha. Well, yes, we were disappointed at the outcome of the recent discussions in Germany about reforms and so-called reforms in health care.

Increasing the discounts and mandatory rebates from pharmaceutical companies, as I mentioned before, this really doesn't make any sense, especially for a country that aspires to be a leader in the world in pharmaceuticals. And so yes, we're really urging policymakers to reconsider that because it's right now, I think about 80% of the medicines that are used in Germany, consumed in Germany are produced in Germany, which is a really good position for the country to be in.

But -- yes, kind of using the pharmaceutical industry as a way to balance the health care budget, that's really not viable in -- well, I was going to say it's not viable long term. It's not even viable short term.

So we -- yes, we would strongly urge the government to reconsider that. Regarding Chinese innovation, there's a lot of great innovation coming out of China, and we're certainly open to deals.

We've done partnerships with Chinese biotech companies and start-ups, and that could be an increased source of innovation. I think the worldwide, there's a quest for innovative new molecules and kind of new approaches to finding targets and attacking targets in the human -- well, yes, disease-related targets.

So we're very open to that. I think we also have a lot of partnerships with companies in Europe and the U.S.

So it's really a global affair.

The next question comes from Florian Muller, Financial Times, followed then by Jonas Jansen from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

So I have like [indiscernible] similar deals. Do you think that more in particular or [indiscernible] along those lines in the future as well?

Do you think you still have some assets which you could use for that? Or -- and do you think that it could also be an alternative to spin-offs just in general?

Florian, we couldn't hear you very well. Were you talking about the Apollo deal?

Yes.

Got it. We missed the beginning of your question.

We heard the end. Okay.

Judith, do you want to comment on that?

Yes. Thank you, Florian.

Indeed, this was -- Apollo deal was the right transaction in the right time, if I may say so. We -- it is a EUR 3 billion equity investment, which really it was already mentioned by one of your colleagues earlier, is helping us to delever.

And so that is a very -- is a very good structure for us with a very good partner for that matter. And yes, it's part of the entire toolbox that we have to look at our balance sheet and the delevering.

There isn't -- I didn't hear the first part of your question, but there isn't anything similar plan at this stage. But like I said, it's part of the full toolbox.

The next question comes from Jonas Jansen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, followed then by Adria Calatayud from Dow Jones Newswires.

Just one clarification regarding the discussions. Do you have time line when you need to -- that needs to be resolved or an expectation when that should be the bigger topic with the regulators.

Is there anything coming up? What you could talk about?

And the second question, just a short one, every other year when it's getting warm and low water on the Rhine, are you impacted by that [indiscernible].

Jonas, could you just say your first question, we just missed like the first few words. And...

Just regarding about the Pharma discussions with regulators, you mentioned in the first answer, do you have like a time line when that needs to be resolved to work properly or an expectation when you can get into the discussions with the regulators? Is there anything coming up or anything planned?

Or is that just an ongoing discussion all the time?

And do you mean the pricing authorities?

Yes.

Okay. Yes.

So the policymaking process is complex. What we heard from the government in Germany was that they remain very committed to the long-term kind of funding of pharmaceuticals and paying for innovation, but there's a need to balance the budget this year and -- but things will get better in future years.

And so it's kind of an open topic. And I think there's -- yes, there's ongoing conversations happening about that with -- between the representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and the government as to what that will actually look like and how we can ensure that we do have good conditions for innovation.

So I think more to come on that. And the question about the Rhine effect.

I mean, we see it. It's obviously affecting shipping on the Rhine.

I think we've managed to mitigate it thus far. There is some more rain happening in Central Europe right now.

There were storms that came through last night, and we're going to have to see whether we have a recovery in shipping. But so far, that's not -- there's not been an impact on Bayer.

And the next question comes from Adria Calatayud.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

I wanted to follow up on the topic of the group structure. You've said that you still have important work to do.

Does that mean that you would have to wait until you're fully satisfied with what you've done in terms of these 5 priorities that you've outlined? Or could you look at this before that?

Yes. Thanks, Adria.

I mean what it comes down to is focus. And we have 87,000 people that are focused on delivering on the mission and really nailing those 5 key priority areas.

But that doesn't mean that the management Board can't have our head up and kind of considering opportunities and options. And what I would say is, for now, we think the best plan is to continue to drive hard on those 5 topics because they will make us better in any scenario, in any structural scenario, whether we're staying together, whether we're selling something or divesting something.

In any of those cases, basically having the litigation overhang significantly contained, having a stronger balance sheet, basically delivering better financial performance in every division, in every business, having a nimbler, faster organization, that's going to serve us in season and out. And so our assessment today is that it's not time to take our eye off of that.

We need to stay really focused on driving those, and we'll keep our minds open and our heads up.

All right. Thank you, Judith.

Thank you, Bill. That's all we had on the docket right now from the questions.

Thank you very much for your questions. Thank you very much for your interest.

And this concludes our call, and we wish all of you a great day. Thank you.