Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Bayer AG and also Chair of the annual stockholders' meeting, I call our company's regular annual stockholders' meeting to order. I welcome you, our shareholders, the shareholders' representatives, representatives from the media and everyone else who is following today's annual stockholders' meeting by Internet today. We would like to have met you in person this year, especially this year in Bonn for our annual stockholders' meeting, but the unusual circumstances made this impossible this year. As you could see from the convocation to the annual stockholders' meeting, the Board of Management, because of the health risks caused by coronavirus and with the approval of the Supervisory Board, the Board of Management decided to hold this year's annual stockholders' meeting as an online meeting without the physical presence of shareholders and their proxies. We are making use of the possibility given to us recently by the legislators with the so-called COVID-19 Law for 2020. Due to the existing contact restrictions, we have also limited the number of participants here in the communication center in Leverkusen, we've limited this to a small number of people. Next to me -- in addition to me from the Supervisory Board, we have Oliver Zühlke, he is the Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board; and Professor Norbert Winkeljohann, who is the Chair of the Audit Committee on the Supervisory Board. I would also like to welcome the CEO, Werner Baumann; and the CFO, Wolfgang Nickl. In addition, the notary public, Dr. Marc Hermanns is with us. He will be keeping the minutes of today's annual stockholders' meeting. Other members of the Supervisory Board as well as the other members of the Board of Management are all following us on the Internet, and they can also communicate with me and the members of the Board of Management if they need to do so. In addition, a proxy representative from the company is present here today as well. With our online annual stockholders' meeting without the shareholders here in person or their representatives, we are making use of a possibility created by the legislators just a short time ago in order to have our online stockholders' meeting. This allows us to protect your health, the health of our service providers and employees. And we can also take into account all of the regulatory requirements. In addition, by carrying out an online annual stockholders' meeting, you, our shareholders, will also be able to take decisions at the original time planned, and that means that you will also be able to receive your dividend in good time. We know, we're aware of the fact that carrying out an online stockholders' -- shareholders' meeting can result in a number of limitations to the shareholders' rights. In particular, shareholders and management cannot enter into a dialogue as they usually can in the form of our general discussion. But for you to be able to exercise your shareholder right at an online meeting, we have given you the possibility to allow what is possible by law and everything that is technically feasible. We've opened up a number of different possibilities for you. You can exercise your voting right yourself or through your representatives by post or by mail or by the proxies in the company. Registered shareholders could also submit questions before the annual stockholders' meeting. We will be answering these questions after we hear from Mr. Baumann and myself. We assume that this online annual stockholders' meeting is something that is also in your interest. Ladies and gentlemen, at this point, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in planning and implementing this stockholders' meeting. Now let's turn to the formalities. In addition, I'd also like to give you some information on today's annual stockholders' meeting. This year, we are offering simultaneous interpretation, as we do every year, for the entire annual stockholders' meeting. Interpretation from German into English, and you can set this on the website. Convocation to today's online annual stockholders' meeting and the agenda as well as the proposals from the Board of Management and Supervisory Board were sent out together with the cancellation of the originally planned in-person stockholders' meeting with the same agenda. And these were all sent out in due form and in due time, and were published in the Federal Gazette on the 6th of April 2020. The financial statements, including the proposal from the Board of Management for the use of distributable profit, the consolidated financial reports, the combined management report, including an explanatory report on the acquisition-related information as well as the report from the Supervisory Board have been available since this was convoked, and these have been available on the company's website and are also available here in this meeting room. This also applies to Ms. Cousin's, Professor Wiestler's and Mr. Baier's CVs. They are being proposed to be elected to members of the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, I note that this annual stockholders' meeting was convoked in accordance with the law and the articles of incorporation. This year, we will also keep a list of participants. And in this list of position -- participants, you will be able to see the company's proxies as well as the shareholders that they represent. Depending on the authorizations given and taken back during the annual stockholders' meeting, we will see that the number of shareholders' representatives will change over the course of the meeting. I'd like to give you the current number of shareholders represented today. Before we vote, I will then announce the number of shareholders represented once again. The current number is as follows: a total of 64.02% of the share capital is represented here at this stockholders' meeting. This figure includes the proxies from the company and also includes the votes received by mail. Ladies and gentlemen, they represent a total of 621,273,053 votes or shares. This is the equivalent of 63.24% of the share capital. In addition, we also have absentee voters from 7,711,482 shares. And I can tell you one thing on this, at the present time, we have 2,100 people who are following our online stockholders' meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, after my introductory remarks as well as the reports from the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, we will then go into the questions sent in to us by the deadline from shareholders. Following the Q&A, we will then vote on the agenda items and on resolutions. Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you some information on the votes. You will vote today by absentee ballot or through the company's proxies by fax, e-mail and through the shareholders' portal. And you can vote up until the point in time at the stockholders' meeting when I conclude the vote on the agenda items. I will announce the closing of the vote beforehand. And until the vote is closed, you will be able to cast your vote in the different possibilities that I just mentioned to you. And then, once again, I will remind you to cast your vote, but I'd also like to call upon you now to be sure to cast your vote in due time. Information on exercising your votes can be found in the convocation to this meeting and on the company's website. The company's proxies will then vote by releasing the votes that have been saved in the system on the basis of your instructions on the individual agenda items. The votes received in time by mail will be taken into account when determining the results of the vote. Our notary republic (sic) (notary public) will be monitoring the vote and the counting of the votes. He has already reviewed and made sure that the technical requirements have been met. Ladies and gentlemen, before we start with the agenda, I'd like to mention some changes on the Board of Management in the last fiscal year, and then pending changes in the Supervisory Board will be explained to you when we come to the proposals for the elections to the Supervisory Board. On the 31st of December, Dr. Hartmut Klusik and Kemal Malik left the Board of Management. Mr. Klusik was responsible for HR, technology and sustainability. He was also Labor Director. After many long and successful years at Bayer, he left the company and has retired. We would like to thank him for all he did. Thank you very, very much. Mr. Baumann has additionally taken over responsibility for HR and sustainability and the role of Labor Director. And since January 2020, Engineering and Technology reports to Mr. Nickl. Mr. Malik was responsible for innovation and for the Asia Pacific region. After long and successful years at Bayer, he has also left the company. We would also like to thank him for his valuable work. The division's pharma, crop science and consumer health are now responsible now, since January of '20, for the entire value chain, including the respective innovations. Responsibility for Asia Pacific has now been assumed by Mr. Schipper. By streamlining the organization on the Board of Management, we have optimized responsibilities on the Board of Management. And at the same time, we have also contributed to our ongoing efficiency program called Bayer 2022. I am convinced that with this new allocation of responsibilities on the Board of Management that the Board is now really well positioned for the tasks and challenges ahead of us. At the same time, the Supervisory Board maintains its goal of increasing diversity on the Board of management. And in the near future, they intend to appoint a female member to the Board of Management. Ladies and gentlemen, after these explanations on the change in the Board of Management, we can now deal with the agenda. The agenda with the proposals for resolutions was published in the convocation in the Federal Gazette. You can find the agenda in the invitation to the annual stockholders' meeting, which was sent to all of our shareholders. The invitation is also available on the company's website. Let's begin then with agenda #1 on the -- where we have the financial statements and reports as well as the use of distributable product -- profit is to be dealt with. I'd also like to call out the remaining agenda items, in other words, agenda items 2 through 8. We will be giving you information on these agenda items as well. The complete version of the 2019 Annual Report, including the report of the Supervisory Board and the combined management report as well as the financial statements and the use -- the proposal for the use of distributable profit and the consolidated financial reports have been available on the company's website since the convocation to the annual stockholders' meeting was sent out, and these can be retrieved there. Our notary public also has a copy of all of these documents. The annual accounts for 2019 were prepared by the Board of Management, approved by the Supervisory Board and others confirmed. The consolidated financial statements were also approved by the Supervisory Board. The combined management report was reviewed by the Supervisory Board and was approved without any objections. The Supervisory Board has also reviewed and approved the proposal from the Board of Management for the use of distributable profit. The financial statements, the consolidated financial statements, the combined management report have all been audited by the external auditors. An unqualified audit opinion was given. The Supervisory Board has agreed to the results of the audit. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to ask Mr. Baumann to take the floor and present us his report for the Board of Management.

Ladies and gentlemen, stockholders. In these extraordinary times, reliable, trusted partners must sometimes resort to extraordinary measures to remain a reliable partner. And this is exactly what we're doing today with you. On this note, I would like to welcome you all to the very first annual stockholders' meeting in the history of Bayer AG, and to the first ever virtual stockholders' meeting in the history of the DAX. Now I have to admit this is completely new territory for all of us here today. On the one hand, this makes us digital pioneers. But on the other hand, it's, of course, unfortunate that we can't speak to you directly in person because I would much prefer to be able to address you face-to-face today in Bonn. But unfortunately, the corona crisis has rendered this impossible. Now this is painful, but it's certainly the right decision under these circumstances because, when it comes to your health and safety, we refuse to take any chances. We did, of course, discuss at length of whether or not we should perhaps postpone our annual shareholders' meeting to a later date. However, this would have meant you having to wait for months to ask questions and exercise your right to vote. Furthermore, today, we would like to pave the way for you to receive your dividend on time and in full. And this is why we believe we are acting in your best interest by using the flexibility granted to us by the recent changes in legislation that permit us to hold our annual shareholders' meeting as an online event. This allows us to contribute a semblance of normality in these challenging times. But normality also means that I will be reporting to you on the prior fiscal year and the first quarter of this year. I will speak about our milestones and strategic development and also about our operating performance. And you will clearly see that we've been working extremely hard, and we've also delivered on our promises. We set our targets, and we have succeeded in accomplishing them. However, ladies and gentlemen, the coronavirus is by far the dominant topic at the moment. And for this reason, I would like to tell you about how we, at Bayer, have been dealing with this pandemic and what our plans are for tackling the pandemic going forward. I'd also like to speak about the impact that the crisis is having on our business. I believe I speak for our employees all over the world and also for my colleagues on the Board of Management when I tell you that the past 2 months have posed the greatest challenges that we have experienced in our professional careers. We all had to deal with restrictions, limitations that none of us could ever have imagined in our professional lives, in our private lives and, quite often, both at the same time. But our top priority is the health and safety of our 100,000 employees. Since the very beginning of the crisis, we've been continually reassessing the situation and adapting our safety measures accordingly. Be it personal protective equipment, masks, distancing rules, ensuring 0 contact on shift changes or temperature checks at our entrances. Our motto is safety first. No ifs, no buts. At a personal level, I'm very pleased that these measures have had the desired effect. And thanks to this, we have thus far been able to keep our production up and running at normal levels. I'd now like to explain to you why this is so important. In numerous countries, we've seen that once the pandemic has reached a certain stage, only companies that are crucial for the basic needs of the population are allowed to continue their operations. Now wherever such rules have been enforced, Bayer has been classified as such a company. Health and food are 2 of the fundamental basic needs of humanity. The patients, consumers and farmers all over the world place their trust in us and in our products. This is why, over the last few weeks, we have done everything in our power to live up to this responsibility. Our colleagues are more aware than ever of this responsibility. And every day, thanks to their unbelievable commitment and creativity, they have been doing their bit in helping us to keep our supply lines running, and we are extremely proud of each one of them. Take our colleague, Mehmet Cimit, for example. He is the head of our production -- head of production at our Garbagnate sites. Garbagnate is a town on the outskirts of Milan in Northern Italy, one of the epicenters of the pandemic. Mehmet Cimit and his team have been holding the fort for months, ensuring that the production of the life-saving drugs for Italy and the global market continues despite the lockdown in the country. And what's even more important, they have also managed to ensure that not one single employee in Garbagnate has contracted COVID-19, what a fantastic achievement. The employees in our supply chain have been equally as crucial. They ensure that our products reach the places where they are needed. Now this is a huge effort in a world with closed borders, where flights are canceled and in which conventional freight routes have been disrupted. And thanks to all of this, we have been able to supply our products without disruption. Now, of course, this doesn't change the fact that the purpose of our company is to be a successful commercial entity. However, we are also an integral component of our society in the countries in which we operate, in the cities and municipalities in which we operate and also where our employees and their families live. This is why we consider it so important to take responsibility at a local level. Now what does this mean? It means taking action swiftly, unbureaucratically and sometimes unconventionally. We are continually in contact with governments, health authorities, aid organizations and hospitals all over the world to provide concrete and pragmatic assistance wherever it is required, with medicines and donations in kind, with our expertise and our workforce, but also with urgently needed financial support. We are providing assistance in ongoing studies, testing drugs to see if they could be used to fight the coronavirus. We are also donating large quantities of medicines that could potentially help people. One such example is chloroquine, which Bayer has long been using to fight malaria. We have now donated large quantities of chloroquine to numerous countries, including China, Italy, the U.S.A. and Germany. Initial results from laboratories, tests and clinics suggest that chloroquine could be beneficial in the treatment of patients with COVID-19. And of course, as a prescription medication, chloroquine must be taken under the supervision of medical professionals. Scientists expect to have conclusive results over the next few weeks. If the benefit of chloroquine is shown to be scientifically proven, then the drug could be deployed on a large-scale globally. Should that happen, rest assured that we will do everything in our power to produce sufficient quantities of it, including here in Germany. It should be noted that we would only produce this drug for the common good and would supply it to governments free of charge. Moreover, there are countless examples of our colleagues all over the world making significant progress. Take one of our colleagues, Kirsten Leineweber. In, Wuppertal, she is heading a research team for cardiovascular diseases. Thanks to her, the ventilators produced by Bayer are being deployed in hospitals in Wuppertal. She and her team have also been supplying test kits from Bayer's medical research facilities to medical laboratories, thus allowing thousands of additional coronavirus tests to be conducted every day. We have freed up 140 colleagues in Berlin to work in our new test laboratory. Furthermore, we're donating other drugs and self-care products to numerous countries. Products such as antibiotics and vitamin supplements. Chet Barber, one of our U.S. colleagues who works in technical development in St. Louis, saw a TV report about the company that has been using a 3D printer to make special facemasks. Now 4 days later, we started producing them ourselves. And since then, our colleagues in St. Louis have been producing 500 of these masks every day and are supplying them to hospitals and fire brigades in the area. Now this list is far from exhaustive. These are simply a handful of examples that demonstrate the commitment and initiative of our people here at Bayer. I am immensely proud of them all. To be there when we are needed, to help those people who need it the most. This is the company that I have come to know over the past 30 years, and this is clearer than ever in these challenging times. This is why, on behalf of the Board of Management and also, I'm sure, on behalf of you, our stockholders, I would like to say a big thank you to all our employees for their tireless commitment. Ladies and gentlemen, the corona crisis has been a challenge for all of us. However, it has also encouraged us to keep doing what we have set out to do. We are on the right track and are operating in the right fields of business. After all, what could possibly be more important than contributing to the global supply of health care and food. We are also on track with the extensive measures that we launched at the end of 2018 and that we have continued to pursue since the annual shareholders' meeting in 2019. We took stock of the disappointing voting results at last year's annual stockholders' meeting. We have been in close dialogue with our investors, have taken their criticism on board and have tried hard to make improvements. You will see that strategically and operationally, we turned in a performance that was exactly in line with what we promised in the previous fiscal year. At our Capital Markets Day at the end of 2018, for example, we announced our medium-term financial targets and spoke about our strategic focuses, including sustainability. Shortly before that, we had agreed on extensive portfolio efficiency and structural measures in order to put Bayer on a solid footing for the future. Today, I am pleased to announce that we have delivered on our promises in each of these areas. In fiscal 2019, we achieved our financial targets, and this despite having had to contend with a challenging market environment, particularly in the agricultural sector. We also delivered on the portfolio measures that we announced. We will be selling our Animal Health business to Elanco for $7.6 billion. We expect to close this transaction as planned by the middle of this year. Moreover, we successfully divested our interest in Currenta and sold our Dr. Scholl's and Coppertone brands. We managed to conclude all of these portfolio measures in 2019, ahead of schedule. And more importantly, this delivered attractive sales proceeds of just under EUR 10 billion for Bayer. We have made very good progress with our efficiency and structural measures. As of 2022, we expect annual gross contributions of EUR 2.6 billion. This figure includes the synergies expected from the integration in our agricultural business. In 2019, we managed to achieve 30% of these efficiency targets. This means that our progress here, too, has been quicker than expected. Ladies and gentlemen, even when we completed the acquisition of Monsanto, we spoke about the importance of sustainability. At our annual shareholders' meeting 2 years ago, I promised you that we would be pursuing our sustainability targets with the same vigor as our financial targets, and we have delivered on this, too. In 2019, we redefined our sustainability targets, and we believe they are very ambitious. We agreed that Bayer would strive to become a 100% carbon-neutral company by the year 2030. Furthermore, we set specific targets for sustainable developments and embedded these targets in our strategy, our operating targets and our remuneration system. Our Board remuneration system that you will be voting on today stipulates that, as of next year, 20% of long-term variable Board compensation will be contingent on our sustainability targets. This makes us a pioneer amongst DAX-listed companies. And in 2019, we also once again demonstrated what defines us as a life sciences company. We invested a total of EUR 5.3 billion in research and development. This is a new record. Bayer, has been a science-based company for more than 150 years, but never before have we spent as much on research and development as we did last year. More than 16,000 of our colleagues work in research and development here at Bayer. We cooperate with more than 8,000 partners worldwide. Our mission statement sums it up nicely: Science for a better life. Bayer scientists are always working on projects that deliver benefits for patients, consumers and farmers, too. Here are just a few examples. A few weeks ago, we received regulatory approval in Europe for our new cancer drug, Nubeqa. Nubeqa is a drug with a novel molecular structure that fights prostate cancer, and we developed it in collaboration with one of our partners in Finland. In our agricultural business, we launched a pilot project in January in Mexico with a new innovative corn crop known as short-stock corn. This crop requires less water and is better equipped to withstand tough environmental conditions, such as strong winds. Moreover, it is easier to cultivate this new corn crop, thus delivering a significantly higher yield for the farmer. Based on our progress thus far, we are confident that this innovation can revolutionize corn cultivation, and thus the cultivation of one of the most important crops. And it can do so for the smallholder and the large-scale farming operations. In our Consumer Health division, one of our key products is Elevit, the world's #1 vitamin product for use during pregnancy. Students (sic) (Studies) have conclusively shown that the nutrients and vitamins during pregnancy and after giving birth have an important effect on the health of babies and infants. The first 1,000 days of a child's developments are the most important of all. Last year, we made a concerted effort to further strengthen this brand, for example, with our innovation by extending our offering for post-birth products and by introducing a direct sales model in several countries. Since 2016, our colleagues at BlueRock have been conducting research on stem cell therapy that could, amongst other things, be used to treat Parkinson's. This disease is currently untreatable. But thanks to this new approach, it is possible that one day, we may be able to find a cure for Parkinson's. This is our ultimate objective, although we are still at the very beginning of this process. BlueRock, by the way, was one of the first investments made by Leaps by Bayer, which is our departments for disruptive innovation. In 2019, Bayer acquired BlueRock in full, thus laying the foundations for establishing a long-term leading position in the field of cell and gene therapy. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to our commercial performance for fiscal 2019. For the previous fiscal year, the Bayer group recorded sales of EUR 43.5 billion. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects as we generally report our sales growth, our business grew by 3.5%. EBITDA, adjusted for special items, which is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, came in at EUR 11.5 billion, which is the highest EBITDA figure ever posted by Bayer. We posted free cash flow of EUR 4.2 billion, which is at the upper end of our target corridor. We were also able to reduce our net financial debt by around EUR 1.6 billion. Our agriculture business turned in a particularly strong performance in Latin America. In North America, our performance was in line with that of the prior year. And this, despite extreme rainfall in the U.S.A., which posed significant challenges to our customers. Here, you can see images of farms in the Midwest. In the summer of 2019, several U.S. federal states recorded the highest level of rainfall since records began. In other parts of the world, such as Europe or Australia, farmers had to contend with the opposite extreme in 2019, with a widespread drought. This once again underlines the extent to which farmers, and thus all of us, are impacted by climate change. 2019 was the first full fiscal year in which the results contain the acquisition in our agricultural business. The earnings contribution and synergies from the integration brought about a sharp increase in EBITDA at Crop Science. EBITDA rose by 81% in this division to EUR 4.8 billion. Sales in our Pharmaceuticals business grew by 5.6% in 2019. The key contributors here were strong growth in China and our 2 leading products, Xarelto and Eylea. Sales of both of these products rose by 13%, respectively, year-on-year, so this continues to constitute a notable success story. Earnings in our Pharmaceuticals division grew by almost 7% in fiscal 2019. Growth from continued operations was, in fact, significantly higher as, in 2018, we recorded one-off revenue from a milestone payment of around EUR 190 million. Our OTC, over-the-counter, health products generated sales growth in 2019. Our cold and allergies segment recorded impressive growth, with sales of our antihistamine products, Claritin, particularly strong. Earnings at Consumer Health came in, in line with the prior year level. Ladies and gentlemen, we do, of course, want you, our stockholders, to adequately benefit from this successful fiscal year. This is why we have proposed a dividend of EUR 2.80 per share to the annual shareholders' meeting. This is the same level as it was in the prior year. Moreover, at around 44% of earnings per share, the payout ratio is above our target corridor of between 30% and 40%. Even in these uncertain times, we consider it important that you receive your dividend on time and in full. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, we have managed to continue our positive operating performance. We published our first quarter figures yesterday. Overall, our start of the year was characterized by the coronavirus crisis. What is evident is that our product portfolio for food and health care can be commercially successful and make a positive contribution even under challenging circumstances. On the one hand, the pandemic has led to sales growth due to a sharp rise in demand in several business areas. We believe that part of this rise seems to be attributed to stockpiling by customers, consumers and patients. On the other hand, our business has also, to some extent, been negatively impacted by the restrictions imposed. Overall, thanks to the measures that we have introduced, we have managed to remain operational at a global level. Group sales in the first quarter rose by 6% to EUR 12.8 billion. EBITDA before special items rose by 10.2% to EUR 4.4 billion. We managed to record sales and earnings growth in all 3 divisions. Demand was particularly strong in Consumer Health and for food supplements, in particular. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to turn your attention to the glyphosate lawsuits. As you know, there were numerous lawsuits in the U.S. related to our glyphosate products. The number of lawsuits has continued to rise in recent quarters, although it is important to emphasize that the number of lawsuits provides no indication as to whether or not the grounds for these claims are justified. Our position on this matter remains unchanged, and is in line with the verdicts of global regulatory authorities. These authorities employ experts who are responsible for product safety and, thus, for the safety of people. They have repeatedly confirmed, based on the latest information, that glyphosate-based products are safe if used correctly. Farmers all over the world have been placing their trust in glyphosate for decades in order to protect their harvests. What stage are we at in these legal proceedings? There were 3 cases in which courts of first instance ruled against our company. We have filed appeals against each of these rulings. We expect a verdict in the first appeal to be handed down in the summer of this year. In parallel, talks are ongoing under the mediatorship of Ken Feinberg with a view to achieving a potential settlement with the plaintiffs. We explained at a very early stage that we would play a constructive role in the mediation talks. We had achieved a lot of progress before the issue was overshadowed by COVID-19, so this meant specifically that numerous dates for talks had to be canceled. This has significantly slowed the progress of negotiations, and Ken Feinberg also explained this recently. The details of the negotiations are, of course, confidential. And I hope you appreciate that, for this reason, I cannot go into specifics about these negotiations today. What I can tell you, however, is that our fundamental position on the matter remains unchanged. We will continue to play a constructive role in the mediation. Regardless of the duration of negotiations, we will only accept a solution that makes commercial sense and is structured in such a way that will ensure that future cases can be brought to an efficient conclusion. Against the backdrop of an impending recession and what could in some cases, and after significant liquidity challenges, this is more important than ever. We are convinced that we are doing the best we can to represent the interest of the company and the interest of you, our stockholders. Ladies and gentlemen, we're looking ahead in the context of COVID-19 where you're forced to navigate no small amount of uncertainty. We are in the midst of a crisis, and there is no way of knowing how this crisis will develop. Over the next few months, it will remain crucial to keep our supply chains as robust as possible to ensure that we can keep our operations up and running. There are a myriad other factors that will have an impact on our performance during the current fiscal year. We will have to see, for example, what effect the crisis has on financial markets going forward and on the solvency of our customers. We will also have to observe what happens to demand for our products. It is possible that demand for some of our pharmaceutical products will decline if patients cannot go to see their doctors and if scheduled treatments are postponed. When it comes to our over-the-counter products, we will have to analyze whether the high level of current demand is primarily attributable to stockpiling or whether it is a result of increased consumption. In agriculture, too, we will have to wait and see what happens to demand for things like crops that are used as biofuels. We published our forecast for fiscal 2020 in February, before COVID-19 had developed into a global pandemic. This forecast still reflects our current targets. We believe that 2020 will continue to be characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic. It will not be possible to reliably gauge the positive or negative effects of the crisis until later this year. In addition to the numerous challenges we face, we also see a lot of opportunities for our company. I believe that during these extraordinary times, we will be able to learn something for the future of Bayer. There were 3 observations that I would like to share with you to conclude my speech today. My first observation is that in the response to the crisis, the relevance of our business has once again been emphatically confirmed. Think about it, who are the heroes of the hour? I would probably say the doctors and the nurses in our hospitals; the people staffing our supermarkets; the people making masks or medicines; the people working to find a vaccine; or the people ensuring that our food supply remains stable. Health care and food, these 2 sectors have proven to be essential everywhere during the crisis, and these are the sectors in which Bayer is a leading global company today. Even without COVID-19, the importance of our company is clear. Take climate change, for example, another urgent task facing humanity. Experts say that there were 2 things we need in order to combat climate change: reduction and adaptation. When it comes to reduction, we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions, whilst also maintaining a successful economy. Bayer has committed to becoming carbon-neutral by the year 2030. But most importantly, we have assumed responsibility as the market leader and #1 innovator in the agricultural sector to make a contribution to sustainable farming. This can help to achieve emission reductions equivalent in scale to those in medium-sized countries. Barely any other company is able to make a contribution of this magnitude. However, a successful approach to fighting climate change also requires adaptation. People all over the world are already confronted with rising temperatures, and this is a trend that will continue to increase. The impact will be particularly significant for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries. These farmers play a crucial role in the supply of food at a regional level, but they also lack the means and the expertise to survive further droughts and floods. Each year, the risk of lost harvests, undernourishment and associated illnesses increases. According to Bill Gates, the best thing we can do to adapt to climate change is to make sure that people in poorer countries are healthy enough to survive climate change. Health care and food, these sectors are of systemic importance and will be crucial when it comes to tackling climate change. The second lesson from this crisis is the importance of science. In recent years, we've observed a worrying trend that has diminished confidence in science and also in the role of experts in general. One could be forgiven for getting the impression that facts are only accepted if they fit into somebody's personal worldview, but the corona crisis is the hour of science and experts. People are once again starting to listen to what researchers have to say. And their role as advisers to governments, to hospitals and vaccine researchers, the opinion of experts pulls a great deal of weight, and this is a good thing. We can only hope that this return to fact-based discussions will persist once the crisis is over. We will do our bit to ensure that this is the case. There was also a third observation that is relevant for the future of Bayer, resulting from the current crisis. We are now seeing that the basic needs of people are at the center of public attention, and we're not talking about luxury products for the few. We are talking about access to health care and food for as many people as possible worldwide. This is the correct approach and it is the key to genuine sustainable developments. Last year at Bayer, we dedicated a lot of time to examining what sustainability really means for a company of our size and with our responsibility. A few years ago, the United Nations drew up 17 goals for sustainable development with the target of achieving them by 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals. I've already spoken about climate action and Bayer's crucial role in combating the climate change, but sustainability is about more than just our climate, it's about tackling numerous challenges simultaneously and improving the living conditions of as many people as possible, while also conserving the world's natural resources. Thanks to Bayer's products and solutions, we can make a substantial contribution to several of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. We can be a systemic factor in the quest to achieve these goals by the year 2030. This awareness is reflected in our own sustainability goals, which we also aim to achieve by the year 2030. We have committed to reaching an additional hundreds of millions of people and their families. We aim to provide our health care products to undersupplied regions all over the world. We want to give smallholder farmers in developing countries access to innovative farming solutions. And we want to ensure that women in developing countries have control of their own destinies by giving them access to modern contraceptives. Our goals for 2030 are very ambitious. And even after we've achieved them, we will continue our commitment to sustainability and finding solutions for a better life. This is the attitude that underpins our vision for Bayer: Health for all, hunger for none. We can make an important contribution to preventing, treating and even curing illnesses in order to improve the day-to-day health of individuals or to feed the growing world population, while simultaneously pursuing a business model in which sustainability forms an integral parts. Our vision was conceived prior to COVID-19. However, I believe that now, during this crisis, the importance of the targets we are working towards is clearer than ever. Health for all, hunger for none, this is the principle that will define Bayer over the next few years and encourage us to succeed. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm speaking to you today in unusual times and in an unusual format. I have outlined how Bayer is dealing with these exceptional circumstances. About how we are contributing in many different ways to overcoming this crisis. I've told you about all of the things we did in 2019 to deliver on our promises and do all of the things that we told our stockholders and stakeholders in society that we would do. I have told you about our operating performance prior to the spread of COVID-19 and also about the factors that will impact our business. And in conclusion, I told you about what we can learn from the pandemic and why this experience has convinced us that the decisions we have made are the right ones for the future of Bayer. One thing is clear. The fight against the coronavirus is far from over. The uncertainty wrought by the pandemic will continue. What's also clear, however, is Bayer's defining principle. We can see this now. People are at the center of everything we do. We work on tangible solutions. Our customers can rely on us. We are living up to our responsibility to society. One person who has embodied this Bayer DNA for decades and who also stands for the courage to introduce the changes that are necessary is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Werner Wenning. As you know, Mr. Wenning's term as Chairman will end upon conclusion of today's Annual Shareholders' Meeting and his departure undoubtedly constitutes the end of an era for our company. Mr. Wenning has served Bayer for [ only ] 50 years, and has therefore contributed to writing more than 1/3 of the 160-year history of Bayer as a company. He has spent 20 of those years in the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. He has contributed to the consistent alignment of our company towards health care and food. Mr. Wenning, your job here has not necessarily just been a profession, it has been a calling. Now it would have been nice to have a long round of applause in recognition of your achievements for our company. I'm sure this would have been the case, and I am also sure that our shareholders or representatives would also have expressed their gratitude to you. But now on behalf of the entire Board of Management, our employees and also at a personal level, I would like to say thank you very much. Thank you for everything. Prof. Dr. Norbert Winkeljohann will now be heading the Supervisory Board. And he is proven in management. He has been a member of the Supervisory Board for 2 years already and is also Head of the Audit Committee. He will also give us a fresh look, a fresh view from outside of the company because he's has experience with a number of different companies too. Prof. Winkeljohann, on behalf of the Board of Management, I'd just like to -- we are looking forward to working with you in future and also to construct a cooperation with the Supervisory Board under your chairmanship. Stockholders, I would like to say thank you to you. Thank you for your support over the last year and also for accepting this Annual Shareholders' Meeting in this format. I hope that I managed to give you a detailed-enough overview of the most important developments in our company. During the course of today's Annual Shareholders' Meeting, we will provide the answers to your questions. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Baumann has given you an intense overview of the fiscal year 2019 and shared some perspectives of the company and also has given his opinion on the strategy of the company as well as talking about glyphosate litigation. Mr. Baumann, your comments on the contributions of the company and our staff in this corona crisis were particularly impressive. Thank you, Mr. Baumann, for your in-depth comments. And also, I'd like to personally thank you for your personal thoughts and words. Ladies and gentlemen, part of agenda point #1 is also the reports of the Advisory Board. And this can be found in the annual report, Pages 13 to 18, which I'd like to especially refer you to. And we provided a very in-depth report on these pages. So I'd like to only talk about some of the content focus points of the Board. After this report, I will then come to the proposals of the approval of the compensation system for the Management Board and the election of the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board met in the last fiscal year 11 times. The focus of the work of the Board were 3 topics. Firstly, the conclusions from the fact that the Board's actions were not ratified at the AGM 2019 and the necessary measures which would be needed in order to regain trust of shareholders. Secondly, on glyphosate litigation, where the Advisory Board and several of its committees looked at this topic in great depth. And thirdly, the divestment of several businesses and the efficiency program, Bayer 2020. The Supervisory Board and its committees looked at these topics in ordinary and extraordinary meetings. And outside of these meetings, I met regularly and also in great depth with Mr. Baumann, where we had many discussions. Directly after the AGM in 2019, the Supervisory Board had an extraordinary meeting where it looked at what conclusions could be drawn from the nonratification of the Board and to -- and also looked at the low majorities for the ratification of the Board -- Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, let me first say that these voting results were a great disappointment for us. We took your vote, however, very seriously. We listened well, and we've learned from this and changed things. We looked at the views of our investors intensely, which were expressed at the AGM last year and in the run-up to that AGM. This also applies for the expert opinions on the question of compliance of due diligence obligations of the Board in relation to our Monsanto transaction. After these discussions, the Advisory Board unanimously approved the resolution that it would support the Management Board and continue to do -- continue to support its strategy. The Supervisory Board agreed on topics which would need to be dealt with in a short-term meeting, which took place in June 2019. In this meeting, the Supervisory Board looked at specific measures with regard to the ongoing trials and mediation proceedings in relation to the glyphosate topic. And the Supervisory Board welcomed the company's participation in these mediation proceedings and the appointment of Mr. Feinberg as a mediator. Also, the Board came up with a new committee for looking at the glyphosate litigation, and the members of this committee have much experience in legal trials. The committee is monitoring the litigation and how the Board is acting in connection with this litigation process. It is also advising the Board and making suggestions. Furthermore, the Advisory Board appointed U.S. lawyer John Beisner, who is a renowned expert for these type of trials in the U.S. He's now on board as a legal adviser to the Advisory Board. And he will also be giving us advice on tactics for the trials and mediation and will be able to give us some new independent views in this regard. The new committee in the year 2019 met 3 times and looked at -- in its meetings -- at the trials that had just happened and the ones that were upcoming. It also looked at what trials would be happening throughout the rest of the year and looked at the appeals that were upcoming and the state of play at the mediation talks. The glyphosate litigation was also looked at the Supervisory Board meetings and the meetings of the Audit Committee. Another focus of the work of the Supervisory Board where the comprehensive portfolio, efficiency and structural measures, which the Management Board has been dealing with since the end of 2018. And in this regard, I'd like to underline that the Supervisory Board very much welcomes the generous, but also successful -- sorry, the swift and successful implementation of portfolio measures and also the successful implementation of the efficiency program. Mr. Baumann has just spoken in great depth about these measures. Another topic, which the Advisory Board looked at in its meetings was the voluntary special audit that took place at Bayer. The purpose of this audit -- well, where did this come from? This comes from an agreement with shareholder, Prof. Christian Strenger, who had asked for a special audit to take place at the AGM last year. The AGM rejected this motion. But after the AGM, Bayer and Mr. Strenger came to an agreement in order to overcome their differences. And part of this agreement, which is published in the Federal Gazette was also the fact that there would be a special audit. And this voluntary special audit took place over a period of 2.5 months by Prof. Dr. Böcking, who works at the Goethe in -- University in Frankfurt. The purpose of the audit was to evaluate the appropriateness of the company's internal specifications and requirements for material M&A transactions in the future and the appropriateness of the reporting lines all the way up to the management of the company, the leadership of the company. Dr. Böcking comes to the conclusion in his report that the company's internal specifications and requirements for M&A transactions are appropriate. The -- he also concluded that there are appropriate reporting lines and that there is appropriate monitoring of M&A transactions, their processes as well. The expansive report on the voluntary special audit can be found on the Bayer Internet page on the page about our AGM. We see the outcome of this audit as a confirmation that in our company, we are working with great professionalism and due diligence. The special audit was, therefore, successfully concluded. As part of the agreement we just mentioned, there were statements that were checked by lawyers at Linklaters. And these opinions were drawn together by Dr. Habersack. And he came to the conclusion that the opinions thoroughly address and appropriately assess potential risks in accordance with professional standards. Also, the statements which were brought in before the acquisition of Monsanto and gave an assessment on the legal risks of glyphosate, these were all monitored once again. And U.S. lawyer James Irwin came to the conclusion, after assessing these, that these statements looked intensely at the risks and evaluated these appropriately and in accordance with professional standards. Both the expansive statements and the due diligence obligations of the Board in connection with Monsanto acquisition and the results of the reports of these can be found on the Internet page for our AGM. All audits, therefore, have been successfully concluded and conclude and confirm the opinions of the Board and Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, the Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board looked very intensely at the annual financial statements, the approved consolidated financial statements and the combined management report. There were no objections to this. And this is why we agree with the results of the final audit with the combined management report and the assessment of further development of the company, we are in agreement. This also applies for the intended dividend, the use of distributable profit, which would be a dividend of EUR 2.80 per share is something we also support. On behalf of the Supervisory Board, and I think on behalf of you all, I'd like to thank all members of the Management Board and all of our employees at Bayer for their service and commitment. This also is my thanks for all of your achievements during this global pandemic, which we have been experiencing over the past weeks. Ladies and gentlemen, that's it for my report on -- by the Supervisory Board. Now let me come to points on the agenda approval of the compensation system for the Board of Management and elections of -- for the Supervisory Board. In 2019, the Supervisory Board looked intensely in many plenary meetings and in meetings of the Personnel Committee at the further development of the compensation system for the Management Board. And in order to help it with its work here, the Supervisory Board asked a management consultancy firm to help them. In developing the new compensation system, we've also taken up some of the pointers put forward by investors. And we are convinced that we have been able to improve and modernize the existing compensation system. At the same time, we could ensure that the system of this compensation system is aligned as closely as possible with the compensation system for senior managers. And that it sets the same targets in terms of financial performance indicators. The new system is what we will be presenting for approval at today's AGM. And this is 1 year earlier than would be required by law. The compensatory system of the Board has been described in great detail in the notice to the AGM. But let me just cover a few important points. This system is based on the long-term strategy of Bayer, where there are sustainability components and it also considers free cash flow as liquidity components and ROCE is also more strongly considered. There will be a stronger performance-based compensation in compliance with our long-term goals, and there will be stronger weighting on financial KPIs and reduced discretion components. Therefore, there will not be any general discretion of the Advisory Board for subsequent changes of targets. The new system is developed in line with shareholders' interest and stakeholder objectives, where the absolute and relative share price developments will play a role in assessing or deciding compensation. And additionally, sustainability components will be considered. And the guidelines for share ownership will also be expanded. Board members must now acquire more shares and hold these for longer. Also, there was a maximum amount of compensation that was introduced, which now comprises all compensation elements, including pensions and fringe benefits. The new system also means there will be a retrospective, transparent disclosure of performance curves and whether targets were reached. There are also modern compensation elements like malus and clawback rules and a right of recovery for all variable elements. The new compensation system has been used since the beginning of this year. So that means that this year's annual bonuses and also the long-term compensation set aside for 2020 will be based on this new compensation system. Also, necessary contract amendments, for example, the introduction of newly regulated maximum compensation amounts are -- have already been implemented. That's it on the system of compensation for the Board, which will be presented at today's AGM. I'd now like to come to our Supervisory Board elections. As you can see from our agenda, there are 3 elections to be taking place in the notice of the AGM. In selecting candidates for the Board, the Board needs to look at the expertise these candidates bring. And we know that these people have to bring special experience and knowledge to their roles. This is particularly international business experience, particularly looking at the important activity areas of Bayer and experience in the areas of research, development, finance, controlling, risk management, personnel, governance and compliance, digitalization and sustainability. In September 2019, Thomas Ebeling, who had been a member of the Board since 2012, gave up his office due to other obligations. I'd like, on behalf of the Supervisory Board, to thank Mr. Ebeling for his work over the years. As a successor of Thomas Ebeling, the Court of Cologne has appointed Ertharin Cousin. And Ms. Cousin will be taking place -- or taking part in an AGM for the first time. And unfortunately, in this case, just virtually, but we'd like to welcome you, Ms. Cousin. Ertharin Cousin is a law graduate. And from 2012 to 2017, she was Executive Director at the United Nations World Food Programme in Rome. She is an American citizen, and she can bring new expertise to the Board in the areas of food and agriculture, which we think are very important given the growing significance of our crop science business. The legal appointment of Ms. Cousin will run until the end of the next AGM. That means until today. Shareholders, our Advisory Board would like to propose the election of Ms. Ertharin Cousin. Also, the Supervisory Board suggests the reelection of Prof. Dr. Otmar Wiestler. Mr. Wiestler has been a member of the Supervisory Board since his legal appointment in October 2014, and was elected to the Board in -- at the AGM 2015. His term will end with today's AGM. He is a scientist and management in the area of science and brings particular expertise in these areas to the work of the Supervisory Board and the Innovation Committee. The Supervisory Board also proposes the election of Mr. Horst Baier into the Supervisory Board. He is an economist and has lots of experience in the areas of finance and accounting. In 2018, he was CFO at TUI AG. Mr. Baier, therefore, fulfills the legal requirements, which are expected from at least one member of the Board to have expertise in the area of accounting and auditing. If he is elected at this AGM, Horst Baier will take over the chair of the Auditing Committee of the company. You will have seen in the notice to the AGM that the election of all of these candidates to the Board are intended for 4 years. And this is a measure taken by the company, which is possible in the articles of incorporation. Usually, this term would be 5 years, but now we are using the opportunity to take this down to 4 years, and we are taking into account the expectations of international investors here. Ladies and gentlemen, as you may have read in the press, I will be resigning from my position as Member and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at the end of today's stockholders' meeting. The Supervisory Board has elected Prof. Dr. Norbert Winkeljohann. He's been a member of the Supervisory Board since May of 2018. Mr. Winkeljohann will also introduce himself right now on the basis of his new appointment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Wenning. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, at the end of today's stockholders' meeting, I will be taking over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. I have a lot of energy and a lot of joy in doing so. At the same time, I do have a good amount of humiliation here because I am aware of the responsibility that goes along with this job. In the last 2 years, I worked on the Supervisory Board at Bayer and I was also Chairman of the Audit Committee. So I had some very in-depth views of the company. Bayer is in a very good position. This applies to a strategy, which I support in full, it also applies to the quality of management, which I have been convinced of in a number of personal discussions, and it also applies to the excellent codetermination. Since I was appointed, I've been preparing very intensely for my new job. I've been reading a lot of documents, and I've had a lot of discussions. And I am getting more and more in-depth views of the company, its businesses and its structures. And I see that most of my time will be spent at Bayer AG now. I am planning to spend more than half of my working hours for Bayer AG. About 1/3 of my working time will be spent working for Deutsche Bank and some other small mandates that I have. I will have enough time to work on those as well. But I have resigned from a number of other functions that I had. I would like to thank all of you for the trust you have placed in me, and I'd like to thank you, in particular, Mr. Wenning. Of course, I know that I am stepping in some difficult footsteps to follow. And I know that you have been working so long and so hard more than 50 years for Bayer. I have a great deal of respect for all that you have achieved for the company and its long-term course, also growth and the social responsibility. I would also like to wish you, Ms. Wenning, all the very best in the future. And now it's time to take Bayer into a new phase and a successful future as a leading, focused life science company. And I will also include my ideas, my point of view, my experience and a fresh view from the outside in my work on the Supervisory Board. I've had a lot of years of experience in management teams at PwC, an audit company, as well as Europe and German CEO of this company, so I have a lot of experience here when it comes to the strategic dimension of a global organization with more than 250,000 employees as well as operative control and questions of codetermination. I'm looking forward to working together with my members and with my Deputy, Oliver Zühlke, as well as the Supervisory Board as well as the shareholders, representatives and the employee representatives as well as with the Board of Management under Werner Baumann. I'm looking forward to discussing things with you, too, dear shareholders. Bayer is seen as a leading life science company with a great deal of potential for the future. What's important? What's more important today than health and nutrition? We can see that in these times, we can see how relevant the company is for patients, farmers and consumers, and we can see the social added value that Bayer provides. And this applies for the future as well. A good yardstick for anyone who believes in the future, we need to make a lot of investments in R&D. Bayer is one of the top 25 companies here worldwide. So we are convinced that the future for health and nutrition can be shaped by Bayer and also the transformation to a sustainable economy. I am looking forward, dear shareholders, to working with you and to making my contribution to Bayer. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for your kind words addressed to me, Mr. Winkeljohann. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to address a few personal statements to you. At the end of this stockholders' meeting, my term as Chairman of the Supervisory Board comes to an end and also my period in responsible activities for Bayer AG. Exact -- just about 54 years ago is where I began training here in Leverkusen as an industrial salesman. And since then, I've had a number of roles to play in the company, and I've also served in a number of different countries. I am very grateful for all of this, and I feel very closely associated to this company. I'm very much attached to my company. When I was in South America, I ran into a saying, which has become part of my language, [Foreign Language]. If it's Bayer, it's good. It sounds so simple, but behind this, you can see quality, integrity and reliability, which Bayer stands for all over the world. I am convinced and I must say, I'm also a bit proud. After so many years, it's a bit sad for me to leave. But of course, at my last stockholders' meeting -- I thought that my last stockholder meeting would be a bit different, and I really would have liked to have spoken to you in person. But I must say, especially in these days, I really have the feeling that Bayer is well positioned, very well positioned for the future. And that I can hand over my responsibilities with a clear conscience. Bayer is on a very good path operationally and strategically. We can see this in our worldwide crisis that we're going through right now. We can see how our company is doing justice to its responsibility. And we can see how essential health and nutrition is, and this is where Bayer makes a very substantial contribution. I'm also convinced that Prof. Winkeljohann will have (sic) [be] an excellent Supervisory Board Chairman. And I believe that Bayer is in very good hands with him. And for all of the other members of the Supervisory Board, and in particular, my Deputy, Oliver Zühlke, I'd like to thank you all for many years of cooperation in confidence. And I'd like to wish all of you, all the very best for the future. This also applies, in particular, to Werner Baumann and to the entire Board of Management. It's been a great joy and pleasure and honor to work and put my passion into serving this company for patients, consumers and farmers and also for more than 100,000 employees and their families and for you, shareholders. Of course, I will still be closely attached to my company, even after I leave the Supervisory Board. In the Rhine, in this area in Germany, we say you never really leave completely. And that is how I will continue in the future. I'll be following the company with a great deal of interest and a very close attachment. Thank you very much. That brings me, at least for the time being, to the end of my statement. My Deputy, Mr. Zühlke, has asked me if he could briefly take the floor.

Thank you very much, dear colleagues, dear shareholders and dear Mr. Wenning. I asked for the floor because I wanted to say a few words from the Supervisory Board, but in particular, for employees when it comes to the change at the Chairman of the Supervisory Board because there's even more to be considered, more than the 50 years of Werner Wenning at Bayer. This is the end of an era at our company. Mr. Wenning and I have known each other for a long time. We have worked together in the past decades in all sorts of different constellations. Mr. Wenning, who represents the point of view of management, and I represent the workforce. We often discussed a lot of matters in many details, and sometimes we fought pretty hard. But there were always 2 things that kept us together. First of all, the basis of our discussion was always mutual respect and also the fact that the other party's point of view was important for the best results. Secondly, the common view of our discussions was always focused on achieving what is the best for the company, for the future of our company and the company's workforce. In the last 8 years as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Wenning always stood for a clear policy, high degree of transparency and to include the employees at an early point in time. And that meant, I'm convinced, that we were even able to take difficult decisions together. We did it in a Bayer-like way. This is an expression that came up over the years. What I mean by Bayer-like is that even if we had justified differences of opinion, we got together and talked about them openly, with confidence. It was confidential, controversially, but constructively until we came up with a solution which we could both support and represent. I believe that this type of cooperation between management and labor is a very important factor for the common success within our company. And I am confident that this is something that we can continue in the future as well. We are very much looking forward to working with Prof. Winkeljohann. We have gotten to know him over the last 2 years and have known to appreciate him. Mr. Wenning, thank you on behalf of the workforce at Bayer AG and my colleagues on the Supervisory Board. Thank you for everything that you have done over the past few decades for our company. You have introduced changes. You've shaped the company, and you have achieved a lot of success at Bayer. And most important of all, with all of this, you still remained human, your heart is in the right place and you always fought for cohesion. And that is something that is typical of our company. So together, we did it in a Bayer-like way. So we would like to thank you for all of this, and you deserve a great deal of respect. Mr. Wenning, I'd like to wish you all the very best for the future, a great deal of joy, satisfaction, time for your family and above all, health, good health. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Zühlke, for these extremely kind words. And I was very, very pleased to hear what you said. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Baumann and Mr. Nickl, the Board of Management and I on the Supervisory Board would now like to start answering the questions that were submitted on time prior to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting. [ We end ] a virtual Annual Shareholders' Meeting. And this allowed us to answer -- to divide up the questions into groups so that we can answer them in this format. And this would allow us to provide you with the best possible information. I would now like Mr. Baumann and Mr. Nickl to start answering the questions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Wenning. I would like to start with a brief overview. In total, this year, we received 245 questions from 40 shareholders. Just to compare, last year, we had 275 questions from 69 stockholders. On average, over the past 3 years, we have received 239 questions from 51 people and representatives. We did not select specific questions. Instead, we will answer all of the questions, just like we do at all of our face-to-face Annual Shareholders' Meetings. Mr. Nickl and myself will divide the questions up between us. And Mr. Wenning will answer questions about the Supervisory Board, and Mr. Winkeljohann will answer questions about himself. Now we always start with [indiscernible] questions. Now we have [ Dr. Tumler ], who's asked, given the results of the vote for ratification of the actions of the Board of Management last year, what has changed specifically in the work of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board? And also what specifically has changed for the company and what the conclusions were that we drew from this result? So I spoke to Mr. Wenning about this, and I will answer these questions on his behalf. After the ASM last year, in response to the unsatisfactory results of the voting, we took these measures amongst others. A special committee has been founded in order to look closer at the legal issues surrounding glyphosate. John Beisner, who is an experienced U.S. attorney is now working as a consultant for this purpose. By adding Ms. Cousin to the supervisory body, we've been able to improve the level of expertise in the body in the field of agriculture and food. We have now looked closer at Board compensation and made it more closely aligned to the long-term strategy of Bayer and also our stakeholders' interest and objectives. Portfolio efficiency and structure will -- measures have been continued. And by 2020, they will achieve savings -- annual savings of around EUR 2.6 billion. Extensive and ambitious sustainability goals have been communicated, and we aim to achieve these by 2030. Furthermore, we have also subjected ourselves to a voluntary check of our due diligence processes for mergers and acquisitions, and this has been successfully concluded. Furthermore, we have stepped up our dialogue with stockholders. Both last year -- last year at Investor Relations level and often with the Board of Management and also with Mr. Wenning, we have spoken to more than 500 stockholders, which represents 60% of our stock capital. In most of the discussions, we received very positive feedback about the measures that we have taken. [ Mr. Tumler ] said that unlike a number of other companies, Bayer is sticking to its dividend proposal, which can be seen as a show of confidence. [ Mr. Tumler's ] question is, why is it possible for us to pay a dividend in full this year and what this means in terms of the resilience of Bayer's business? Well, to start with, we would like our stockholders to benefit from the strong performance in 2019, even though these are very difficult times at the moment. And for this reason, we have proposed a dividend of EUR 2.80 per share. This is the same level it was in the prior year, but at the same time, the payout ratio is around 44% of adjusted earnings per share and is above our target corridor of 30% to 40%. As such, the successful portfolio measures of the previous year have also been reflected in the dividend payout. And in response to your question about the resilience of Bayer's business. Let me just tell you this. We are currently seeing how important access to health care and food is. And the coronavirus crisis, in particular, we can see emphatically how relevant our businesses are: health care and food. Both of these fields of business, during this crisis, have shown themselves to be essential because it's in these 2 sectors, which Bayer is a leading company worldwide. But does this mean that Bayer is immune to COVID-19? It's a question of how long this pandemic continues. The longer it persists, the greater the probability that potential risks also materialize for Bayer. Yesterday, we published our figures showing that we had a strong start to the year, which is why we assume that fiscal 2020 will continue to be impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, when we published our figures for the first quarter, we made qualitative description of the most important factors that will impact our business. A reliable assessment, be it positive or be it negative, will only be possible later in the year. We hope you understand that we can only provide -- that we only want to provide figures if we really believe that they are deliverable. [ Mr. Tumler ] also wanted to know to what extent the corona pandemic impacted -- has impacted Bayer and wanted to ask us as well whether we would be possible to limit the impacts on production. The corona pandemic is by far the dominant topic at the moment and is certainly one of the most significant challenges that has ever been witnessed anywhere in the world. Now priority is always the safety and health of our employees. I actually said this year in my speech, since the start of the crisis, we keep reassessing the situation and are adapting our protective measures to the prevailing situation. There will be personal protective equipment, face masks, distancing and separating shifts and also temperature checks at the entrance. Our motto is safety first, no ifs and no buts. Furthermore, we're observing and coordinating -- in close coordination with a number of different colleagues in our state organizations to have a look at supply chains, the solidity of the supply chains and capacities of our product facilities and also ensuring that our customers can be supplied with the products they need because after all they need to rely on us. We had a good start to 2020. What will be decisive for our business is whether we can continue to succeed in maintaining our supply chains and thus securing our operations. We will also have to see what happens with the crisis going forward in the financial markets and whether it has any impact on the solvency of our customers. Liquidity. Securing liquidity will be the defining motto for a number of different companies during these times. In the health care segment, under some circumstances, there may be delays in clinical trials, and whether this could also lead to delays -- this can also lead to delays in the approval of drugs by regulatory authorities. Agriculture, for example, is dependent on people working in the fields. Now if there are any travel restrictions, or if we keep having these travel restrictions or if new ones are added, then we may have a shortage of workers. [ Mr. Tumler ] said that a lot is being said about settlements in the glyphosate cases. And he has said that his organization would also welcome a settlement. I'd just like to emphasize that the -- it's also said that DSW does not want to put Bayer under pressure. But what's important for the DSW is not necessarily time, but fairness and adequacy. So [ his ] question is, what type -- for what type of form will this solution take? Now, I'd just like to point out that due to the confidential nature of these discussions, it's not possible to provide any further details about a potential settlement. For this reason, we can't speak about any possible structure, any point in time or any overall results of the mediation process. But generally speaking, we agree with what [ Mr. Tumler ] is saying. What's decisive for us is not necessarily time. But what is important is that we get a result and we would only agree to a result that makes commercial sense and is structured in such a way that future cases can efficiently be brought to conclusion. Against the backdrop of impending recession than what could end up being substantial liquidity squeezes, this is more important than ever. [ Mr. Tumler ] asked whether a settlement of $10 billion for glyphosate would change our assessment of the acquisition and the profitability of the acquisition of Monsanto. I'd just like to point out, and, that we are not going to comment on any speculation relating to a settlement in the glyphosate cases, but a significant settlement, some, of course, would delay the achievement of our profitability targets. But our objective after the acquisition of Monsanto was to be able to cover our cost of capital of our agricultural business again as of the year 2023. But the strategic rationale behind the acquisition continues to apply. Now this transaction has made us a globally leading company in the field of agriculture. And it is now possible for us to help shape this industry with innovations for a number of years. I would also like to point out our research budget in this area of around EUR 2 billion, which is the largest research budget in this industry. Because we now cover the entire value chain, it should be possible for us to reduce innovation, reduce duration of innovation cycles and launch products more quickly. [ Mr. Tumler ] asked us whether a $10 billion settlement would take away our financial flexibility, particularly now that the coronavirus crisis is ongoing. He asked whether other projects might have to be shelved or axed altogether. As I said before, we are not allowed to say anything about the level of any potential settlement. But the original profitability target of the Monsanto acquisition would be later than planned, and also the debt deleveraging would also take longer than expected. [ Mr. Tumler ] also wanted to know what we have done about the revised reputation in light of the acquisition of Monsanto. The wave of lawsuits in the U.S.A. and the high level of attention that it's received in the media have had an impact, particularly in Germany and France, on our reputation. And for this reason, in Germany, amongst other things, last year, we launched a nationwide campaign under the title, #voranbringen. Now at the core of this campaign are the employees of our company. And in this campaign, our employees speak about their commitment, their passion and the conviction with which they go about their work and look for solutions for the future every day. Now this stands our attitude and our corporate culture in more than 150 years of Bayer, and it is the core element for the commitment of our employees. And this approach also fits seamlessly into other communication activities being pursued by Bayer. And here, we focus on all of our stakeholder groups. Based on the reputation examinations that we -- are ongoing, I am confident that these activities are having a positive impact. One more thing I would like to say, given the current situation, because during crisis, in particular, the quality and attitude of an organization becomes abundantly clear. I'm extremely proud of Bayer and the performance of -- and our workforce. They're helping people in need. Our fellow citizens will also see it the same way, I'm sure. Another question from [ Mr. Tumler ] related to sales of glyphosate and how the sales have changed and what type of impact this is going to have on our results? Now the sale distribution channels for glyphosate-based herbicides have not changed following the lawsuit for glyphosate. This applies to products designed for private use and also products used professionally. Furthermore, we have not noticed any notable impact on glyphosate sales resulting from the lawsuits. [ Mr. Tumler ] also asked us to speak about the magnitude of the dicamba case. BASF was also subject to this case -- has been subject to lawsuits of around 170 plaintiffs. Now even though we do expect further lawsuits, last year, there were only 5 new lawsuits that were filed. Now the plaintiffs claim that plant damage has been caused by dicamba-based herbicides. They said that there was commercial damage and not damage to individuals, as is the case with glyphosate. Now in February 2020, in the first instance, a plaintiff received USD 265 million, $15 million of which was in compensation and $250 million, of which was a penalty compensation, as it's called. However, we emphatically reject the grounds for the verdict for a number of different reasons. We understand that after looking for a reason for damage of his farm, the plaintiff then said it could be the dicamba-based herbicide. But we are firmly convinced that Monsanto's products are not responsible for the losses suffered by said farmer, which is why we will appeal against this decision. Now in fact, the only scientific tests that were ever performed of the Bader Farms took place in 2016 and were performed by the U.S. FDA. Now, this investigation found nothing to suggest that Bader's farm was exposed to dicamba. Moreover, we do not believe that there is any causal link between dicamba and the damage inflicted. And even if it were, we believe that the magnitude of the sums is disproportionate because the USD 15 million do not correspond to the financial documents presented by the plaintiff. If the Bader Farms -- now this shows that the -- actually recorded a profit during -- the farmer recorded a profit in the time during which he claims the damage was caused by the dicamba herbicide. [ Mr. Tumler ] was also interested in our efficiency program, Bayer 2022. At the end of 2018, we announced an efficiency program where up till 2022, we wanted to have synergies and efficiency contributions of a total of EUR 2.6 billion per year, and we have done well so far in this program. This also includes the integration of the acquired agricultural business. In the last fiscal year, we already realized approximately 30% of the efficiency measures we wanted. And for the ongoing fiscal year, we expect to achieve 50% of the target value; for 2021, approximately 80% is planned; in 2022, then 100% of these goals should be reached. In -- at the moment, we are faster than we expected in the implementation of this program. [ Mr. Tumler ] was also interested in our research pipeline in the field of pharmaceuticals. Our pharma research pipeline has 50 projects in development, including some very promising projects in the areas of oncology and circulatory diseases. In oncology, we are currently looking at 2 new products, Vitrakvi and Nubeqa, and their marketing. Vitrakvi is a new precision medicine or drug, which looks at specific genetic changes of cancer cells. And this can be used for all different types of tumors. Last year, this was the very first drug in Europe that was granted this type of approval. Nubeqa is a new drug for oral use of treatment of prostate cancer. This drug shows that metastatic-free survival is able to be extended greatly. And we only just received approval for the market introduction of this product in Europe a few weeks ago. There are 2 other very promising candidates, which are at the end of their clinical development at the moment in the area of circulatory degreases (sic) [diseases]; vericiguat, which is used for treating chronic heart problems and also finerenone, which is used for diabetic kidney disease. We are hoping that for the drug, finerenone, at the end of the year, we will have a study that is relevant for the approval of this drug. We expect for Vitrakvi a sales potential of around EUR 750 million; for Nubeqa and finerenone, it will be approximately EUR 1 billion; for vericiguat, which we are developing together with Merck & Co. we see a market potential of EUR 1 billion, which will be shared 50-50 between Merck and Bayer. So as you can see, we have some very promising candidates in our pharma development pipeline. I'm now going to come to [ Mr. Speich ] from Deka Invest. [ Mr. Speich ] asked when will we be prepared to conclude settlements in association with the glyphosate litigation. We've made progress in our mediation talks on Roundup. But the dynamic of the COVID-19 developments have meant that this mediation process has been delayed overall as well as other business activities and other U.S. trials, et cetera, they've all been delayed. And Mr. Feinberg, our mediator, has also already said this. So this means that the settlement proceedings have been delayed. And realistically, we don't think that this situation is going to change very soon. But nevertheless, we still want to continue constructively looking at mediation and finding a possible solution for this litigation. But due to the uncertainty of the pandemic and the confidentiality of the proceedings, we can't give any specific results of the talks or give you a time line. [ Mr. Speich ] also asked how the losses in sales in pharma could be replaced. And whether the company is planning to sell parts of this business in part? We are trying to keep up with our research and development projects, which are in the pipeline. We have new -- new different substances, which are subject of clinical development. And I've already explained some of these in regard to questions posed by [ Mr. Tumler ]. The Factor XI signal path is a new approach, which we are looking at in the area of anticoagulation. In order to supplement our research and development activities, we will expand our portfolio with licensing agreements, cooperations with extra partners and also additional measures. And the purpose of these measures would be to grow in this market and hope that we will be successful in this area. Selling the pharma business is not planned. [ Mr. Speich ] also asked what the meaning of the sustainability strategy is for the agricultural business. Since we're not speaking about separate areas here because it has been fully integrated, all the measures and goals of our sustainability strategy also apply for the acquired agricultural business. [ Mr. Speich ] also asked about the length of litigation, glyphosate litigation. As I've already said, in the U.S.A., there are 3 first instance jury verdicts, none of these is legally binding, and in all of these cases we have appealed. The appeal proceedings are ongoing at the moment. The California Court of Appeal in the Johnson case has set the appeal trial for the 2nd of June 2020. The appeal court is obligated to announce a decision after 90 days of the trial -- the oral proceedings of the trial taking place. The other appeal cases have -- there's not been a date that's been set yet for Hardeman and Pillioid. It's still open whether there will be other appeals for other instances. And alongside these appeal proceedings, we want to be constructive in the mediation talks. But due to the -- insecurities and uncertainties associated with the COVID pandemic, we are unable to give a specific timeline of when this will be possible. [ Mr. Speich ] also asked about the amount of legal fees that have already accrued due to the glyphosate litigation, including the defense cost for the next 3 years. Up until now, around EUR 480 million has been spent on defense costs and this includes EUR 28 million from insurance compensation. [ Mr. Speich ] also asked about the strategy in the dicamba litigation. It's clear that we are disappointed by the verdict of the jury in the Missouri state. We think that this verdict was wrong, and we will appeal it. But we are convinced that we have good arguments and good facts, and legal arguments in this context. And we'd also like to refer you to how we answered [ Mr. Tumler's ] questions on this topic. And now I'd like to come to the questions of [ Mr. Rübel ] from DWS Invest. He asked about the financial and strategic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. We assume that fiscal 2020 will also be influenced by the corona's pandemic, but we can't give any specific details on the positive or negative effects of this. The factors, which will be important for the development of the business of Bayer are the stability of the whole supply chain in production, development of stocks and safety stocks, the maintenance of logistics at higher costs, demand dynamics and demand behavior, in particular, stockpiling, the influence and restrictions on elective treatments and changed demand for biofuels and seasonal labor, the influence of clinical studies and regulatory processes, the development of interest and access to capital on the finance markets and payment behavior of customers and credit standing of suppliers, also currency fluctuations and opportunities on the cost side in accelerating digitalization and taking the role of science into society to a greater degree. [ Mr. Rübel ] also asked to us -- asked us about how we are implementing measures in the corona pandemic. We have taken the corona pandemic very seriously and made a pandemic plan, where we immediately have created local and global teams to look at all relevant topics. To protect our employees, we first made sure that business trips would be restricted to very few and events and further training programs were postponed. Our employees in China were able to take up their activities again from home office following Chinese New Year. In global expansion of the virus, we have introduced measures according to the premise safety first. We have introduced comprehensive hygiene measures. We have postponed all trips, business trips. We also have a comprehensive concept where our staff work from home. And where this is not possible, we have very strict distancing measures. And we have also lowered contact in areas like our canteens. And in some of our areas or some of our buildings, employees' temperature is taken when they enter the building. And also at the moment, we are distributing 400,000 masks, face masks to our staff worldwide, so that everyone has 4 of these masks. And these can also be used in private life. All safety and security measures are accompanied by comprehensive staff communication in our internet. Overall, this has meant that our production and transport chains has been able to be maintained at this critical time. And this has also been possible whilst protecting our staff. Generally, we can conclude that our safety and hygiene measures are going above and beyond what the authorities ask us to have. [ Mr. Rübel ] also asked us about when we expect the end of studies for treating COVID patients? And these studies are being produced by a third party. And please understand that we are unable to speculate on the activities of this business. [ Mr. Rübel ] asked a question on the cost of foreign borrowing? Financial markets are very volatile these days. And we can see that risks for company bonds in the area due to the corona crisis have increased. And depending on the currency at play, these are compensated by lower baseline interest rates. Even if the risks for company bonds have risen, the financing costs of bonds in comparison to last year's would not be considerably higher. There were also lower interest rates and this would have an influence on the U.S. dollar debt. [ Mr. Rübel ] asked about what measures we're doing to reduce net debt? The portfolio measures we've taken and our stronger cash flow, which will continue to grow in the next few years, will help reduce our net financial debt significantly. Another question from [ Mr. Rübel ] relates to externalization strategy and in-licensing. A major part of our R&D research is to increase productivity and flexibility in our organization so that we can react quickly to a change in the environment and that we can also improve access to external innovation. This means that we count on external innovation and research with our partners. And that is why we have research -- we are shifting resources in R&D. At the same time, we have strengthened our business development organization in pharmaceuticals, so that we can carry out more licensing in the future, in the near future. We also want to have access to knowledge about diseases and pioneering discoveries and technologies. In-licensing of candidates, as active ingredients that have already showed effect in patients, can give us higher success rates and also in -- complement our internal approaches. This includes, for example, larotrectinib, a cancer drug, which we continue to count on and expand. And in January 2020, we concluded an exclusive license agreement with Daré Bioscience about future marketing rights for the contraceptive Ovaprene, which does not include hormones, and this would be in the United States, and the FDA has already granted its authorization. Ovaprene would be available, which would be used once a month as a contraceptive. We were also asked about the sales potential of BlueRock Therapeutics and our oncology products, Nubeqa and Vitrakvi. Cell technology have a unique potential in order to meet medical needs of patients. When there's development of products by BlueRock Therapeutics, the commercial prospects for these are very, very good. In Parkinson's disease, we can see a first program that is now being transferred to clinical development. Considering the early development stage, it is still too early to make a statement about any possible sales potential. With our oncology product, Nubeqa, we see a peak sales potential of more than EUR 1 billion. And for Vitrakvi, or larotrectinib, which is the active ingredient, we see a peak sales potential of more than EUR 750 million. [ Mr. Rübel ] was also interested in measures that we're taking so that farmers can deal better with extreme weather conditions. In the period under review, the revenue in Crop Science was slightly lower than forecast, in particular, on the basis of extreme weather conditions in some parts of the world, which impaired agro business. In our R&D, we want to come up with solutions for farmers where they can also deal with extreme weather conditions, drought, salt in the soil or storms. This is possible by digital analysis methods, such as FieldView and also with innovative seed. An example of this would be the development of short-necked corn. This corn grow as high as other ones, so they are much more resistant to breaking of the stems. And this is something that can minimum (sic) [minimize] loss of harvest, even in difficult environmental conditions, such as strong wind or other extreme weather conditions. [ Mr. Rübel ] also asked about what support we would be offering by the -- employees affected by restructuring outside Germany. We count on transparent and fair way of dealing with our employees that are affected by job reductions. When we have to dismiss someone, we also consider the individual results of the loss of job and try to mitigate this by trying to offer them compensation packages, which go beyond what is legally required in the respective countries. In addition, we also support our employees in looking for new jobs or, for example, training courses in applying for jobs or -- also without placement. [ Mr. Rübel ] also asked about what measures we're taking should, in the U.S. case related to glyphosate, if there is no agreement reached there. Efforts to come to an out-of-court solution are very complex. This relates to tens of thousands of plaintiffs, and we have a large number of law offices that are involved. We want to continue to be involved in this process in a constructive manner. We will be involved in mediation under Ken Feinberg, and we also want to work openly and constructively to find solutions. At the same time, we're focusing on our glyphosate-based herbicides and also to defend them before court, and we are preparing for any future trials. The same applies to the ongoing appeal proceedings following the first 3 cases, where Monsanto lost in the first instance proceedings. We're also taking a look at our defense strategy from case to case on the base of our experience and findings as well as case-specific aspects. Since we do not comment publicly on the details of our legal strategy, especially since these negotiations are confidential, that is why we cannot give you any further comments on that today. [ Mr. Rübel ] also asked about the implementation of recommendations made within the framework of our voluntary special audit. In the public report on the voluntary special audit, the auditors found that internal requirements at Bayer with regard to the implementation of due diligence tests were appropriate within the field of M&A transactions. They also confirmed that a number of internal reporting lines up until management exists appropriately and -- so that a control of M&A transactions and relative processes and reporting lines do occur. We, therefore, see that the result of this voluntary special audit confirms our high standards. With regard to the audit -- special audit itself and beyond this, a number of recommendations were given in order to further improve existing due diligence processes in reporting lines. These can be found in the report, which has been published on our website. All of the important recommendations are already being implemented. The special auditor recommends, for instance, that we revise Bayer's internal corporate policy on M&As, and they've given us some detailed suggestions. With the review of our policy, this is something we've begun already. We plan to have this amended guideline entered into force in the second half of 2020. The special auditor also recommends that risk management be included systematically in M&A projects. This has been implemented since the beginning of this year. Other drafting suggestions were made for revising various internal Bayer policies, and this is something that is to be taken into account during regular revisions and at the latest should happen every 3 years. And then it was also suggested that in coordination with the Head of Internal Audit and the Chairman of the Audit Committee that the -- this be included in the bylaws of the Supervisory Board. This is part of what is planned for the revision of the bylaws in 2020. Another question raised by [ Mr. Rübel ] relates to sustainability in our corporate strategy and due diligence. Sustainability is part of our corporate strategy. We are now in the process of discussing and integrating these in our guidelines. And here, we see, for example, the development of strategies as well as the integration in operational planning. By including the sustainability goals in Board compensation shows that sustainability is part of the core of our business activities and is integrated therein. In addition, we have always had sustainability taken into account in these areas. And in the past, these were ecological and safety, for example, soil contamination or working out health and safety standards. And here, we are also extending the requirements catalog when it comes to sustainability. [ Mr. Rübel ] also asked about reporting in our sustainability targets and in the compensation system. As you know, as part of our sustainable business strategy, we have very ambitious targets when it comes to access to health and agricultural products and the climate. So we want to make a very clear contribution to global sustainability goals of the United Nations. This year, we will be drawing up a specific timeline, which will show how we want to achieve our targets by 2030. This includes concepts for new business models, including measurable KPIs and specific milestones. As of 2020, sustainability will be an integral part of our annual planning and strategy cycle. In addition, as of 2020, sustainability targets will be included in the Board of Management's compensation system. This will include a qualitative component, which will be -- this will be included in short-term incentives. And as of 2021, they will be included in long-term compensation. The share of sustainability targets in long-term compensation will amount to 20%. This means we are at the benchmark in the DAX, and this shows, once again, very clearly how seriously we take the implementation of these targets. We will be reporting on this regularly and in a transparent way when it comes to the progress made in achieving these targets. Now I'd like to hand over now to Wolfgang Nickl to answer some of the remaining questions.

Thank you very much, Werner. I'd now like to turn to [ Mr. Kriégel ] from the [ SDK ]. He asked about the forecast on liquidity for the first half of 2020. This is in line with our expectations. We saw -- see no need for capital increase. On the base of seasonal cash flows and the dividend payment, there can be an increase in net financial debt from operational business. But for the year as a whole, these will be reduced. [ Mr. Kriégel ] also asked about additional components in Roundup vis-à-vis glyphosate. Many products of the brand Roundup consist of glyphosate, water and a surfactant. Surfactants are components with a -- which you find in a number of day-to-day products, laundry detergents, shampoo, cleaning agents, [ soap ]. With Roundup, we see support in the distribution of the herbicide along the leaves of weeds. Some plaintiffs say that the interplay between glyphosate and the surfactant represent a danger for the user of the product. Regulatory authorities, however, have assessed the safety of the surfactant category, which are used in glyphosate-based herbicides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded in 2009 that these surfactants are not carcinogenic. Glyphosate-based products, including Roundup, are the herbicides that have been studied more than any others worldwide. Leading regulatory authorities came to the conclusion, again and again, that glyphosate-based herbicides from Bayer, when used appropriately, are safe and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. These conclusions are based on comprehensive scientific findings from over 40 years. In addition, there have been more than 100 studies that were carried out by the EPA when it comes to their cancer risk analysis and a total of more than 800 safety studies, which have been submitted to the regulatory authorities. [ Mr. Kriégel ] also asked about the development of alternatives for glyphosate. We are [ consent ] that in coming years glyphosate will be -- continue to be a good tool for controlling weeds in agriculture worldwide. The product features and traits of glyphosate have not been met or exceeded by any other herbicide. In our product pipeline at Crop Science, we now have a new candidate as an active substance for an innovative herbicide. This active ingredient works according to a totally new principle, and our initial tests look very promising. We don't only develop the chemical active ingredient, but at the same time, we are working on the genetic herbicide tolerance for future, even higher-performing seed varieties. In addition, we are also committed on a broad base in research on herbicides. In the next 10 years, we want to invest about EUR 5 billion in the development of new herbicides. And here, we're talking not only about new active ingredients, we're also talking about understanding resistance mechanisms or even more targeted application technologies also with the use of digital applications. [ Mr. Kriégel ] also asked about the status of the settlement negotiations for glyphosate. Please understand that due to the confidentiality of these discussions, we cannot comment. This is why we can't speak about any potential structure, any point in time or any overall results of the mediation process and the discussions about an out-of-court settlement for this issue. But generally speaking, we would only agree to a mediation result if it makes commercial sense and is structured in such a way that future cases can efficiently be brought to a conclusion. [ Mr. Kriégel ] asked about after a return on capital employed or ROCE, as it's called, how did you manage to get 6.8% and -- when you look at the capital cost of EUR 531 million. Now 2019 was the first year in which Monsanto was fully integrated. As anticipated and as announced after the acquisition, special items resulting from the acquisition diminished earnings. In 2023, we would like to bring the return of our Crop Science business back above the cost of capital, which currently stands at 6.8%. Now this can be achieved by boosting earnings significantly, whilst at the same time achieving our capital base. We aim to improve profit and sales, and we will also have a few -- we also have the absence of integration costs. The capital base will reduce essentially due to the planned write-downs, the depreciation of our tangible assets. And to what extent the current scope of COVID-19 will have on our plans will be seen over the course of the year. [ Mr. Kriégel ] also asked about the conclusions drawn by Bayer for the global supply chain, dependencies on India and China specifically. Secure supply for patients, protecting the health and safety of our employees is paramount, which is why we are continuously monitoring the situation and will take measures if necessary. But our pharmaceutical production is mostly running as it usually does. But we also have a security buffer for precursors and raw materials. We have local crisis teams working on the ground in order to secure the production of pharmaceutical active ingredients, drugs and medicine products. Our employees in purchasing are in close contact with suppliers and freight forward. As for certain products, which are being used for treating COVID-19 patients at the moment or which are being investigated as a potential treatment in course of studies, we have seen an increase in demand for this type of products. We are in close contact with the authorities to ensure that we can meet the demand levels. Now given the ongoing pandemic, there is a sort of delay with international transport. We are working closely with our distribution network in order to try and avoid any bottlenecks. When it comes to the acquisition of active ingredients from China and India, we are not too dependent on any suppliers there, also about outsourcing and production of raw materials. And for the purchase of active ingredients and intermediates, we use the global purchasing market, including China and India. One of the reasons the -- get these from these regions is they have economies of scale and there's cost advantages than compared to a regionalized supply. Moreover, one of the things that is noteworthy is the pressure on supply chain caused by the crisis is mainly not necessarily due to production problems, but due to restrictions imposed by governments. [ Mr. Kriégel ] asked about the consequences for our supply chains in Crop Science. Despite the corona crisis, we've had a good start to 2020. However, well, there's a lot of uncertainty when looking at the rest of the year. But what will be decisive for our business will be whether or not we're able to maintain our supply chains and thus continue to operate at full capacity. Now at the moment, the supply of raw materials, production and also distribution is more or less normal. Any trends towards deglobalization or regionalization of supply chains will not be seen at the moment. We think it would be the wrong move. [ Mr. Kriégel ] also spoke about the divestment of our Animal Health business. We still believe that the sale of our Animal Health business to Elanco will be closed by middle -- by the middle of 2020. Now the agreed Animal sales revenue is USD 7.6 billion. This sum contains 70% of cash component and 30% in equity in Elanco. And of course, this share of the value will depend on the performance of the Elanco's share. We plan to use the proceeds to further deleverage. [ Mr. Kriégel ] asked about the reasons for selling our -- Casebia to CRISPR Therapeutics AG and also the EBITDA multiple. As part of the agreement, Bayer transferred its stake in the joint venture to CRISPR Therapeutics AG, and as a concession received option rights for future technologies in addition to a payment of EUR 40 million. Furthermore, a capital deposit of EUR 59 million, was -- no longer has to be paid. The results of the joint venture as part of the equity accounting were shown in the financial result in line with IFRS. As such, the earnings contribution is not EBITDA relevant for the group. Moreover, after resolving the Casebia joint venture, our share in CRISPR Therapeutics AG has now been reduced to below 5%. One of the reasons is the restructuring of Casebia which since December 2019, has been fully integrated into CRISPR Therapeutics. [ Mr. Kriégel ] also had a question about the proceeds from sales in the year 2019. When selling the Dr. Scholl's business, we had impairments of EUR 429 million, which was earnings accretive. The price that we took into account in fiscal 2019 was EUR 516 million and corresponded to the book value of the net assets after the impairment. Now based on the EBITDA contributions from fiscal 2018, the EBITDA multiple came in at around 33. A preliminary purchase price for the Coppertone business in fiscal 2019 was EUR 501 million. And that corresponded to the book value of the net financial assets. So now the Coppertone brand did not generate any positive EBITDA contribution. As such, it is not particularly relevant when showing the EBITDA multiples. In fiscal 2019, our global business with prescription medicine dermatology projects outside the U.S.A. was sold. The purchase price was EUR 617 million. The proceeds from sales was EUR 347 million. Based on EBITDA contributions from fiscal 2018, the EBITDA multiple came in at around 9. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Bayer concluded the sale of its shares in Currenta. The preliminary sale price for our 60% stake in Currenta is EUR 1.104 billion. Furthermore, we sold a real estate and infrastructure portfolio for EUR 180 million to Currenta. The preliminary sales proceeds came in at EUR 1.637 billion. The Currenta Group, including Bayer's real estate portfolio and deducting net financial debt and pension obligations, has a total enterprise value of EUR 3.5 billion. The contribution of the Currenta Group to EBITDA for the Bayer group in fiscal 2018 came in at EUR 218 million, which corresponds to a multiple of around 16. Furthermore, in August 2019, we agreed a sales contract with Elanco Animal Health LLC for selling our Animal Health business. The proceeds from the sales would only be realized and [ it also gets in ] accretive manner when the transaction is closed. We expect this closing of the transaction in the middle of 2020. [ Mr. Kriégel ] asked about the trend in our return on capital employed. In the earnings of discontinued operations, we had EUR 1.7 billion, and this includes the proceeds from the sale of our stake in Currenta. As such any direct comparison with the operated revenues of continued operations of EUR 2.4 billion is not particularly relevant. Now in order to generate a premium on our capital costs, we expect further growth in this business and also an expansion in the margin. This will be boosted by additional synergies, lower special items and a reduction in capital committed. [ Mr. Kriégel's ] last question was when Bayer expects to achieve its climate change targets and its other sustainability targets? Now taking into account the ecological limits of the earth and also allowing human beings to have an enjoyable life, this is the core of our ambitious sustainability goals. The key focus is -- includes growth while also reducing our ecological footprint along our value chain. We have a target, and it says that by 2030, we want our own production sites to operate on a CO2 neutral basis. But in order to achieve this, we will have energy-efficient measures at our different sites and are also getting more and more of our power from renewable energy sources. Other emissions are being offset by purchasing CO2 certificates from certified climate protection projects. Along the upstream and downstream value chains, we aim to reduce our greenhouse of gas emissions in cooperation with customers and suppliers in order to ensure that our objectives are in line with those of Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or significantly below 2 degrees Celsius. We have signed up to the science-based target initiative. The increase in CO2 emissions in year 2019 compared to 2018 is due to the first time reporting the integration of the Monsanto fully for the full fiscal year. We also have raw material -- we also had an addition of other businesses, which has also led to an increase in energy-intensive activities. And to the full year integration, the figures, when rounding energy, have increased. So this is a technical effect in the accounts, and you can see this in our annual report. This brings me to [ Mr. Wenning ] from Union Investment. [ Mr. Wenning ] asked about the current status of the negotiations relating to the glyphosate settlement. We want to continue to play a constructive role in the mediation and the discussions about a potential solution to the glyphosate legal issue. But due to the pandemic and also the confidentiality of the mediation process, it's not possible to speak about any potential results of negotiations or any kind of time scale for the mediation. Against this backdrop, there's nothing we can say about the opportunities and risks. This would merely be speculation of anything that could possibly come from the potential overlapping of the mediation method with the verdicts from ongoing appeal procedures. As to the opportunities which could arise from a verdict from the appeal against the Johnson case or other decisions which we'll repeal, there's something that I would like to add. Now following the first written submissions in the appeal for the Johnson case, the Court of Appeal in California requested further statements from the different parties relating to what is called preemption. Preemption means whether the accusations, which said that Monsanto did not warn of any potential cancer risk, can legally be ruled out. Because these accusations, in the case of Johnson, related to one single state, in this case, the law in California. So what now needs to be checked is whether these accusations are covered by federal law or whether they are ruled out by means of federal law. Because the U.S. authority, the EPA examined and certified this product. Now the Courts of Appeal, [ and their verdict ] on this could have significant consequences for the entire -- for all of the legal cases surrounding Roundup. [ Mr. Wenning ] also asked about some kind of indications on the legal litigation dicamba and the increase of provisions for compensation on dicamba cases. We have amended our provisions for dicamba in line with the expectations for our defense costs. And we're looking at single-digit million euro range. And we'd also like to refer you to our answers that we gave in response to [ Mr. Tumler ] questions. [ Mr. Wenning ] also asked about our product pipeline in pharma business. We already spoke about this topic when answering [ Mr. Tumler ] questions. [ Mr. Wenning ] asked about the -- what's going on in terms of compensation of greenhouse gas emissions. As you know, our goal is to make sure all of our sites are climate neutral by 2030. And here, we're introducing energy-efficient measures at all of our sites and are expanding purchasing of electricity from renewable sources. The indirect and direct Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are compensated, and they all satisfy, recognize quality standards. For compensation, there were projects which are associated with our business activities from forestry and agriculture, which also have a positive impact on other sustainable development goals such as preserving biodiversity. Depending on region and projects, we want to use the most important and recognized worldwide standards like Kyoto Protocol, standards from voluntary markets, the Paris Agreement from 2021. The specific projects are still being selected. This -- the first compensation measures will be concluded or decided on by the end of 2020. [ Mr. Wenning ] also asked about our report according to the task force on climate-related financial disclosures. And here, we'd like to say that today, as part of our CDP ratings, we reported that parts of the TCFD recommendations have been adopted. This year, Bayer was awarded the highest possible CDP rating, A. CDP stands for Carbon Disclosure Project. Our current TCFD report can be found on the Bayer website. But we are working intensely to ensure as soon as possible that there were further insights into different climate scenarios, and then we will publish a special TCFD report. Finally, [ Mr. Wenning ] asked about the first specific projects that are there to implement the goal of strengthening 100 million smallholder farmers in emerging and developing countries. Smallholder farmers are very important for security of supply of food, and many of them live on the poverty line. And we want to help at least 100 million smallholder farmers in these countries by giving them access to the knowledge of how to conduct good and sensible agricultural business. And we wanted to expand our portfolio especially for smallholder farmers and engage in innovative partnerships with them. One good example of this is the Better Life Farming Alliance. Together with our partners, we are developing an alliance all over the world for innovative solutions, which are adapted to the needs of the individual smallholder farmers, for example, seeds sowing, precision irrigation, plant protection and financing and insurance issues. Monitoring whether these goals are achieved will take place in using the number of smallholder farmers in countries with low- to middle-income levels, and we will monitor this in regular audits. I'd now like to give the floor to Mr. Wenning to answer the next few questions.

Thank you, Mr. Nickl. Now going to some questions by [ Mr. Tumler ]. He asked which other areas of compensation are now included in the maximum compensation of Mr. Baumann, which were not included previously. He also asked how high these values are. The new Stock Corporation Act includes the requirements of European shareholder rights. And all compensation elements are to be included in a new maximum amount, not only as previously was done. The fixed compensation, STI and LTI. Specifically, this means that from 2020, the expenditure for Mr. Baumann's pension will also be subject to this cap. And that his fringe benefits, for example, expenditure in association with his company car and insurance payments, et cetera, will also be included. The values for this expenditure on fringe benefits and pensions fluctuate from year-to-year and has still not been set for 2020. For 2019, fringe benefits of EUR 47,000 were found and expenditure for pensions valued at EUR 1.31 million. Also, for future payments from STI and LTI, we have also included possible maximum payments of 200% to 250%. The new maximum compensation should be valid for the next obligatory say-on-pay in 4 years and also cover any modifications. [ Mr. Tumler ] also asked why in our short-term incentivization we are using the EBITDA margin. As described in Chapter 2.3 of the annual report, the EBITDA adjusted by pre-exceptionals is used to measure operative performance. And so this is a performance indicator of profitable growth in the short-term incentivization as part of a divisional component. Definite -- any changes will be considered in making -- assessing goals. So for example, any of the consequences from the IFRS change were anticipated at the beginning when setting our objectives. Mr. [ Speitz ] asked how a loss of competencies would be dealt with by the change at the top of the Supervisory Board. I think Mr. Winkeljohann was able to explain how his new expertise would help the Supervisory Board since he had a long role at PwC and was Head of our Auditing Committee so far. I can say on my part that I think he is a very experienced, competent and very well committed member of the Supervisory Board. Now we'll come to Mr. [ Huber ] who asked for -- about the compensation system with regard to sustainability goals. And we have amended the compensation system for the first -- up until the 1st of January 2020 and adapted this to current statutory and market requirements. And our discussions with investors played a part in this. This system is now going to be voted on by the AGM and will be done so 1 year earlier than is necessary. And we think this is a good, fair and appropriate compensation system. We think this is an important financial parameter, and we have included long-term incentive goals and expanded our sustainability goals in line with this. We are one of the pioneers in DAX 30 with the sustainability goals in the long-term incentive. The leeway of discretion for the Supervisory Board has been greatly reduced. And so-called individual components in short-term incentive has been replaced by the performance of free cash flows. The Supervisory Board will judge the individual performance of the members of the Management Board. As it has done till now, you think targets for personal goals and company goals. The payment of short-term incentives will be set depending on financial objectives. And there will be a multiplicator of maximum plus/minus 20%, depending on whether the goals are reached. From our view, this system will be tested next year to see if it was successfully implemented. And now with the compensation system, Mr. [ Huber ] asked whether there would be an adjustment for avoiding subsequent amendments of performance goals. For the various compensation elements, the Supervisory Board sets the target parameters for the given year. These contain short-term incentives. And for long-term incentives, there's the performance compared to EURO STOXX 50 and explicit sustainability goals from 2021. Subsequent amendments are not intended. However, if there are amendments in the portfolio or any special facts have led to substantial changes in the planned values and mean that there are positive or negative impacts here, then they sustain -- Supervisory Board will look at any of these consequences and make amendments where necessary. Mr. [ Kriégel ] asked questions on the compensatory system. The maximum target of 200% for short-term incentive and 250% for long-term incentive are the caps -- or a cap for payments. The lower limit, however, is 0 as an equivalent for possible nonpayment in 1 year. I think, for example, on the LTI tranche 2015 to 2018, his payment was 0 in January 2019. There should be the possibility of having a appropriate high payout in particularly successful years. And the caps of 200% for STI and 250% for LTI are used currently by many DAX companies. As a benchmark, Bayer tends to use the DAX 30 as a benchmark for its compensation structure. Due to the composition of the company and the diversity of the businesses, we think that the relative performance in the LTI system is more appropriate. So that would be the EURO STOXX 50 total return. This index shows with 27% the same 1-year volatility as DAX 30. The volatility of the MSCI global pharma and [ agri ] is at 20% in the same period. Our proposal for the new maximum compensation for Management Board is EUR 12 million for the Chair of the Management Board and EUR 7.5 million for all other Board members. The public discussion about EUR 10 million as potential maximum amount was referred to in terms of a so-called target cash compensation. So that's the sum of the set compensation STI and LTI. According to the Stock Corporation Act, it's now also the fluctuating expenditure for fringe benefits and also pensions, which are included in this maximum amount. And we have future payments from STI and LTI, which we will consider when setting the maximum payments of 200% to 250%. And any amendments that need to be made in the 4 years that follow will be encompassed by this. The change of control rule means that the contracts of the Board will be under stricter control. And this agreement will support the independence of the Management Board in particular special situations. The current rule is a part of their contracts and cannot be removed from this unilaterally, and there is no reason to change this. Mr. [ Kriégel ], you asked about the reason for the difference in Board of Management pay according to IFRS and HGB in accordance compared to what was paid actually in 2019. The difference in the amount of compensation result primarily from a different consideration of compensation components in the various accounting systems, IFRS and HGB, the civil code in Germany. By means of example, we can use the different methods for determining the time -- service years for pension payments in accordance with the HGB and IFRS as well as the different way of determining the long-term incentive and also the term of the program. According to HGB, the commercial code, the amount for long-term share-based compensation is also taken into account at the fair value amount. In accordance with IFRS, on the other hand, the amount over the term of the programs is distributed. Any fluctuations in the entitlements are also something that will be taken into account. Because both the HGB and the IFRS have a way of looking at things, we have to see that the presentation of both of these systems are different when it comes to the amount of compensation paid. For example, when the long-term incentive is paid in the first quarter at the end of the 4-year period. In other words, in a fiscal year, we're neither in accordance with IFRS or in accordance with HSG (sic) [ HGB ], the amount has been determined. The amount to be paid for retirement is dependent not only on the entitlement, but also on the interest rate. In the -- if you consider the interest rate that is defined in HGB, in IFRS, the interest rates depends on the average interest value for high-quality companies. This fluctuates from 1 year to the next and is clearly much lower than the HGB interest rate. For 2019, for example, an interest rate for HGB was 3.21%, while for the IFRS, the amount applied was 1.90%. So this meant that the amount paid for pension entitlements according to IFRS can be clearly different from the one according to HGB. Over a period of time, you can see that between these different systems, there can be shifts in the periods and also in other -- in some cases, clearly different evaluations of the compensation elements. I admit it's quite complicated, Mr. [ Kriégel ], but we did abide by all the rules. And now I'd like to turn to Mr. [ Freitag ]. He asked for information on dates and agenda items for the Supervisory Board meetings and the resolutions adopted. We had a total of 11 meetings of the Supervisory Board at Bayer AG in fiscal 29 (sic) [ 2019 ] that took place on the following dates. 26th February 2019, 2 meetings. On the 26th of April, one meeting was the meeting prior to the shareholders' meeting and one immediately following the end of the shareholders' meeting. Then we met on the 13th of May 2019, 26th of June 2019, 18th of July 2019, 6th of August 2019, 18th of August 2019, 10th of September 2019, 29th of November 2019 and the 13th of December 2019. Well, please remember, Mr. [ Freitag ], that the individual agenda items and the resolutions taken cannot be mentioned separately because this is confidential information. But I can refer you to the detailed report of the Supervisory Board where we deal in detail with the work of the Supervisory Board in the past fiscal year. As you will see in that report, the Supervisory Board and its committees met in the past fiscal year and dealt primarily with the conclusions drawn by the Supervisory Board when the acts of the Managing Board were not ratified at the shareholders' meeting in 29 (sic) [ 2019 ], also the question of glyphosate and the disposable of a number of businesses as well as the Bayer '22 efficiency program. Mr. [indiscernible] also asked about the Supervisory Board's dealing with the expert opinion drawn up by Professor Habersack. Professor Mathias Habersack wrote an expert opinion. And he came to the conclusion as was raised by the law firm, Linklaters. They said that the members of the Board of Management had not infringed their duty of care requirements when agreeing to and implementing the Monsanto acquisition. The Supervisory Board reviewed this expert opinion and agreed with the findings in this expert opinion. No member of the Supervisory Board had any criticism with regard to this expert opinion. Mr. [indiscernible] also asked for information on the -- consequences were drawn from the fact that the Board of Management's acts were not ratified at the last stockholders' meeting and also the results of the Supervisory Board's workshop. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board took extensive measures in order to address the issues raised by shareholders at the regular stockholders' meeting in 2019. And also, we're in constant dialogue with investors, and they wanted to react to the constant dialogue with investors. These topics were dealt with by the Supervisory Board during the workshop in June 2019. As a reaction to the critical -- criticism from shareholders, Bayer has had a number of discussions with investors since the stockholders' meeting 2019. Bayer also contacted more than 500 shareholders, which account for nearly 60% of the company's share capital. In addition, there were discussions on governance questions between the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and 25 of the largest individual shareholders at Bayer AG. At its meeting on the 26th of June 2019, the Supervisory Board set up a committee on glyphosate and a legal issue there, which would accompany the proceedings in the United States. And they would report and advise the Board of Management and also make proposals on strategy. In addition, the U.S. Attorney, John H. Beisner, was mandated to advise the Supervisory Board on a continuous basis with regard to glyphosate, also with regard to questions of tactics and mediation. He is an expert in U.S. litigation and heads a law firm, a well-renowned law firm, Skadden, in Washington, D.C. And he's responsible of the department called Mass Torts, Insurance and Consumer Litigation. Bayer AG also entered into mediation negotiations with regard to glyphosate. These are headed by Ken Feinberg, who is a well-known expert for complex settlements in the United States. With the court appointment of Ertharin Cousin, who is the former Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme. As a member of the Supervisory Board, the Supervisory Board has strengthened its profile when it comes to nutrition, and she is being proposed to be elected to the Supervisory Board today. And Bayer has also increased its yardstick when it comes to transparency, sustainability and dealing with all interest groups in its increased responsibility as a leading company in agriculture, to reduce effects of agricultural products on the environment by 30% and to improve the so-called EIQ, the Environmental Load Quotient (sic) [Environmental Impact Quotient], from Bayer products by other investments in top innovation for seed and plants' traits, in digital agriculture, biological solutions and no -- new products, which would have less residue and lower amounts -- used in lower amounts. We also have a Sustainability Council, which listens to experts and interest representatives. Also, the investments in the coming 10 years amounting to EUR 5 billion for new methods for fighting weeds and also increased partnerships and weed research worldwide so that we can come up with customer-specific solutions for farmers at a local level. We will continue public-ing all of the safety-related crop science studies on the Internet. This will include all of the 107 glyphosate studies, which Bayer has. We invite scientists, journalists and representatives from NGOs to actively accompany the scientific preparation of the relicensing of glyphosate and also the establishment of uniform safety standards for our products, even if these go beyond local requirements. Mr. [indiscernible] asked about which members of the Supervisory Board members were a member of the glyphosate committee. Ms. Goggins, Ms. Reinbold-Knape, Mr. Achleitner, van Broich, Elsner, Winkeljohann and Zühlke. I am the Chairman of this committee still. This information can also be found on our website. With respect to the fact that I will be leaving the Supervisory Board at the end of today's meeting, the Supervisory Board has elected Mr. Winkeljohann as the new Chairman of this committee. And assuming that he is reelected, he will also be -- Mr. Baier will be the second -- a further member of this committee. One shareholder asked how specific this would be. The Supervisory Board considers the shareholder representatives. And here, we have a defined program, and they then elect possible candidates as a result. And here, we can see that we also take this diversity concept into account. Candidates and candidates' proposals are prepared by the nomination committee. The Supervisory Board extended recently to include 2 additional female members of the Supervisory Board. And now this committee consists of 2 men and 2 women. I believe that this continues the gender spread in the Supervisory Board. One shareholder asked if an increase in the total compensation of the Board -- Supervisory Board from EUR 24.4 million to EUR 39.035 million would be something that would lead to a review of the compensation structure and if this is appropriate considering the share price performance. We have considered these figures. And you try to take the total compensation of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board for 2018 and 2019. You try to compare the 2, but you took both the currently active members of these bodies as well as the members of these bodies that have left these bodies in this period under review. That means that you are taking 2 completely different values so that you are putting 2 things together that cannot be compared. On Page 125 of the annual report, you can see the compensation for the members of the Supervisory Board. And on Page 123, you can see EUR 20.552 million for 2018 and EUR 35.097 million for 2019. That is the vested value for the Board of Management. But this is a technical figure and it is not only the actual compensation, but it also includes the long-term compensation, which has not yet been paid. So the 4 open overlapping tranches for long-term compensation are then reassessed every year due to the development of interest rates and the share price. So this is what led to these developments. What we're talking about here is a balance sheet presentation, but it has nothing to do with the amount of compensation paid to the Board of Management in 2019. So if you take a look at the total year under review and compensation paid for the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management and if you want to compare that with the previous year, then, of course, you'll have to take the amounts that you used on Page 125 of the annual report. This is for the Supervisory Board. And then you can take the amounts for the members of the Board of Management on Page 122 of the annual report. You have to put the 2 together. If you do that, then for 2018, you come up with a total figure of EUR 25.035 million. And for 2019, you come up with a total amount of EUR 24.412 million. If the stockholders' meeting were to approve the compensation structure today with a clear majority, we do not intend to review the compensation structure again. One shareholder asked about the adequacy of the salary increase by 56.1% for Mr. Baumann and how this can be justified given that in 2019, there was no equal increase in earnings per share or in the dividend. My response. The increase that you stated of the IFRS values on Page 100 -- is related to the IFRS value on Page 123 of our annual report, but we speak about the technical value for the Board of Management. Now these technical values don't only take into account actual compensation but also the long-term compensation components that have not yet been paid out. What this means is that the 4 overlapping tranches for long-term compensation reevaluated every year with the change in value is a result of interest and share price changes. So this is an accounting measure that is taken to show the value, but it doesn't actually have anything to do with the compensation actually paid to the Board in 2019. The actual compensation paid to Mr. Baumann for 2019 compared with 2018 was EUR 5.62 million to EUR 5.46 million. It was actually reduced. So the figure paid in 2019 was 3% lower than in the prior year. And you can see this on Page 122 of the annual report. One shareholder asked about the [indiscernible] insurance for the Supervisory Board. And the -- this insurance [ buy ] is a group insurance, which ensures the Board of Management, the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG and other members of bodies, the managers and subsidiaries, for example. Now the signing of -- the conclusion of the insurance is decided by the -- or the acceptance of this insurance is decided by the Board of Management. Now the possibility for one of these insurances can be found in paragraph 12, section 6 of the articles of incorporation. Now this is insurance policy [indiscernible] excess according to the recommendation in section 3.8, paragraph 3 of the German Corporate Governance Code in the version published on the 7th of February 2017. One shareholder asked us why nobody from Monsanto is represented in the Board. In the structure of our company divisions, we have the divisions -- Pharma, Crop Science and Consumer Health, where you each headed -- which we all represented on the Board of Management. Liam Condon, who was the Head of Crop Science before Monsanto, resents (sic) [represents] the combined business and such also represents the sections of that division, which previously formed part of Monsanto. That's the end of my answers to these questions. I will now hand you over to Norbert Winkeljohann.

Thank you very much, Mr. Wenning. [ Mr. Tumler ] from the DSW asked what I can contribute as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and what new ideas I might have -- I'd also ask what type connection I may have had with Monsanto. Now as I said, when I was introduced, thanks to my years of experience in global management in the auditing company, PwC, in Europe and in Germany as CEO of this company, I've acquired a lot of skills, which range from a strategic dimension of a global organization with more than 250,000 employees and also include operating management and codetermination. In the last 2 years alone, thanks to my position into the Supervisory Board of Bayer and also as Head of the Audit Committee, I have a very good overview of the company. Bayer is very well positioned. Now this applies to the company's strategy, which I fully support. It also applies to the quality of the company's management, which I am firmly convinced given the number of discussions that I have had with the managers of the company. Furthermore, Bayer -- this is once another thing which is important to me is innovation and profitability, but also social responsibility. Now in response to the question about the Monsanto acquisition, I joined Bayer in May of 2018 after the agreed transaction. The transaction was closed just a few weeks after I joined Bayer. [ Mr. Hubler ] had another question. And this relates to the future job of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and which other positions I have and what role they can play. I'll be dedicating more than 50% of my time to Bayer. I will probably [indiscernible] but then I will also spend further time with Deutsche Bank. I will not -- be -- but I -- I was asked whether -- I would just like to say that I don't plan to leave my position at the Deutsche Bank. Now I will hand back to Werner Baumann (sic) [Werner Wenning].

There's one thing that I would like to add. There's another question that I had to answer. One stockholder asked about what exactly is being done to ensure that the targets set by the Supervisory Board for the Board of Management by the 30th of June 2020 should have at least one female member. Now to start with the HR consultants who assist us with appointing members to the Board have been instructed to also take female candidates into account. Now this has been emphasized again in this case. And now they have been [ expressly ] instructed to identify female candidates for the Management Board. Furthermore, in its meeting, which took place in December 2019, the Supervisory Board looked at the internal talent pool to try and identify any possible female candidates for the Board of Management. And so that was it for me. I will hand back to Mr. Baumann.

Thank you very much, Mr. Wenning. I'd now like to respond to Mr. [indiscernible] question. He asked whether there'd be any pressure from stockholders to pay out all of the profit -- all the profit as a dividend. No, this was not the case. There was certainly no pressure from one or several stockholders relating to the level of the dividend nor would Bayer spend all of its profits on dividends. Now in 2019, our annual surplus was EUR 4.557 billion. And we want to ensure that the shareholders benefit from this. And our dividend policy is based around the indicator, core earnings per share. Mr. [indiscernible] also asked whether the Board of Management and Supervisory Board discussed reasons as to what -- reasons that might justify a lower dividend. For a number of years, we have clearly underlined, also during a period in which the dividend has continually increased, that a continuous dividend -- the continuation of our dividend policy is correct. In 2019, in a challenging market and environment, we did manage to achieve our targets, and we also wanted to ensure that our -- such stockholders benefited adequately from this. This decision was taken at the end of -- again, confirmed at the end of March. And if we did have to -- if we did require state aid, which is not the case here, but is the case in most other companies, then we would certainly have considered cutting the dividend. Mr. [indiscernible] had several questions about our crop protection products and active ingredients. The crop protection products produced by Crop Science are produced in the company's own facilities. This allows us to quickly respond to local market needs. And the active ingredients are processed according to local requirements. Here, they are also packaged. This is the case in South Africa and Brazil as well. Now please understand that due to competition reasons, we cannot -- we do not report sales or tonnage-based figures relating to active ingredients or products. I'd like to emphasize that since 2016, Bayer has only been selling crop protection products which contain active ingredient but is not reticent in at least one OECD country. Now the products that are used in respective countries also -- have always have to take into account the climatic conditions and also local pathogens. Furthermore, last year, we spoke about our sales obligation, which says that in the developing countries, we would only provide crop protection products that meet the requirements of a majority of international reference regulatory authorities. Now this group contains the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China. Mr. [indiscernible] asked which active ingredients are produced in Brazil by us. In Brazil, we currently only produce glyphosate in Brazil. Mr. [indiscernible] also asked about cooperation and licensing agreements with other companies in the crop protection industry in South Africa and Brazil. Bayer has a number of agreements such as this all over the world. In Brazil, for example, we work together with Sumitomo. And we're working with them to develop a new crop protection product to -- and fight fungal diseases in soya beans. The Brazilian Agricultural Research Society (sic) [Corporation] Embrapa is working with us to address specific challenges faced by Brazilian agriculture such as Asian soya rust. Mr. [indiscernible] wanted to know whether there was any connection between the fires in the Amazon and the increased use of crop protection products. We fundamentally oppose illegal deforestation and are firmly convinced that the environmental laws that are in place must be abided by. Now Brazil has a sophisticated strict and coherent [ and set ] environment laws. If there are any infringements of this law, then sanctions will be applied. Conservation of the forest is very, very important to us. In coordination with the most -- in line with the most recent IPCC land use report, we are of the opinion that sustainable intensification of cultivation on existing arable land should reduce the future needs for new arable land and also reduce deforestation drastically. The technologies that we offer help to improve agricultural yields. They also protect biodiversity, soil and water. Furthermore, it will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases. Digital tools position farming, biotechnology, and also promoting sustainable practices in agriculture help to plant more on the arable land available, which, in turn, protects forests. When we speak about intensifying the cultivation on existing plots of land, this doesn't necessarily mean that we use more crop protection products as your question seems to imply. Quite the opposite, in fact, by using -- with a pinpointed approach to the application of crop protection products, we can ensure that they are provided to the fields exactly on the spot where it's needed. We are working together with universities, NGOs, private companies, forest owners in Brazil in order to find new solutions, which will assist in restoring domestic forests, allowing sustainable agriculture. Mr. [indiscernible] wants to know how Bayer is implementing the requirements from the UN Guiding Principles for identification, assessment and minimization of human rights risks. Now protection of human rights is the highest priority for Bayer. Guidelines, processes as well as management and monitoring systems govern the implementation of human rights standards in our operations. In order to assess any risks, and finally, if there are any, in order to minimize these risks, we use our group-wide integrated risk management system. Now here, it is explicitly not financial risks that are related to our commercial activity or our products or services. The risks that are identified are then examined according to a matrix to see what their potential impact and the likelihood of them materializing will be. And when doing this, we also consider any countermeasures. If it seems that there may be any violations of our position on human rights, then employees and the general public can anonymously report this to our compliance hotline, which is available in a number of different languages. We always scrutinize our processes and activities to make sure they are dear to human rights. In the year 2019, our duty of care in terms of human rights, which we went -- we looked at this in terms of our business processes, but also looked at any shortcomings. We had an external company come in to look at this for us. Mr. [indiscernible] also asked about how to deal with any critical -- with any issues in our supply chain in terms of human rights. So refer to the 712 audits that were conducted in relation to our suppliers in the year 2019 and critical events at 11 of our suppliers. Now in the assessments that were performed, these was related to sustainability in the field of the environment through working conditions, human rights, ethics and sustainable purchasing. And we engage in dialogue with the sites where we did have critical events. And then we had to check whether these problems were rectified. Now the reasons for a critical result can range from insufficient documentation without any specific violation, but it can also be specific cases of violations. Now as part of our duty of care and also in line with the applicable standards in the field of sustainability, we look for measures of improvement only if, in a subsequent check, the supplier has not shown any improvement, then we terminate our commercial relationship. The names of the suppliers affected are not allowed to be stated due for reasons of confidentiality. Mr. [indiscernible] asked about our climate goals in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. Bayer wants to be climate neutral by 2030. And this is an ambitious goal which was based on the Paris Climate Agreement. We've also committed publicly to formulating a scientifically based climate objective. The science-based target initiative is a renowned institution, which was founded by the WWF, UN Global Compact and CDP and is monitoring this process. In harmony with the results of the Paris Climate Agreement and the science-based target initiative, we have committed to limiting global warming to at least 2 -- for it not rising by at least 2 degrees Celsius. Another question by Mr. [indiscernible] referred to our objectives and intentions in terms of CO2 emissions in our supply chain, Scope 3. As we've said, these specific goals are published -- will be published after the science-based target initiative has been reviewed. Later, the -- we would be in contact with our suppliers in order to introduce measures to reduce emissions. Also, we have joint activities from buying production and development in order to reduce CO2 usage or consumption. For example, in Packaging Materials, Mr. [indiscernible] also had some questions on transparency initiative of our division, Crop Science. This program was founded in 2017 and looks at the complete and detailed safety studies for pesticides. Now we have information that is published for 28 active ingredients that we use, including 107 study reports on the safety studies for glyphosate, which were -- which were submitted for the approval proceedings in the EU. Generally, all -- we can only give out studies where Bayer has the rights to these studies. Documents where third parties have these rights are not allowed to be published. Another constraint will mean that if a product has not been allowed onto the market yet, we can't produce these studies yet. Due to capacity reasons, we cannot put all of our studies onto our Internet platform. Bayer has, worldwide several thousand safety studies on active ingredients and products which were submitted to authorities. And one single study report can have up to 800 pages. And if individual studies are not able to be found on our platform at the moment, then these can be -- you can write to us and ask for these by email, and you will find this email address on the relevant Internet page. I'd now like to come to the questions by [ Mr. Freitag ]. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked who were the lawyers involved in advising about this AGM. The company is receiving legal advice by Linklaters LLP and Mr. Ralph Wollburg, [ Dr. Kenna Iseling ] and [ Andreas Sena ] are the lawyers involved. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked about the number of shareholders who had ask questions for this AGM and the number of questions to compare from the year before. This year, 40 shareholders sent us a total of 245 questions. Last year, we had 275 questions from 69 different shareholders. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked how other shareholders -- or whether other questions were not answered. Bayer AG is answering all questions which were submitted before their given deadline, which was Saturday at midnight. Therefore, there were no questions that are left unanswered. If some of the questions were not answered in part, then we will refer to this when giving the answers. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked about the information that's been provided outside of the AGM. Bayer AG has not given shareholders any other information outside of the AGM. [ Mr. Freitag ], you wanted to know about glyphosate, how high the number of scientific studies and confirmations by regulatory bodies, is that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. You also wanted to know how many of these studies and confirmations were added in the year 2019. There's more than 800 studies, which are looked at, the active ingredient, glyphosate, and its effects on the health of people and animals and were submitted by Monsanto or other authorities to the EPA. This information was collated in 2018. Glyphosate has been commercially available for 40 years and has been looked at in terms of its safety very intensely. The database of the EPA contains 4,232 studies on glyphosate. Of the dozens of different categories of studies, 46 of these look specifically at the health of people and animals and more than 800 look at the active ingredients, specifically glyphosate. And the other studies refer to formulations which were produced by other admitting authorities. The EPA shows that there are strict requirements for the approval of these studies. And all of these are taking place in terms of the standards for good labor practice. In terms of the studies and whether there is a cancer risk. In 2017, the EPA looked at the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate, and there were 120 studies that were included amongst this, as well as 23 epidemiological studies, where the use of glyphosate was looked at under real conditions and 14 long-term cancer studies in animals and 84 other tests, which are all explained in detail in the EPA report. In January 2020, the EPA published its statements on safety of glyphosate. And the EPA explains that for registering the safety of glyphosate, it looks at the most current and up-to-date scientific guidelines and methods for assessing the risk of this active ingredient. And it concluded that the use of glyphosates as it is currently registered mean there are no risks for the health of humans. There have now been 10 to 15 new studies, which were submitted in 2019 or commissioned in that year. This number only contains the studies that were carried out for approval purposes. But it doesn't contain studies that were carried out by other parties. [ Mr. Freitag ], you wanted to know how many of these 800 glyphosate studies came from the timeframe you mentioned. The database of the EPA contains studies, including the year of the studies is also available on the website of the EPA for you to have a look at. You also wanted to know how many of these studies were commissioned by Bayer or Monsanto. And how many of these were supported financially by Bayer or Monsanto. Of the more than 800 studies, which looked at glyphosate, and the effects of this on the health of people and animals, 629 of these were carried out by Monsanto. The other -- of the 800 were carried out by other producers and submitted to the EPA. Of the 121 of the studies that looked at the cancer risk, 11 of these studies were carried out by Monsanto and the rest were carried out by other approval authorities or scientists and universities. Also, you wanted to know about the costs for these studies. Since some of the more than 800 studies, which look at the effects on animals and humans, we don't have any access to cost information here. The 629 studies carried out by Monsanto were carried out a long time ago, and we don't have any information on these costs either. Therefore, the cost for more than the 800 studies cannot be calculated. A study carried out in 2016 by Crop Life showed that the total costs, which are concerned or associated with the market introduction of a molecule were around $152 million in the year 1995, and had gone up to $286 million between 2010 to 2014. You also asked how many of these 800 studies looks at findings on the basis of looking at humans. And you referred to the AGM 2019 where on the website of the EPA, around 4,000 studies were named on glyphosate. There were no clinical studies on pesticides that are carried out on humans. However, for all of the more than 800 studies on the risks of glyphosate, they are all relevant for human health. They are used to assess risk for human health, but also for livestock and wild animals. Some of the studies on various different parts were very relevant here. And these scientific studies were included by the EPA in assessing the safety of glyphosate. You also wanted to know how many scientifically funded assessments of approval authorities and other scientific institutions confirm today that glyphosate is safe. Glyphosate or glyphosate-based herbicides are approved in approximately 160 countries. Individual countries and regions have different requirements for the approval of pesticides. This also applies for the timeframe of this approval. In terms of the number and the different -- differences of the requirements, it's not possible to tell you what all of these are. In some countries, like in Europe and in the U.S.A., there are additionally other ad hoc tests which are carried out. For example, in Europe, glyphosate has been tested twice, and a second test is already under -- ongoing. In the U.S.A., there were several safety assessments, including 2 complete assessments since its initial registration in 1974. I already spoke about the comprehensive tests by the EPA. Since 2015, there's been 10 assessments by authorities in Europe, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, the U.S.A., Brazil, South Korea, and in other countries for -- on glyphosate. All of these have confirmed that glyphosate is safe, if used properly. [ Mr. Freitag ] also asked a question on provisions in terms of the lawsuits associated with glyphosate. At the end of fiscal year 2019, provisions for expected defense costs associated with these cases was around EUR 404 million. EBITDA additions for these provisions in 2019 was EUR 145 million. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked 2 questions about the insurance coverage with regard to cases concerning glyphosate-containing products from Monsanto. At the end of the year, the sum for our product liability insurance, which cover glyphosate-containing products amounts to a nominal amount of $450 million. This is a number of different layers with different insurance companies. [ Mr. Freitag ] was also interested in the number of plaintiffs in product-related cases with regard to glyphosate-containing products at the closing date in 2019 as well as the status today. We are focusing on the number of plaintiffs, whose cases have been served to us. The focus of these damages -- cases is in the United States. And up until the 31st of December 2019, approximately 45,750 plaintiffs had served Monsanto. If you consider the report on Q1 2020, you can see that up until the 14th of April 2020, complaints have been received by about 52,500 plaintiffs. He also had a question on the provision with regard to product-related [ plaints ] in glyphosate. Today, compared to the end of fiscal 2019 and the end of fiscal 2018, the provision at the end of fiscal 2019 was about EUR 45 million higher than at the end of fiscal 2018. The provision as of 31st of March 2020 was approximately EUR 35 million higher than at the end of fiscal 2019. [ Mr. Freitag ] then asked about the requirements for the closing date with regard to product-related plaintiffs by glyphosate-based products produced by Monsanto or Bayer. Until 31st of December 2089 (sic) [2019], complaints had been received by 45,750 plaintiffs in the U.S. The total amount of the damages claimed in these liability cases is something that cannot be given at the time being, most of these cases are still at a very early stage, where the specific damages have not been given a number. As you know, up until now, 3 cases have been negotiated in the U.S. on glyphosate. The amount of the damages paid out will depend on the specific situation of the individual case. And there is only a claim for damages if the plaintiff has been able to prove that this was due to exposure to the glyphosate-containing herbicide. This applies both when it comes to compensatory damages. In other words, actual or future damage such as damages or treatment costs as well as criminal damages, which can be given by a jury, in some cases. Depending on the amount of criminal damages, it will depend on whether this is in accordance with the applicable law in the federal state in question. And whether the court allows for such criminal damages. And if there is the evidence that has been submitted by -- or submitted to the court. Up until now, these amounts are not legally valid. And in all 3 cases, Monsanto has appealed. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked a question about expenditures so far with regard to legal defense for glyphosate before and after acquiring Monsanto. The provision with regard to implementation of the acquisition in the opening balance sheet amounted to about EUR 160 million. Since then, additional net expenses amounting to about EUR 480 million have been included in EBITDA. [ Mr. Freitag ] asked for information with regard to the serviceable addresses for Supervisory Board members. A complaint to be served to members of the Board of Management can be served to the business address of the company here in Leverkusen. This also applies to serving a suit to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. So with that, I would like to hand over to Wolfgang Nickl.

But before Mr. Nickl answers. I'd like to come back to a question by [ Mr. Tumler ], and I'd like to clarify one thing. [ Mr. Tumler ] had asked about to what extent I as the Supervisory Board Chairman, and was I concerned with the acquisition of Monsanto. I came in May of 2018. So this was after the agreement to acquire Monsanto. The transaction was completed a few weeks thereafter or implemented. And when it came -- I was not involved in Supervisory Board decisions on acquisition of Monsanto because these decisions were taken before I became a member of the Supervisory Board. Okay. Mr. Nickl.

[ Mr. Schmidt ] wanted to know how many questions had been received by shareholders for this year's stockholders meeting. He asked about the criteria for answering these questions. He also asked if in the future, we would be also providing answers in writing. For this stockholders meeting, we received a total of 245 questions from shareholders. We did not make any selection. We will answer all questions as we do at every stockholders' meeting. We do not intend to provide written answers to our shareholders. But the stockholders' meeting is being recorded. It will be available on our website. So even after the meeting, it will be possible to see this. So one shareholder asked about our future dividend policy. Up until now, in future, as of today, we want to pay out 30% to 40% of our core EPS as a dividend. Dividend payout will be slightly above the target card for 2019. This shows how important it is for us to at least pay out a constant dividend. In the medium term, we want to arrive back at the target corridor. And at the same time, we also want to increase our dividend. What about the cost for the online stakeholders meeting? And also, how to break it down in the major cost items? We expect that the cost for this online annual meeting will be about EUR 1 billion. The major cost items here are technical support. In other words, stockholder meetings, service providers and technology of about EUR 500,000 and for sending out the documents, including postage, would cost about EUR 300,000, another EUR 200,000 for various cost items, for example, the equipment in the room and advice. Due to short-term change to an online stakeholders meeting, we expect substantial changes compared to last year, or savings when we spent EUR 3.5 million for the in-person event last year. I'd now like to answer a question whether the presentations from the Board of Management can be made available 3 days before the stockholders meeting? And why, if so, why not? The preparation, invitation and preliminary invitation to our online meeting are in accordance with the legal requirements. In other words, information with regard to the presentation to be provided before, it is not something that was planned. And we give you the most up-to-date figures to the shareholders. So the presentation, for example, as you've seen, refers to the results in Q1. And these were only published yesterday. If we were to publish this information beforehand in a presentation to the shareholders' meeting is something which would not have been possible. We also asked how many people were invited to the online stakeholders' meeting. No guests were invited, but with regard -- and this is with regard to the hygiene and protection regulations. This is available to everyone on the Internet. And then we were asked to what extent journalists can participate at an online stakeholders' meeting. The media is informed about this with regard to the date of this shareholders' meeting, like any interested party, journalist can follow this event on the Internet. And there was also a question with regard to who this is made available to internally and externally. This stakeholders meeting is being transmitted live to the public. So any interested party can follow it. You also have the possibility to have a look at the recording on the Internet at a later point in time. Another question was asked, and that is, what people were made -- to who these questions were made available as in normal shareholders' meeting. At this meeting, we have our employee teams who are responsible for answering the questions that have been asked. These are groups of experts who prepare information on business in the divisions of specific topics, for example, legal issues or financial questions. We also have questions with regard to the law firm Linklaters, this was to lawyers, Dr. Wollburg, [ Dr. Kisling ] and [ Dr. Tanner ]. And some of these questions were then sent to HKP compensation consultants and [ Mr. Widen ] and the partners from HKP. And we consider these questions at this online meeting, and these are simply prepared and sent to members of the group. Many shareholders asked how we can assure that this information is not permanently stored. I'd like to say one thing very clearly. We abide by all of the data privacy rules. This also with regard to storing data which would be collected during this event. This also applies to the service providers. They also meet the requirements of data protection. Some shareholders were interested in how many questions were asked by how many shareholders. And this compared to last year. We received a total of 245 questions from 40 shareholders. Last year, we received 275 questions from 69 shareholders. On average, we received 239 questions from 51 shareholders in the last 3 years. A number of shareholders want to know if the questions and answers can be read on the Internet later on. This meeting is not only being transmitted live, but it will also be available as a recording for anyone who is interested in seeing them. A number of shareholders asked about the notary public and how they would -- so how he would supervise this, the vote. Before the meeting, the notary public took a look at the technical requirements for voting by mail as well as proxy votes and the instructions given to the proxies. He -- these were explained to him and he checked them. This applies also for the voting itself and counting of the votes, which will be supervised by the notary public. During the meeting, that is to say whenever contest can be raised, the notary public will have a screen to see if there have been any contestations by means of email to our service provider Computershare. At the same time, the -- any contestations will be printed out by Computershare. Computershare will ensure the notary public at the end of the meeting that the information received to him has been complete. So the notary public will have the printouts for inspection, and he can compare them with the e-mails that he has received. A number of shareholders have asked about the criteria according to which the Board members answer these questions at the shareholders' meetings up until now. We did not select certain questions, we will address all questions. Considering a large number of questions that we've received, we have grouped similar questions together, and we'll answer them together. Several stockholders asked me about the updated forecasts for the current fiscal year. For this, we would like to refer you to the quarterly report that we published yesterday. In our annual report, which was published in February 2020, our forecast did not take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and still expresses what the target is for the company. After a positive start, we expect that fiscal 2020 we will continue to be impacted by COVID-19 going forward. Any kind of -- any assessment, reliable assessment of the positive or negative effects of the crisis will only be possible as you're further on in the year. Several stockholders asked to what extent Bayer has taken part in the discussions on the COVID-19 law and also which, according to which criteria questions are being answered, and also how the interest of small shareholders are being safeguarded for this virtual ASM. Let me just remind you, we look -- we would have loved to had you in Bonn for a face-to-face event as we usually have. And at the beginning of the event today, both Mr. Baumann and Mr. Wenning explained to you why we were unable to do this. But against the backdrop of the Corona pandemic, we and a number of other parties played a role in the discussions about the -- about social distancing and also about contact restrictions. There were several interested -- several associations that played a role as well. Discussions were held and statements were submitted. There were a number of other companies which are using this opportunity to hold a virtual AGM during the Corona pandemic. This gives you, ladies and gentlemen, the opportunity to exercise your right to vote and also to adopt important revolutions (sic) [resolutions]. It also allows you to receive your dividend and to direct your questions to the company. We did not pick and choose questions today. Instead, we have answered all of the questions that were submitted to us, and we will still go into the ones we haven't yet answered. Although, where questions relate to exactly the same topic, and we have compacted them together where this has made sense. All of the stockholders registered for today's ASM have the opportunity to ask questions, and will be able to exercise their right to vote until the end of this afternoon. Lots of people have taken opportunity -- taken the opportunity to do this even as private shareholders. Moreover, this ASM is open to the public all over the world via the Internet. We covered all of this when we convened the ASM in the Federal Gazette on April 6. The agenda and the deadline for registrations remained unchanged from the previous plans to hold the ASM in Bonn. And on the 2nd of March, this was published in the Federal Gazette and also on our website. One shareholder asked about our contribution to tackling the Corona crisis. We are prioritizing a number of different approaches to treating people in order to relieve the pressure on our health care systems. Bayer is produced -- is a producer of the malaria drug chloroquine, which Chinese health authorities included in the treatment recommendations for COVID-19. As a consequence, other health authorities have issued similar recommendations for supervised emergency use of chloroquine for indications other than malaria. Chloroquine continues to be discussed as a possible treatment option for COVID-19. However, a benefit-risk ratio has not yet been published. Bayer will be donating chloroquine explicitly to governments to make sure that it is -- to make sure that it is used accordingly. Prescription-only products, you -- can only be used under the supervision of a medical professional. Currently, drugs are being tested in numerous studies worldwide to see whether they are effective in fighting a COVID-19 infection. Now studies that are looking at this include the Solidarity study being conducted by the World Health Organization, the Discovery study being conducted by the French research organization Inserm and also the RECOVERY study which has been launched by the University of Oxford. We support the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator initiative founded by Bill and Melinda Gates -- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the program launched by the Research Institute for Public Health and also participating in clinical trials. In Germany, there are a number of other measures by which we are making a contribution. We're assisting in the production of the shortage of disinfectants and have donated disinfectants [indiscernible] to municipalities. We provided urgently needed face masks to the city of Leverkusen. In Berlin and Wuppertal, we supplied ventilators from our pharmacological laboratories, we provided them to local clinics. We are supporting the efforts for expanding Corona diagnostic capacity in Germany in the North Rhine-Westphalia. We have taken a number of laboratory devices for clinical diagnostic tests and made them available to the cause. In Berlin, we have created a test laboratory and freed up employee capacity to work there. Every day, we were able to offer up to 1,000 additional tests. As mentioned previously, we are supporting our employees wherever possible by allowing them to work flexibly or also by providing special protection measures at our production sites. One shareholder wanted to know how Bayer with its crop protection products is ensuring that there are fewer monocultures. We're working on solutions, which will allow us to feed a growing world population with fewer resources. As a company, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to find solutions to problems, such as the impacts of climate change, the loss of biodiversity and also securing the food supply. We are providing farmers with seed, crop protection products and digital technologies. Our digital solutions help to reduce the quantities of crop protection products required and also allows more pinpointed use of such products. To ensure that the production of food and feed becomes more sustainable in future, we support good agricultural practice. For this purpose, we are training farmers in all regions of the world, regardless of the size of their farms or the type of farming they employ. We are also breeding new seeds -- new types of seeds for the use in conventional and also in ecological agricultural operations. Furthermore, in a number of different countries, we are participating in initiatives aimed at promoting biodiversity in the fields. Now biodiversity means a diversity of crops and also a diversity of crop rotations. Together with customers, farmer's associations and other stakeholders, we are committed to serving the fertility of soil and also for protecting green areas. In our view, the responsible use of inputs, including crop protection products, doesn't just deliver more productivity and profitability in agriculture. But instead, it also protects the environment and safeguards biodiversity. Because monocultures, such as rice, corn, cotton or coffee can be cultivated sustainably. We received a question about the trend of our auditing costs. The costs for now audit services in 2019 came in at EUR 14 million, which was a slight decline. The increase from the prior year from EUR 9 million to EUR 15 million was due to all of the Monsanto companies being reported for the entire year in the group financial statements. As such, the volume of business that needed to be audited was significantly higher. One shareholder asked about our activities in terms of lobbying and the costs that come about as a result. We are committed to transparency in how we work with the representatives and political institutions. We are playing a proactive role in transparency initiatives and also publish details about the costs of our lobbying and the number of employees who engage in these activities. Take for example, the transparency registers of the European institutions and also the U.S. Congress. Which means that Bayer is doing more than it is required to do by law. We are already publishing data for countries such as Germany, in which there were no legal requirements for such publication. In the year 2019, the costs of our [indiscernible] offices came into EUR 1.7 million in Berlin, EUR 4 million in Brussels, EUR 9 million in Washington, EUR 0.25 million in Moscow, EUR 0.5 million in Brazilia and EUR 1.5 million in Peking, in Beijing. These include staff costs, tangible costs and project costs. We were asked about the prospect of a dividend in kind, such as the product donations from [ our range of ] bioproducts, it is not possible. And regardless of this, I am firmly convinced that we already offer an attractive dividend for our stockholders. One stockholder asked about the costs for an unused -- research facility in Wuppertal and also about outsourcing of research activities to the U.S.A. I assume that what's being referred to here is the Factor VIII production facility in Wuppertal. Now cost of expenditure for this plant, although there were no recorded cost for this plant in fiscal 2019. However, there were significant charges, which came about as a result of the restructuring of the facility in 2018. Moreover, we succeeded in finding new jobs for the people who were employed at that facility within the group, which means that there were no more exceptional costs that were incurred. Research activities will not be outsourced. One stockholder asked about the costs incurred in 2019 for glyphosate lawsuits, in particular for court costs, mediation costs and defense costs. A legal counsel for mediation and defense costs cannot be differentiated. Overall, for glyphosate lawsuits, for all of the different elements that were stated in fiscal 2019, and we spent our entire provisions of EUR 135 million. One shareholder asked the -- about the final -- about the earnings from the sale of the Coppertone business, the preliminary price for the Coppertone business in fiscal 2019 was EUR 501 million and corresponds to the book value of the divested net financial assets. We do not expect any major adjustments to this figure anymore. The same shareholder asked about the final figure for the sale of the Dr. Scholl business. Now the preliminary price that we took into account in fiscal 2019 was EUR 560 million and corresponded to the book value of the divested net financial assets after the impairment. Now there were no significant -- we do not expect any significant adjustments to this figure from the sale. One shareholder asked which MA, what the accounting earnings are from the sale of the Animal Health business. I can give you the following information on this item. Net assets at the end of fiscal 2019 for Animal Health was USD 640 million. Now the -- this took place, this was sold in exchange for a cash component of USD 5.32 billion. The traction, it was a typical -- any typical transaction adjustments are also factored in. There were also USD 2.28 billion in Elanco shares based on the unimpacted volume weighted 30-day average share price as of the 6th of August 2019, which was $33.60. The value of the stock component will be subject to a deviation, is contractually bound to any deviation of 7.5%. This means that the number of Elanco shares that Bayer receives will remain -- will change if the stock price moves outside of a corridor between $31.26 and $36.32. Now on the 31st of December 2019, the value was $29.45. Which means that based on this share price, Bayer would receive 73 million Elanco shares. One stockholder asked whether it would be possible to end, that we would need a capital injection, a capital increase in order to end the glyphosate lawsuits. We do not assume that this will need to be the case. One stockholder asked about the capital increases that took place in 2018, this was for the financing of our acquisition of Monsanto. As a result of the capital increase, the shares of previous shareholders were diluted if they did not take part in the capital increase. In order to allow low existing shareholders to participate in the capital increase, they were given drawing rights. One stockholder asked about when the capital increases would be reflected in earnings per share, share buybacks and dividends per share. Now since 2016, the capital increases, which is the mandatory convertible bond and also the replacement of Temasek, not including drawing rights as well as a capital increase with drawing rights for existing shareholders was used for the financing of our acquisition of Monsanto. Now as a result of this, we gained a long-term anchor shareholder. And furthermore, a significant part of the capital increases took place with drawing rights. Now the loss in value for the dilution of the shares held by existing shareholders was as such offset. Our dividend policy aims to allow all of the -- all of our shareholders to benefit from the company's performance. This is why every year we try to pay a stable dividend. The share buyback would be offered to our shareholders if we had won an exceptional -- an extraordinary payment. And if we considered this to be a good idea. But given the current risks and opportunities, we are of the view that our capital base should not be reduced beyond the share buyback level that we already have. One shareholder would also like to know how many management positions were kept on from Monsanto and are now working for Bayer. In selecting management positions, there was a selection process, which looked carefully at the competencies of different staff members, where both companies' employees were equally looked at. In the first 3 levels of management, there's been a more or less balanced out selection of management positions. But today, the majority of former Monsanto management positions are still active in our company. There was a question on whether the competencies in Monsanto have been taken up into Bayer. And with the acquisition, and we looked at a complementary supplementation of both businesses. And the -- this played a very important role, both in the leading positions of division Crop Science and in the immediate levels below this, Monsanto colleagues have been put in key positions. We also had a question of a shareholder whether we are convinced that the share price is -- has increased by 5.7% due to the dividend announcement. We can see that many different factors influence the share price, and this all depends on supply and demand. The dividend announcement should not be associated with the share price directly. One shareholder asked about the measures being taken to improve our image and increase transparency. And we'd like to assure you that we are aware of our responsibility as a leading company in agriculture. And we want to take on this responsibility. When we acquired Monsanto, we were in conversations with various interest groups and looked at sustainability and biodiversity in agriculture and food. There were questions and also concerns where we are now acting. But we are aware that we need to carry on developing further. As the new market leader, we have started setting higher yardsticks for our actions in transparency, sustainability and how we deal with different interest groups. This transparency initiative comprises, for example, publication of Bayer's safety studies on glyphosate, the use of uniform safety standards in our products and guidelines for how we deal with scientists, journalists, regulatory authorities and politicians based on openness, integrity and respect. Therefore, in addition, we also have other formats in order to support our reputation worldwide. For example, reputation campaigns in the U.S.A. and Germany. These put the focus and the core of our business at the center of the public's attention. It was asked whether there are any damages to the images -- to the image of Bayer by acquiring Monsanto. And I think we already responded to this in answering [ Mr. Tumler's ] question. In countries like the U.S.A., our image values are quite stable. In China, where we have 9,500 employees active at Bayer, our reputation value has even improved. One shareholder asked, why the Board's compensation in the invitation to the AGM was explained very much in detail, but the topics of glyphosate and Corona were hardly mentioned. In the notice to the AGM, this is a formal document whose content is set by shareholder law. And there were stipulations which meant that the compensation system needed to be explained in detail. And topics of current business development are not generally described in detail in the invitation. And you can find information on topics of glyphosate and Corona on our Internet page. And for example, in our quarterly report, which was published yesterday. And Mr. Baumann also spoke very much in detail about both of these topics in his speech today. I'd now like to pass the floor back to Mr. Baumann.

Thank you. Now I'd like to come to the next question block. One shareholder asked about whether there was a conflict in the goals of our climate protection and sustainability goals. Climate protection is a core part of our sustainability program. And the connection between these goals is particularly obvious in the area of agriculture. And using digital tools and data, we will be able to use data well for -- in the interests of farmers and consumers, climate field view technology is already being used actively in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Another example is hybrid rice, which is being grown by Bayer. And our sustainability strategy was developed last year in coordination with experts from internal and internal interest groups. One shareholder asked about transparency of our sustainability reports. I'd like to say that in last year, we had a separate sustainability report, which was published. And our goal was to speak about in depth, all of the efforts we're making in the area of sustainability. And this report was published on the same day as our annual report. We talked here about emissions of carbon monoxide and metals and nitrogen, phosphorus and other emissions. We have emphasized several times that we are aware of our responsibility as the largest agricultural company in the world. And we spoke about sustainability and biodiversity when acquiring Monsanto. These talks made us look at wanting to increase transparency in our company. We had a raising-the-bar initiative where we published a safety -- safety studies on glyphosate and introduced uniform safety standards for our products and much more. One shareholder asked about our measures to reduce climate goal -- carbon gas emissions. The increase of greenhouse gas emissions for the last year was due to the full integration of the acquired agricultural business the year before, this is in 2018. By 2030, we want to be climate neutral. And here, we need to make sure we use power from renewables and that any emissions that are remaining are compensated for. With our ambitious goals, we base these on the Paris Climate Agreement. And we have a scientifically based climate goal, which was formulated as part of the Science Based Targets initiative. This initiative is a renowned initiative, which was founded by the WWF, UN Global Compact and CDP and is monitoring this process. And the results of the Paris Climate Agreement, we have decided that we will commit to keeping global warming increases below 2 degrees Celsius, and this concerns our own emissions and emissions from our energy consumption, so Scope 2. We will look at our specific goals after the Science Based initiative test has been carried out. One shareholder looks at the development of water consumption and our strategy in -- of how we use water. This is a very important part of our sustainability commitment, and we've seen that there has been an increase of consumption by 40.2% in the last year. This is a consolidation effect. We are tracking every year, all of our plants, especially in areas where there is water scarcity. And we want to make sure that we cover all of our sites within this year. The Federal Environmental Ministry (sic) [Federal Ministry for the Environment] has initiated a national water dialogue where there are measures to be taken to ensure that there is drinking water security. And Bayer, along with other stakeholders, is an active participant in this dialogue. Internationally, we are supporting the CEO Water Mandate of the UN Global Compact in order to develop sustainable solutions for water usage. Our use or how we act with water is being monitored in -- as part of the water footprint. In the last few years, we were classified as the CDA (sic) [ CDP ] water A list. That's the top classification. There was one question on carbon [ ducsine ] production in Mexico. The pesticide products by Crop Science are generally produced in our own production sites. Some decentralized sites mean that we are able to react to problems or needs on the market. And Bayer will end its selling of carbon [ ducsine ] in all of the production technical processes. There was a question about the [ happenings ] in Venezuela in 2015 and whether there is a reason why Bayer is active in this market. As many -- as the case of many companies, Bayer was affected by the economic situation in Venezuela. This led to a reduction of our operative business in Venezuela in the last few years. In 2015, there were losses amounting to EUR 91 million in -- by 30th of September 2018, Bayer S.A. Venezuela was taken out of the total business volumes. And then in 2019, there were also further costs that were as a result of this. We want Venezuelans to have access to our products, and this is why we are managing the portfolio of our products and adapting this accordingly and want to secure this in the long term. We don't have any information about the federal government's response. One shareholder is asking about the UN guiding principles for human rights and how we are adhering to these. Bayer is supporting UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights in connection with its business activities, and it also supports a series of worldwide-renowned statements or declarations for multinational companies. We have committed to supporting or adhering to human rights policies, and these are all integrated into our day-to-day business. We have a compliance hotline, which is available in various languages where employees and the public can also register any complaints. We report about how we are fulfilling these due diligence obligations in our sustainability report on the company website. We support also how the UN program is looking at chemicals on -- and the dangers on human health and in the environment. A shareholder asked us if we had achieved our targets with regard to the female share in leadership. In order to meet these requirements in German companies, Bayer has been involved in this for many years now in order to voluntarily reach a balanced situation. The successful strategy for better gender balance is something that we will continue in the future so that we can achieve our targets in the long term by 2022, by renewing our strategy on inclusion and diversity beginning last year, we will continue this year and define our targets for the next 3 to 5 years. It has always been important for us to hire talent irrespective of their gender or their nationality. One shareholder asked about including diversity and why the share of women in management in the last fiscal year dropped by about 1%. For many years now, Bayer has been working on a more balanced gender balance in management and to go beyond legal requirements. Specific reasons for minor fluctuations in the share of women in management is something that we have not noticed. A slight decline in the gender quota is something that -- or the gender share is something that would mean that we will continue to find even more balanced gender balance. They asked about our targets with regard to the female share in the management levels. For the targets up to 2020 to have the share of women, this is clearly above the status quo and will allow us to develop female talent in these very high positions. To define targets for these positions, which are clearly above the status quo, would mean that these targets could only be met or primarily be met with female managers from outside. We think it makes good sense also with regard to -- this would not make sense because of the talent we have at Bayer with a number of females. They also asked about the number of men and women who also have disciplinary management responsibility. Last year, 2,683 colleagues were promoted to positions with disciplinary leadership, 1,052 of them were women. In addition, a shareholder also asked about the targets for the proportion of women in management development programs and also the share of men and women in these programs. Achieving the goals that we have set with regard to the female share in a number of management levels requires planned development of female talents. In order to consider our development programs, we see that female and male talents are open to both men and women. That is why when it comes to nominating participants in these development programs, we do not define fixed targets or quotas. An evaluation of the programs by gender is something that we do not do. A shareholder asked about incentives for the transformation of the law for equality for women in management functions. We see this as the responsibility of the line manager in the divisions and functions. As part of our personnel and organizational conferences, every year, this is discussed with all of the workers who are appropriate for the development of management functions. And this also includes talent development beyond the individual divisions and functions. In addition to individual development plans, we have successor plans and specific jobs, which are discussed at these personnel conferences. We also do not have quota. What we try to do is to increase the share of women in management positions in a continuous way. It was also asked if we have any individual target agreements. Depending on the situation, there can be targets which are included in target agreements, but we do not have any quotas. We simply want to be as specific as possible. The shareholder also asked about decision-makers and how they can be moved to work towards this target and to break through subconscious and traditional decision-making and behavior measures. We also have a number of programs that are being applied. We have inclusion and diversity councils, and they push the promotion of inclusion and diversity. A shareholder asked if Bayer had analyzed the causes for the low number of women in the company compared to the share in the population, which is 50%. A number of studies have shown that the major difference in gender balance depends on the country, the labor market and the field. These, however, were not supplemented by our own analysis. What we want to have is a balanced gender balance at all levels and in all divisions of our organization. We want to attract women for our company and develop them to leadership positions. You also asked about how Bayer can explain the phenomenon that men primarily take on the higher management positions. The reason for different female quotas at different management levels are diverse and have to be seen in a differentiated jaded way. An important yardstick for this is the gender balance at all management levels, which should be increased so that we can have female managers and that we can follow this into higher management positions. This is one of our ambitious goals. We also want to support our managers in order to recruit our managers in a gender and culture-neutral way so that they can be developed, promoted and so on. And this means that there will be -- get to know some of the differences with respect to skills and management so that we can be aware of these different patterns. A shareholder asked about the total number of engineers employed at Bayer and according to the gender distribution and the number of engineers in disciplinary management positions. We employ 7,400 engineers, 900 of which are women. Of the 7,400 colleagues, about 780 of them have disciplinary management roles, and 67 of these are women. The shareholder asked about the number and gender distribution of engineers at lower, medium and top management positions. At the top management level, Bayer employs 57 engineers, 3 of whom are women. At the medium management level, we have 511, 56 of whom are women; and at the lower management level, 2,281 engineers, of which 400 are women. A shareholder asked about the number of hires from university graduates with technical degrees in 2019. In 2019, a total of 43 new engineers were hired, 12 of these were women. The shareholder also asked if we have targets with regard to the share of engineers amongst our young professionals. We are -- we consider outside hirings on the basis of current and future needs in the divisions and functions. When we fill a post, we want to have a balance between men and women. A shareholder also asked a number of questions on plant protection agents in RNA interferences. RNA interference, RNAi, is a natural mechanism. Plants regulate the activity of genes. They see to it in various cells that only those genes are translated into proteins, which are needed in the respective cells. With the same mechanisms, plants, in simple terms, can simply neutralize hostile RNA and then protect against protection -- infection by viruses. In seeds, we're developing new plant varieties using RNAi technology. Next year, we will probably be launching SmartStax PRO maize, which is a new product. This will make use of the RNAi concept as a means for fighting the corn pests. And we see that our BioDirect technology is being used in an early research phase by spraying, small RNA snips are taken up by the plant or the pest, and they block the target gene without changing the genome. And now we are looking at a different number of applications, for example, amines, which can help bee colonies fight the deadly Varroa mite. And we're also giving information on the research spend -- expenditures as well as applications in the different fields. And we can also ensure you that safety of our products is what is being given top priority. As a research institute, we are involved in the dialogues and we've also had an exchange on RNA interferences with other scientists, authorities, organizations and other stakeholders. We take all of this very seriously. A shareholder asked about the locust plague in Africa, are we active there. This plague in Africa is making it clear to us how important agriculture is in that region. It plays an important role in the lives of smallholder farmers and their families and the prosperity of communities and countries. In order to improve conditions of life in Africa on the long term, fertilizer seeds and pesticides are just as important as knowledge about nutrition-high gene crops and planting them. We also know that our insecticides can be effective against these locusts. We are now working with partners in African countries, and they are affected especially by the locusts, especially in Kenya. Experts at Bayer are in contact with the authorities there in order to share their knowledge and experience in effectively and safely fighting these pests. Together with partners on the [ spot ], we want to find out how we can best use our products there where they are most needed and what we must provide so that our products can be used in a responsible way and in a safe way. A shareholder also asked about the nominal amount of plaintiff or case risk we have with regard to the Roundup. How much of this has been masked? The total amount of current and future risks in the product liability cases on glyphosate is something that cannot be given a serious figure. Most of the cases, as I said already, are still at a very early stage. In other words, we cannot put a specific figure on any of the individual plaintiffs. Up until the 14th of April 2020, a total of 52,500 plaintiffs had served cases in the U.S. The number of case, until we have a statute of limitations, could -- is something that we still cannot give you a reliable figure on because with such an -- there is an increase in the number of factors. That is why the advertising measures used by the plaintiffs' attorneys to assess the number of plaintiffs on the basis of the product sold would be pure speculation. The question of statute of limitations can be judged differently by different courts, especially since the statute of limitation can differ from one state to the next. So this will be different from one state to the next. With regard to further details, I have to refer you to the answer of similar questions we've dealt with already. One shareholder asked about the approximate percentage of the amount of damages would be caused by court decisions or the result of settlements so that we can see that we can get the amount of damages to be paid. In general, we can say that with regard to the amount of the correction value that will be done as -- with regard to damage is something where we cannot give you a specific number. With regard to the original damages, if these are awarded, will depend on the situation of each respective case. This relates also to the result of settlements between the different parties. This also applies in specific -- specifically to the U.S.A. when it comes to product liability claims on glyphosate. The amount of the damages awarded in a case will depend significantly on the specific circumstances of each individual case. And there will only be an entitlement to payment if the plaintiff has shown that the damage was due to exposure to the glyphosate-containing herbicide. With regard to further details, I'd also refer to some of the answers we have already given to similar questions. A shareholder asked about the acquisition of Monsanto. And if they could have considered and expected such risks. Before we acquired Monsanto, we took a look at the related risks, also legal risks, with regard to glyphosate as part of a confirmatory due diligence. In this review, we received advice from internal and external consultants, also the specialized U.S. law firm in this area. On the basis of these reviews the Board of Management, together with the Supervisory Board's approval, agreed to carry out the acquisition of Monsanto. In Bayer's opinion, after the acquisition, no legal risks were hidden by Monsanto or its earlier shareholders. With regard to the regulatory authorities, it was assumed that we would be able to win all of the glyphosate-related cases. A shareholder asked about revenues from Crop Science in 2019 in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Revenue in this region amounted to EUR 4.2 billion, is broken down as follows -- in the following subregions. In Europe, we had revenues of EUR 3.5 billion; in the Middle East, we had EUR 0.3 billion; and in Africa, EUR 0.4 billion. In addition, a question was asked about revenues in -- at Crop Science in the European Union. They amount to EUR 2.6 billion. One stockholder asked how many hectares in fiscal 2019 were covered by our platform, Climate FieldView, and how much income was generated with this digital platform. In fiscal 2019, 97 million acres, which equates to 39 million hectares, was covered. In several -- tens of thousands of farmers in more than 20 countries used our products in 2018, '19. We do not separately report any sales for our digital farming solutions. One shareholder asked whether, thus far, we only look at hybrid crops or also crop protection substances. Actually [ what this looks ] is that [ we apply it to ] seeds and also a number of different crops with the uses of herbicides, fungicide and insecticides. And one shareholder asked another question about Seed Advisor. Seed Advisor is part of the FieldView platform produced by Climate Corporation. It's only available in the U.S. at the moment. Currently, FieldView only issues recommendations at field level for selecting the right type of corn seed and also for sowing the seeds, the right density in the field. And the density is the number of granules per square meter. Seed Advisor is one of a number of different tools offered by FieldView platform, which is produced by Bayer. The underlying models for Seed Advisor were developed and programmed to issue a recommendation for specific corn seeding for the 90% of the available hybrid [ M ] corn. Now these recommendations relate to the types -- to the type of seeds, which are offered in the U.S.A. under their own brand name. And as a basis for the recommendations, we use data for genetics of our [ M ] hybrid corn and combine these with data, which are customer-specific for every field. We're also asked whether we had hybrid crops from other seed companies. Our customers receive a special software to check what they operate, what the optimum density is. So the number of granules per hectare is different depending on the type that you have. Now these are special tools, which are called the seed density, issues recommendations for Bayer seeds but also for seeds from third parties. There are around 2,000 different types of hybrid corn, which can be accessed using seed density. However, please appreciate that as -- at the current point in time, it is not possible to sell seeds directly via our FieldView platform. It's not an e-commerce platform on which customers can use to purchase seeds or crop protection products. A shareholder had a question about a rice seed. Bayer does not claim to be the world's largest supplier of rice seed. So please appreciate that we cannot give you any figures relating to our market share in this segment. Another stockholder asked about our activities in the field of hybrid wheat research. We are not conducting any such research at this point in time. A stockholder had a question about our crop protection portfolio. We report our sales in this segment according to product group. This includes insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. We do not publish any sales figures for selective or nonselective weed-killer products. However, it's correct that nonselected products, such as Roundup, account for a high share of our herbicide sales. One shareholder asked several questions about bees and neonicotinoids. Bayer remains fundamentally convinced that neonicotinoids are safe for bees if they are used responsibly and according to instructions. As a company, which is committed to crop protection, Bayer makes a big contribution to ecologically compatible action and also sustainable farming practices. Then this rules out the use -- we welcome any research in the field of bee health. Our experts have a look at all of the publications available on this topic, and they look at them thoroughly. So the binding of neonicotinoid to receptors in the nerve system of insects is not irreversible. This has been confirmed by recent studies, which have disproven the assumption that the binding was irreversible. The publication of this new finding is in place, being planned and will be published very shortly. Neonicotinoids are broken down in the body by means of enzymes. This breakdown was proven in the early -- at the start of the millennium by Japanese, American and French researchers. And it's described in a number of different publications. A question was asked about a certain person in reference to the year 1991, and there's no response we can give to this question. It's not correct that Bayer's scientists for bees said that they did not want their results to be published nor was it true that Bayer submitted incorrect LD50 values for neonicotinoids when having them approved by the regulatory authorities. The bee poisoning case in year 2008 was proven to have been caused by [ moditz ]. But if the systems had been used properly back then, this could have been avoided. There is this widespread misconception that bee population is decreasing. People often have the impression that the world's honeybee population is under threat. But independent studies, such as those from the UN, have shown the complete opposite. In fact, the number of bee -- honeybee colonies between 1961 and 2018 has increased by almost 90%. A similarly positive result was found by the EU Commission. In December 2016, they studied -- they published a study which showed that the number of bee colonies in the EU between 2004 and 2016 grew by 11.6 million to around 16 million colonies, which shows that the topic of bee health is very complex. One shareholder asked a number of different questions about glyphosate. There's a stockholder started by asking how much money Bayer is setting aside in order to pay for future losses of unfavorable court verdicts. Based on the information -- we've already given you the information that we have available on this matter. But we do not have any -- but as things stand, we do not make any provisions for future compensation payments. A stockholder also asked several questions about a possible out-of-court settlement with the plaintiffs. The questions were how much money does Bayer expect to spend on out-of-court settlements; how would Bayer deal with lawsuits, which occur subsequent to any out-of-court settlement; and what type of consequence would these decisions have for the value of the company. But generally speaking, the stance on the matter is that we will only agree to a mediation result which makes economic sense and is structured in such a way that allows future cases to be brought to an efficient conclusion. But because it's difficult to assess how much this will be, we have not set aside any provisions. As I said at the beginning of my speech, and I've also emphasized while answering some of these questions, given the confidentiality of the mediation, we're not able to speak on any possible structure, timeframe or overall results of the mediation process. And the shareholder's final question, she asked about how Bayer would deal with the losses that occur from a glyphosate ban in various countries. Well, to start with, we firmly believe that our glyphosate Bayer crop protection products are safe. They have assisted farmers over decades to plant healthy -- to harvest healthy plants. Bayer is convinced that this is a safe product and has applied for relicensing of this by the EU regulatory authorities. Even if glyphosate will continue to be -- play a significant role in agriculture and in Bayer's portfolio, we are still looking to provide farmers with more options for weed killing. One stockholder asked how much money Bayer had set aside in order to -- for future financial benefits related to dicamba. We are firmly convinced that we have good arguments to defend ourselves against the claims that have been asserted, and we intend to defend ourselves rigorously in this lawsuit. For this reason, we have made a provision amounting to around EUR 80 million. One shareholder asked about the impact of the neonicotinoid ban in Europe. We have a number of different insecticides in our portfolio. We have chemical and also biological insecticides. We are thus able to offer various options to our customers. There are applications in which there is no alternative to neonicotinoids. Furthermore, Bayer is investing a lot of money in research and development. And in the meantime, it has developed a bee-friendly insecticide. The market launch of Sivanto came about in Europe in 2018, and the initial registrations are in the Netherlands and also in Greece. In the meantime, in the European Union, we have received approval for 15 countries, including in Germany, for use in greenhouses. And worldwide, as things stand today, Sivanto has been approved in 65 different countries. I received a question about the Crop Science strategy for organic farming. This stockholder also asked about the -- how the loan for the Monsanto acquisition would be paid back and when I would take responsibility for what she considers to be a colossal error. The strategy of Crop Science is geared toward the global prospects for market development and trends overall and also for essential crops in different regions. Now on this basis, in recent years, we have been focusing on innovation, sustainability and digitalization. And the Monsanto acquisition has reinforced this position. Today and in future, we will be offering solutions for a number of different production systems worldwide, and we are closely oriented to what our customers need when it comes to innovation and our commercial strategy. Looking at the excellent growth prospects and innovation -- and the power of innovation of our combined Crop Science business, the necessary cash flow will be generated to allow us to deleverage. Detailed information about the trend in our net debt can be found in our publications. Against the backdrop of the accelerated synergy realization and the strong position of the combined business, the strategic rationale of the acquisition continues to ring true today. We have already outlined that we are playing a constructive role in the mediation process to bring an end to the lawsuits surrounding glyphosate in the U.S. One shareholder asked whether we would be prepared to provide independent research as the raw data to perform a risk assessment of our crop protection products. As part of our transparency program, we do provide -- allow access to our safety studies so that everybody can look at the data for themselves. If you would like further information, please contact us via our transparency website. There is an e-mail address on there to which you can write an e-mail. We will then respond to you as quickly as possible. Bayer believes that there is a lot of value in scientific cooperation, and we look forward to advancing research in the field of agronomy and also public health, together with other parties. The stockholder also asked about how we can go about risk assessment outside of our established internal risk management process. Of course, we are more than prepared to find other ways to look at the safety of our products and to speak about other assessment standards. We are already doing this, and we were doing this in an open and transparent dialogue with authorities, farmers, scientists, partners and other representatives from civil society. When assessing risks, we attach a lot of value to ensuring that they are based on scientific findings and not on emotions. One stockholder asked why some active ingredients, which are not approved in the EU, are still being marketed in India. Even the fact that a crop protection product is not approved in the EU doesn't necessarily mean that it's unsafe. There are a number of other regulatory authorities all over the world who have very robust, highly sophisticated regulation systems to protect human health and the environment. Their safety assessments reflect the specific agronomic conditions of the respective countries. Our internal security requirements and safety requirements guarantee that our products meet sufficient standards all over the world regardless of how sophisticated and how stringent regulatory systems in different countries are. Since 2012, Bayer has not been -- stopped selling -- have not been selling any crop protection products, which are classified by the World Health Organization as being particularly toxic. Since 2016, Bayer has committed to only selling crop protection products whose active ingredients is registered in at least one OECD country. Moreover, we have now implemented the self-obligation that we launched last year to only sell crop protection products in developing countries which meet the regulatory requirements of a majority of international reference regulatory authorities. These regulatory authorities are those of the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, EU, Australia, Japan and China. One shareholder asked about the decision of the French constitutional court that from 2022, there will be a ban in the production, storage and trading of pesticides, which are not approved in the EU. We regret this decision as it weakens the competitiveness of our French production sites. But this decision will only mean that production will be shifted to other countries, and it will mean that there will be less jobs and innovation in France for this reason. The French association of pesticides is seeing if there are any legal remedies that can be taken here. The same shareholder asked whether this verdict would have consequences for our production sites in Vapi, India because this is a subsidiary of Bayer SAS France. This is not the case. French laws apply for -- apply to sites in France, but not India. Another shareholder had questions on studies on the security or safety of Roundup and wanted to know how Bayer is dealing with scientific publications. I've already said today that we already have dealt with this in great depth, the safety of glyphosate. The scientific studies and 40 years of practice with this product have shown that using glyphosate as directed is safe. And it's been said that Monsanto has influenced scientists and authorities who granted these approvals. And lawyers of the plaintiffs have used from more than 20 million documents -- pages of documents to try and twist the role of Monsanto in this regard. Our company is in an industry which is very strictly regulated, and this is why it is important to have reliable studies and -- that these fulfill requirements for the approval and marketing of our products and ensure these are safe. Our scientific communication takes place using current internal and external legal and ethical standards. We are open to third parties being included in the development of our publications. We are acting transparently and are providing access to our scientific findings with an openly available cooperation register. We are making transparent who we are cooperating with in our research. And the base principles that we have developed will also be published in the near future. One shareholder asked how Bayer is applying techniques of genome editing in crops. We are looking at the use of this process in developing seed in farming crops, for example, corn and soy. So far, there's been some promising approaches we've seen. In February, we had a basic research project which we announced in genome editing of maize or corn. Here, we were looking at short-stature corn. Crops of this type grow quite lower than traditional hybrid varieties and can be farmed a lot better. And also more corn can be produced on the same amount of land and less fertilizer needs to be used. This means that the plant overall is also more resilient and -- to both environmental problems and other issues. One shareholder asked what processes we're using in new genetic engineering. We assume that this refers to genome editing. In the area of genome editing, we have concluded several licensing agreements, which gives us access to new technologies, for example, the Broad Institute of this RNA-controlled nuclei, so technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cpf1. Pairwise Plants offers us access to programmable base editing technologies of Harvard University. And as part of this agreement, Pairwise is exclusively working with us in the area of corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat and rapeseeds. We were also able to have an agreement with Corteva, using their EXZACT Precision Technology platform. One shareholder asked which processes or procedures of genome editing we are -- we have protected with patents. Bayer currently does not have any patents for this type of genome editing. However, we have, as I've already said, licensing agreements for these technologies. One shareholder wanted to know which genetically modified crops will be coming onto the market in the next 3 to 5 years and what potential we see here. Our genome-edited short-stature corn, a type of corn which grows considerably lower, is in a very early development research stage. And at the moment, we can't yet say when this product will be ready for market. As with all of our research and development projects, we will give further details at a later point in time. One shareholder was interested in the savings made in terms of costs and expenses that can be offered with genome editing and breeding of new crops. Generally, this process means that we can work more precisely and quicker and more cheaply. However, there are many regulatory-, statutory- and patent-related questions open, which means that we can't yet see what potential there will be in terms of saving time and costs. One question came on dicamba. Seed with dicamba tolerance was planted on approximately 60 million acres, so 24 million hectares. Please understand that we can't break down this further for -- this figure for individual markets. One shareholder asked a question on the number of dicamba lawsuits. The total number of U.S. dicamba lawsuits, which were submitted by a plaintiff, is currently 174. And the total number of U.S. dicamba lawsuits is 39. In other countries, there are no dicamba lawsuits. One shareholder had a question on the amount of damages claimed in relation to the dicamba lawsuits. Let me first emphasize again that in the first case, which was decided in the first instance, so in the case of Bader Farms, the decision of the jury to grant damages of USD 50 million does not correspond to the own financial documents of the plaintiff. The total number of U.S. dicamba plaintiffs is currently 174, and then the total number of U.S. dicamba lawsuits is 39. And these are predominantly soybean farmers who want to claim for shortages in their harvesting in -- on certain fields. And here, there are also differences to Bader Farms as there, we were talking about peaches, and it was claimed that plantains were irreversibly destroyed. Please note that I am unable to give any information on the damages amount at the moment. One shareholder asked about provisions set aside with regard to dicamba trials. At the end of 2019, provisions for defense costs were around EUR 80 million. One shareholder asked about the energy production models used at Bayer and how these were used in compliance with the Renewable Energy Act. In the chemical parks at Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen, the company, Currenta, is in charge of energy provision. And these companies have decided that they will use an efficient use of power plants and that they will not build their own additional power plants. And the regulation that was introduced by the government in 2017 to report on a model in this regard was already taken up. Currenta has received criticism here, and Bayer has already explained how the transmission network is working. Bayer has rejected any accusations that have been made in this regard. One shareholder wanted to know about the stakeholder listers of the FleishmanHillard agency and why, in certain operations, the sub-agency publicist was not mentioned. The stakeholder lists were produced at the end of 2016 and 2017 by the agency FleishmanHillard and were commissioned by Monsanto. First, in French media, there were accusations that FleishmanHillard had collected private or confidential data and violated legal or statutory provisions. In 2019, Bayer commissioned an external law firm to look into these accusations. The commissioned law firm came to the conclusion that there were no indications of any illegal behavior. We published this report. This report also refers to the sub agency Publicis. Publicis worked as a service provider for FleishmanHillard. And Monsanto did not commission Publicis itself. The law firm, in checking this, did not find any information or indication that Publicis collated information in any way that was not in conform with the law. One shareholder asked about the role of Bayer in the promotion of journalists' organization in the U.S.A. Bayer has supported for a long time organizations which are for the greater good and help journalists in their work. Our donations and our commitment for these type of organizations are very transparent and are in accordance with our donation guidelines. How we deal with journalists and the media is laid down in our Bayer societal engagement principles, and these principles are our guidelines and basis for all Bayer activities. They are published on the Internet and can be read there. One shareholder wanted to know how many farmers are affected by an alleged data leak of our platform for digital agriculture FieldView, through which a trade platform -- which affected a trade platform. In the middle of February, in social media, there were reports which stated that the subsidiary, Climate Corporation had shared data of farmers with U.S. company Tillable. These reports were not accurate. The protection of data, particularly personal data, is very important for us. Climate Corporation does not give personal data to third parties. We were asked about our environmental KPIs. In addition to our annual report, we also produced a sustainability report. These were published on the 28th of February. The audits -- audited the sustainability report and compared this with last year's review and expanded it. A shareholder asked about the -- Bayer's energy mix. Our energy is broken down by fossil fuels and renewable fuels, depending on the utilities. 2% of -- in 2019 came from renewable energy. Our goal by 2030 is to be CO2-neutral in our production sites. This is something that will happen as a result of the acquisition of energy from renewable energies. The shareholder asked about the emissions of carbon monoxide, nitric oxides (sic) [ nitrous oxides ], volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide. This information is available in the sustainability report for the company as a whole. It's all very transparent. For the group as a whole, we can say the following for 2019: carbon monoxide, 3,300 tons; nitric oxide (sic) [ nitrous oxide ], 4,700 tons; volatile organic compounds without methane, 1,610 tons; sulfur oxides, 2,310 tons. Emissions into the water of phosphorus, nitrogen, heavy metals and inorganic salts for the company as a whole have been published transparently in the sustainability report. And here, you can see the values for the group as a whole for 2019: phosphorus, 510 tons approximately; nitrogen, about 420 tons; heavy metals, 2.6 tons; and inorganic salts about 167,000 tons. We received a question on cooperation with CRISPR Therapeutics. We were asked to explain why this cooperation has been reduced to almost nothing. We assume that this is a question which relates to the joint venture, Casebia Therapeutics. In our first press release in October 2019, we said that CRISPR Therapeutics and Bayer are convinced that CRISPR can successfully develop this technology, and then we would then directly collaborate with them. And what applies in general is the fact that we as in all of our cooperation agreements, we review them on a regular basis and then can adjust the amount of funds. A shareholder asked about our political lobbying in Berlin. Democracy needs lively exchange between all parties concerned. And this is something we take very seriously. We have a code of conduct at Bayer, the BASE principles, and this defines clear and binding rules for our commitments in the political space. We rely on transparency in cooperation with representatives of political institutions. The principles can be seen on our website. As part of the political work in Berlin, Bayer has contacts to ministries in different political fields, which are of high relevance to our company. This includes, for example, health and agriculture and the questions relating to the future as well as the promotion of R&D. The most important technical topics here can also be seen on our website. Against this backdrop, we are in -- we exchange with representatives at the respective ministries. This includes the departments of the economy, finance, labor and social affairs, research, health, nutrition, agriculture and development. We are also in contact with the responsible experts in the different political parties in the German parliament. A shareholder had a question on funding market research studies by Monsanto, especially by the institute in Giessen called Agribusiness. Our market research studies and social economic studies are based on contracts and confidentiality agreements with regard to funding, and we use the common conditions in industry. These contractual agreements are respected by us. With regard to market studies on glyphosate, we cannot give you any information, unfortunately. These studies occurred at a time when Monsanto was still an independent company. And the employees responsible back then for drawing up the study by the Giessen Institute called Institute for Agribusiness are no longer working for the company. Bayer is in favor of open dialogue, mutual respect and transparency. And we also are in favor of having studies carried out as a matter of principle on the basis of scientific practice and that we mentioned the support is openly and transparently. We also had a question on a number of issues, whether Bayer has direct and indirect involvement of the harassment of reporters and scientists, if they would stop this as well as finance in cooperation with front groups. Let me say one thing very clearly. In our activities in these respects, we adhere to our BASE principles. BASE is an abbreviation for Bayer Societal Engagement. This dictates how we act vis-à-vis others with regard to our employees, but also patients, customers, consumers, business partners, political stakeholders, scientists, critics and also action -- shareholders all over the world. The basis for our BASE principles are our mission: Bayer science for a better life; as well as our LIFE values, leadership, integrity, flexibility and efficiency. The BASE principles reflect our passion and determination to make a contribution, a positive contribution to overcoming some of the most urgent challenges of our times. With regard to the media, this means in specific terms, we respect journalists' independence as well as media representatives, and we are in favor of transparent and fact-based exchanges. We communicate openly and transparently with media and journalists, and we also provide precise information. We draw -- we do not draw up or spread fake news. We do not give any intransparent support to grassroot movements. We are transparent when others act for us with the media. All public relations agencies have to abide by our standards if they work for us. We were also asked if Bayer could commit to reducing and doing away with the use of glyphosate herbicides and with all, whether we would agree, that new herbicides with transparency about the risks for health of humans and environment would be launched. Let me say one thing. Glyphosate continues to play an important role in agriculture and in Bayer's product range. At the same time, in the next 10 years, the company will be investing another EUR 5 billion in fighting weeds. These investments in R&D are meant to better understand resistance mechanisms to invest -- to discover new activities and also develop tailor-made integrated solutions for weed control as well as precise recommendations from digital agriculture. In addition, partnerships will be strengthened with research workers on weeds, and we want to come with -- up with customer-specific solutions for farmers at a local level. We continue to inform people openly and transparently, not only about the benefits of our products, but also about possible risks, should there be any risks for humans or the environment. There was also a question on research projects related to SARS as well as an assessment with regard to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I can tell you that the Therapeutics Accelerator initiative for COVID-19 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supported by Bayer in order to fight the SARS pandemic. Please bear with us and try to understand that we cannot comment on individual points of view here. We also were asked if because of corona, the Board of Management has to earn money with its products and that not all medication can be developed [ that is need ]. We will have to continue to earn money with our products. That is correct. Even if we plan to have an increase in R&D investments, we will still not be able to cover all the needs in all indications. Because here, too, we have to set priorities with limited funds. A shareholder asked about Pharmaceutical division's strategy and the fact that we have exited certain therapy areas, for example, infectious diseases. At the end of 2004, R&D strategy at Bayer was reviewed, and it was decided that we would focus more on certain therapy segments. The Pharmaceutical division has been conducting research in cancer, cardiovascular disease and gynecological diseases with a high medical need. And the use of resources here are making the best use of our R&D funds. In early 2006, all R&D projects at Bayer in the field of anti-infectious agents were transferred to the company called [ Acuros GmbH & Co. KG ]. [ Acuros ] has also taken on a number of development products, research projects and patent rights and licenses from Bayer. Since this new realignment, antibiotics at Bayer are no longer the focus of our development portfolio. A shareholder asked about chloroquine with respect to treating COVID-19 patients. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bayer is giving high priority in supporting a number of approaches in treating people with SARS-CoV 2 infection in order to reduce the pressure on the health care system. Bayer produces chloroquine, which is a drug against malaria, and the Chinese health authorities have included it in their treatment recommendations for COVID-19. Other health authorities have also spoken out in favor of supervised emergency application of chloroquine outside of the defined indications. This can be seen as one of the possible treatment options for COVID-19. Up until now, however, the risk/benefit ratio has not proven this, and I'd also like to refer to answers that have been given to earlier questions. A shareholder asked about a study with chloroquine in Brazil and in the United States. These studies are being performed by third parties as the lead. And that is why these are activities that are outside our business, and we cannot comment on them as a result. A shareholder asked about the chloroquine donated by Bayer and where it came from. It was donated in Germany and in the U.S. This comes from our plant in Pakistan and also from manufacturers in China. Bayer has donated this product to governments only, and they are responsible for reviewing the quality. The way we understand it, this quality -- these quality tests were positive. A shareholder asked about the supply chains for our pharmaceutical products and also the supply chain safety for our drugs. Patient care is top priority for Bayer. That is why our strategy for storing these drugs is given priority. The worldwide situation is being observed on a continuous basis very carefully. We have a global crisis team in place as well as local teams in order to secure the production of pharmaceutical active ingredients, drugs and medical products. Nimotop S 30-milligram film tablets. These are undergoing modernization of the production facilities and processes in Leverkusen that's led to an interruption in supply. For patient supply, alternatively, oral nimodipine medication can be used from other manufacturers. Bayer regrets the problems that this resulted in for patients and doctors. Bayer recommends that they should consult their doctor in order to come up with an appropriate alternative for their individual needs. I would also like to refer to answers that we have given to similar questions. A shareholder asked about the pregnancy risk when using contraceptives and whether this risk is assessed in R&D. Patient safety is our top priority at Bayer. We assess, on a continuing basis, the risk-benefit ratio of our drugs and medical products over the entire product life cycle. When we get an announcement about potential side effects, then we ensure that all of the regulatory and legal requirements have been met. The combined oral contraceptives only have a error rate of 1% per year. The pill is the most reliable contraceptive. Considering problems in taking the drug, disease or inappropriate co-medication, the failure rate is less than 10% per year. This rate is much lower than other contraceptive methods. If the method fails, then there is no increased risk for ovarian pregnancies compared to women without contraceptives. A large share of unwanted pregnancy results from forgetting to take the contraceptive. Intrauterine devices are also very good -- very effective because the effect is independent of having to take the drug every day. Intrauterine systems are a reversible form of contraception, and the effect is similar to surgical sterilization. Intrauterine systems at Bayer use lower doses, than putting them directly, and this means that they also have a contraceptive effect. The cyclical growth of the uterus mucus membrane is reduced and the cervix mucous membrane becomes thicker, so that the penetration of spermia in the cervix canal is prevented. This leads to a very good contraceptive effect. The failure rate is less than 1%. The incidence rate of ovarial pregnancies is 0.1% per year. This rate is lower than the rate in women who do not use contraceptives. This is 0.3% to 0.5% per year. Several stockholders asked about the risk/benefit profile of Jadelle. It's not what I'd like to say that it is a positive ratio. More than 200 million women in developing countries have no access to modern contraceptives or any other ways of being able to enjoy family planning. Now according to the World Health Organization, a time period of at least 2 to 3 years between pregnancy can improve the health of the mother substantially. Now there is a certain -- there is a surgical procedure, which is used, and I have explained this. Now the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have been offering this product for -- at a 50% price reduction for women in developing countries. The Jadelle access program is improving access to long-term contraceptive methods, which according to estimates by the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition in developing countries, is continuing to increase. As part of this program, between 2013 and 2018, 26.7 million Jadelle implants took place in a number of different countries as part of family planning programs, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even after the expiry of the Jadelle access program, Bayer has committed until the year 2023 to continue offering Jadelle at the reduced price. Jadelle is approved in more than 50 countries worldwide. The average duration of use is 3.8 years. According to our knowledge, there are no lawsuits pending regarding side effects of Jadelle. One shareholder asked about Duogynon. Bayer continues to be of the opinion that Duogynon is not a cause for embryonic deformations. In the '70s and '80s, there were a number of investigations and expert opinions about the possible causes of these deformations. And none of these came to the conclusion that Duogynon was the cause of these issues. And a lawsuit in England came to the same verdict as did a court in Germany. There was no new scientific evidence which could call into question these verdicts. The health minister in the U.K. formed an expert body, supported by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which has been looking at any links between [ Apteka ] and Duogynon or comparable products and the embryo -- and the embryonic deformations, which occurred as a result -- which are alleged to have occurred as a result. A number of different products have been looked at in this case, not just Duogynon. In the results of this review, the committee ruled that there was no causal link between the use of this type of hormonal pregnancy test and embryonic deformations. And a few shareholders asked about animal trials performed by our company at the test laboratory LPT GmbH & Co. KG. We strive for maximum safety and optimal efficacy in our drug production. And we -- this does not allow us to avoid performing tests on animals. But where possible, we do try and avoid it. If we work according to the 3R principle, the objective is: to try and keep to a minimum the number of trials performed on animals, so to reduce; to refine; and the third R is to replace. So to find new methods to replace animal testing. Any accusations relating to possible violations of what is called good laboratory practice are reviewed by the respective supervisory authorities of individual countries. Bayer has stopped working with LPT GmbH & Co. KG several years ago. Stockholders asked about measures that we have taken to review to check third-party companies who we contract to perform animal tests. These companies are frequently audited according to our quality criteria. A question was asked about to what extent the company takes part in projects for retrieval of munitions, whether they know their alliance and also political groupings. And they asked us whether we believe it was possible for us to play a role in these projects. We haven't -- we have no knowledge about the project that was mentioned, and we thus cannot comment on it. But Bayer has documented and the time period for this project. With the support of the Bayer archives, since the 1980s, there have been a number of scientific publications, which have looked at the development and the use of [ any ] chemical weapons. The company archive offers access and the ability to research the files. As well it also allows people to loan out documents, photos, objects and paintings from Bayer's archive. And one shareholder asked questions about issues relating to data privacy. Now due to the details of the question, we assume that this relates to a forwarded question from the search performed by a third party. Bayer informed this person according to the relevant data protection specifications and provided the set of data available to the public with accessible articles, blog contributions and tweets from 2014 to 2019. These data sets were not the result of a targeted search for this specific person, and Bayer has a justified interest when it comes to saving data and data privacy. We can tell you the following thing about the specific question. The presence of this person at the ASM in 2018 was not part of the data privacy information because the details were not -- because the details provided did not suffice for identification as a stockholder. The report about the ASM of the Gardening Society will be [ lighter ] back in May 2018 and in the Upper Franconia local press. And also about hunting for [ Wilson Bayers ] in South Tyrol. And there was also a position paper which named a number of regional members of Parliament in South Tyrol. For Bayer, it's important to be able to gauge opinions so that it can recognize specific trends. Our media monitoring is designed in such a way that media that are available to the public cross check to see whether these individual search terms contained or whether there's a combination of a number of different search terms. And then these search terms can relate to topics which are relevant in a general nature to Bayer, but they can also relate to Bayer products or to the company name itself. These searches take place according to topic, but not related to specific people. The aforementioned contributions are contained in our media monitoring data bank -- database because they are in a number of these different search terms. So ladies and gentlemen, we have one other question. One shareholder asked how much money Bayer has set aside in order to cover future penalties relating to [ dicamba ]. We believe that the ruling from the [ Court of First Instance ] is unjustified. We are convinced it's solid arguments. We have the necessary arguments to defend ourselves, and we will defend ourselves accordingly. For this reason, in -- for this lawsuit, we have made a provision of around EUR 80 million for defense costs. I read this incorrectly before. So it's EUR 80 million. When I initially answered this question, it was incorrect. So ladies and gentlemen, I hope we have answered your questions in sufficient detail. And I will now hand over to Mr. Wenning.

Thank you very much, Mr. Baumann. Thank you for your thorough responses to the questions. I will now close the Q&A session. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to point out to you that the votes have taken place by postal vote and via the proxies of the company by telefax, by e-mail, or via our shareholder service on the Internet. Well, soon this service will soon be closed. This will be just after I have listed the items on which you will be voting from the agenda. If you still want to submit a vote or change your vote or withdraw a vote, then please make sure that you do this now. And before the vote takes place, I would just like to tell you how many people are present. So it is as follows. Overall, 64.03% of our capital is represented at the ASM. This includes the proxies of the company and also the and -- also the postal votes. The proxies represent 621,238,533 votes. No par value shares that is. This corresponds to an attendance of 36.24% of our equity capital. Furthermore, we have postal votes which account for 7,770,520, no par value shares. At the moment, we have 2,888 people who are watching the virtual annual shareholders' meeting online. The peak viewing figure was at around 11:00. And here, we had around 5,000 people watching. This brings us to the votes. Now the proxies will now be casting their votes according to instructions. And all of the postal votes that were submitted on time will be taken into account. I thus declare that once again, I will go through the items on which will be voted. And after this, the vote on the agenda, on the items, will be concluded. After this point, it will no longer be possible to cast a vote. So please vote now or give a proxy or an instruction. [Voting]

I will now go through each of the points under each of the resolutions, specifically. So for point 1 on the item of the agenda, for the consolidation of the financial statements, the Board suggests that the [ confirmed annual ] financial statements and the approved consolidated financial statements, the combined management report and also that the amount of assets of 2,000 -- of EUR 2,750,787,429.60 be used for the payment of a dividend of EUR 2.18 (sic) [ EUR 2.80 ]. Now for the second item, the ratification of the actions of the Board of Management. We propose that we ratify the actions of the members of the Board from fiscal 2019. The members of the Board of the Management were told that they must abstain from voting for their own and also for third-party shares. Now for item 3 on the agenda, ratification of the actions over the members of the Supervisory Board just proposed that the members of the Supervisory Board be approved for their actions in 2019. And the members of the Supervisory Board have been instructed that they must abstain for their own stocks and also for those of third parties. And this also applies to the people representing stocks for -- or the proxy for the members of the Supervisory Board. Item #4 for the election to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board proposes that Ertharin Cousin, Professor Dr. Otmar D. Wiestler and Horst Baier be appointed to the Supervisory Board to take effect after at the end of today's Annual Shareholders' Meeting. And that their appointment continue until the end of the ASM when we decide on ratification of their actions for fiscal 2023. Now for item 5 is the approval of the compensation system. The Supervisory Board proposes that the new compensation system described in the invitation to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting and that took effect from the January 1, 2020, be approved for the Board of Management. Item 6 on the agenda, a resolution on the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board. Management proposes that the compensation of the Supervisory Board, as outlined in Article 12 of the articles of association and as described in the invitation to the ASM, be approved. Now item 7 on the agenda, which is amendment to the articles of incorporation for the term in office of the Supervisory Board members. It is proposed that the terms be made more flexible and that the ASM be given the opportunity to, in future, be able to not only vote 5 members for a shorter period than 5 years. This will require that article 8 (sic) [ Section 8 ], paragraph 2 of the Articles of Incorporation be revised. Now for Item 8 on the agenda, which is the election of the auditor for the annual financial statements and of the auditor for the review of the half year and interim financial reports, if applicable. The Supervisory Board proposes that Deloitte GmbH in Munich be approved as the auditor of the annual financial statements for fiscal 2020 and also for the review of the half year and interim financial reports for the 30th of June 2020 and also for any other interim financial reports to be published on the 30th of September 2020 and on the 31st of March 2021. Ladies and gentlemen, at 3:40 p.m. -- sorry, that at 3:45 p.m., the votes will be closing. We will now stop the broadcast of the ASM, and at 3:45 we will continue. [Voting]

Ladies and gentlemen, it's now 3:45. So we want to continue and voting by mail or authorization of proxies or instructions are no longer possible. I would like to ask this to be taken into account, and I'd like to ask the notary public to take note of this as well. The company's proxies have released the votes in accordance with your instructions. And I now close the vote. We will begin counting the votes. Absentee ballots will also be taken into account. The time required to count the votes will depend on the number of amended or revoked votes and authorizations and instructions to the proxies. As soon as I have the results in front of me, I will announce the results. Until then, I would like to interrupt the stakeholders' meeting, and I'd like to ask you to bear with us. The notary public will be supervisoring the counting of the votes. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, we now have the results of the vote. And I can now continue the Annual Shareholders' Meeting. I would like to announce the results. The number of valid votes as well as the number of votes in favor and against as well as abstentions will be shown separately for each agenda item. Detailed results of the vote will be available this evening on the company's website. When I come to agenda item 1, presentation of the annual financial statements, 660,489,743 shares were voted. There were valid votes in that amount. This is in line with 62.75% of the share capital. We had 608,635,753 votes in favor, and this is 98.72%. And 7,862,990 votes against, this is 1.28% of the votes that were cast. 12,510,938 abstentions were filed. I note that this means that the presentation from management for the use of distributable prattle will be assumed and is adopted. In other words, this decision has been taken. The [ depot ] customers will receive the credit and the announcement of the dividend will be published immediately by the company. And I would ask you to take all the details from that information. Agenda item 2. This is the ratification of the actions of the members of the Board of 581,007,488 shares we had valid votes that were cast in that amount. This is 59.14% of the share capital. This is 537,838,038 votes in favor, which is 92.57% and 43,169,450 votes against, which is 7.43% of the votes that were cast. And we have 47,934,871 abstentions. I note that this means that the members of the Board of Management in fiscal 2019 that their actions have been ratified, and this decision has thus been taken. I'm pleased with the results and the trust that you have expressed in your Board of Management. Congratulations to you, Mr. Baumann and to your colleagues on the Board for the trust that has been placed in you. Agenda item 3, ratification of the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board 597,391,492 shares. This was the number of valid votes cast. This is in line with 60.81% of the share capital. We have 561,415,531 (sic) [ 561,415,431 ] votes in favor, which is 93.38% (sic) [ 93.98% ] and 35,976,061 votes against, which is 6.02% of the votes that were cast. We also have 31,578,212 abstentions. I note that the members of the Supervisory Board active in 2019, their actions have been ratified. This is the decision that has been taken. Ladies and gentlemen, this means that I would like to thank you for the trust you have expressed in the Supervisory Board on behalf of all Supervisory Board members. Agenda item 4, Supervisory Board elections. The results are as follows: Ms. Ertharin Cousin, we have 624,381,504 shares. That was the number of votes cast. This is in line with 63.56% of the share capital. We have 622,608,972 votes in favor, which is 99.72%. And we have 1,772,532 votes against, which is 0.28% of the votes cast. We also have EUR 4,627,176 abstentions. Professor Dr. Otmar Wiestler, here, we have 624,541,624 shares. That was the number of votes cast, the number of valid votes, which is 63.57% of the share capital. We have a total of 606,969,624 votes in favor, which is 97.19%; and 17,572,000 votes against, which is 2.81%. We also have 4,467,639 abstentions. Mr. Horst Baier, 624,304,193 shares. We have that number of valid votes that were cast. This is a share of 63.55% of the share capital. We have 622,040,422 votes in favor, which is 99.64%, and 2,263,771 votes against, 0.36%. We also have 4,704,928 abstentions. That means that the proposals from the Supervisory Board for the Supervisory Board elections have been adopted. Ms. Ertharin Cousin, Professor Dr. Otmar Wiestler and Mr. Horst Baier have now been elected members of the Supervisory Board until the end of the -- until the end of the shareholders' meeting deciding on the fiscal year 2023, and they have been elected members of the Supervisory Board. This resolution has been adopted. Congratulations to all 3 of you. The vote on agenda item #5, the approval of the compensation system for the members of the Board of Management, we have 614,455,493 valid votes were cast. This is 62.54% of the capital share -- capital stock. This is 577,689,965 votes in favor, which is 94.02%, and 36,765,528 votes against, which is 5.98%. We also have 14,545,014 abstentions. I note that the compensation for the system as of the 1st of January 2020 has been approved for the members of the Board of Management as published in the notice to the Annual Stakeholders' Meeting. Agenda item 6, resolution on the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board. 627,497,353 valid votes were cast, representing the same number of shares. This is 63.87% of the capital stock. This is 622,597,091 votes in favor, which is 99.22%, and 4,000,922 (sic) [ 4,900,262 ] votes against, which is 0.78% -- 87% (sic) [ 0.78% ] . We have 1,508,192 (sic) [ 1,508,129 ] abstentions. I note that this resolution on the compensation for the members of the Supervisory Board, as noted in Section 12 of the articles of incorporation, and this is a resolution that has been adopted. In the vote on agenda item 7, this is the amendment of the articles of incorporation as regards to the term of office. We had 627,819,287 votes, [ 677,819,278 ] valid votes were cast for the same number of shares, which is 63.91% of the capital stock. This is 626,027,080 votes in favor, which is 99.71%. And we have 1,729,898 (sic) [ 1,792,198 ] votes against, which is 0.29% of the votes cast against. And we have 1,189,717 abstentions. I note that the amendment to the articles of incorporation for the term of office for the members of the Supervisory Board as in Section 8, Paragraph 2 of the articles of incorporation has been adopted as published in the convocation to the Annual Stakeholders' Meeting. So we have the necessary number of votes for this. So I can announce that this resolution has been adopted. Agenda item 8, the election of the auditor for the annual financial statements and for the auditor for the review of the half year and interim financial reports, if applicable. 628,079,260 valid votes were cast. This is a share of 63.93% of the capital stock and this is 622,976,863 votes in favor, which is 99.19%, and we had 5,102,379 (sic) [ 5,102,397 ] votes against, 0.81%. We also have 929,530 abstentions. I note that the Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Munich has been elected as auditor for the annual financial statements for fiscal 2020 as well as the auditor for the review of the half year and interim financial reports, if applicable, as of the 30th of September 2020 and any other management reports as of the 30th of September 2020 and the 31st of March 2021, and I announce this resolution. Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations to Deloitte on your election. So ladies and gentlemen, we have made it through the agenda. I'd like to thank all of you on behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management for participating in this online and rather special stakeholders' meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd also like to thank all of the employees who prepared the answers to your questions, and everyone who was involved in preparing, organizing and implementing this stakeholders' meeting. The next regular stakeholders' meeting is planned for the 27th of April 2021. I thank you once again for participating and for your interest in our company. And now I would like to say goodbye to you and I would like to wish you all the very best. Above all, in these difficult times, the best of health. I wish you all a very pleasant evening, and that concludes the Annual Stockholders' Meeting at 4:56 p.m. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]