FRANKFURT: Investor concerns that Bayer’s earnings were inflated by soccer player transfer fees rather than supported by its core health care and agriculture businesses helped send its shares plummeting nearly 5 percent to a one-month low on Wednesday.
The German maker of pharmaceuticals and crop protection products reported in unscheduled preliminary results last week that second-quarter operating income, adjusted for some items, came in at a better-than-expected 2.1 billion euros ($2.43 billion).
In a more detailed disclosure on Wednesday, however, it said those results included higher revenue from its German Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen resulting from player transfers.
Bayer shares were down 4.7 percent at 0958 GMT.
Fresh details in Wednesday’s disclosure indicating that Bayer’s performance was also more the result of established blood thinner Xarelto than newer drugs with longer patent protection contributed to the stock selloff as well.
