Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Bayer AG, and thus, Chair of today's meeting, I call today's regular Annual Stockholders' Meeting to order. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you, the shareholders, their representatives, representatives from the press and all other viewers who are following us today by audio and video over the Internet, welcome to all of you. I would like to have welcomed all of you here in person at the Congress Center in Bonn, but due to the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, we are not allowed to do so. As you could see in the notice to the Annual Stockholders' Meeting, in order to avoid the health risk caused by the coronavirus and with the approval of the Supervisory Board, we decided to have this year's Annual Stockholders' Meeting as a virtual meeting, just like last year, without any physical presence of shareholders or their representatives. And due to the existing contact restrictions, we have also limited the number of participants here at the communications center in Leverkusen. Next to me is the Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board, Oliver Zühlke. This year, I would like to welcome all members of the Board of Management on site. With the appropriate safety and hygiene concepts, it was possible for all members of the Board of Management to be present this year on the spot. I would like to welcome the CEO, Werner Baumann. I'd also like to welcome our CFO, Wolfgang Nickl. I also welcome the Head of our Pharmaceuticals Division, Stefan Oelrich; and the Head of the Crop Science Division, Liam Condon; and the Head of the Consumer Health division, Heiko Schipper. And I'm especially pleased to welcome Sarena Lin for the first time at an Annual General Meeting today. She was elected or appointed by the Supervisory Board with the effect of 1st of February as a member of the Board of Management. She is our Chief Transformation and Talent Officer and is responsible for human resources, strategy and transformation and business consulting. She will be responsible for accelerating transformation at Bayer. And Sarena Lin will now introduce herself personally.

Good morning, shareholders. It is a great pleasure for me to introduce myself to you. My name is Sarena Lin, and I am new on the Board of Management at Bayer. As Mr. Winkeljohann just said, I am the Chief Transformation and Talent Officer, and I'm responsible for human resources, strategy and business consulting. I am also the Labor Director at Bayer AG. I worked at Elanco Animal Health, where I was a member of the executive committees for transformation and technology. I also had managerial positions at McKinsey and Cargill. I'm looking forward to sharing my experience with you here at Bayer because Bayer's vision, "Health for all -- hunger for none" is very dear to my heart. Bayer is a leading life science company and is in excellent position to make use of the great potential of the Bayer revolution and to grow successfully. I will work on making progress in the transformation of Bayer with success in your interest, the shareholders' interest, and of course, in the interest of our customers, the farmers, patients and consumers as well as our employees. And on a personal note, let me add. I grew up in Taiwan, and I lived for many years in the United States. And now I am looking forward to living and working in Germany with my husband, who is German, and our daughter. I trust in your trust and support in shaping the future of our company. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Sarena Lin. And I'd also like to welcome the notary public, Dr. Marc Hermanns, who, as in the past, will be taking the minutes for today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting. We also have a company proxy with us here in the room. The remaining members of the Supervisory Board are following us on the Internet. And if need be, they can communicate with me and the members of the Board of Management. And those participating virtually -- of those participating virtually, I would like to welcome, in chronological order of their election and appointment, to the Supervisory Board. At last year's Annual Stockholders' Meeting, Horst Baier was elected to the Supervisory Board and is participating for the first time. He is also Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the committee on the glyphosate litigation. Welcome, Horst Baier. I would also specially like to welcome Andrea Sacher. She is with us for the first time today as a member of the Supervisory Board at Annual Stockholders' Meeting. She is an employee representative and was appointed by the court to the Supervisory Board in September of 2020. Welcome, Andrea Sacher. The appointment of Andrea Sacher is due to a very sad occasion. Last August, after a difficult illness, Sabine Schaab passed away in August. She was the Deputy Chair of the Works Council at the Wuppertal-Elberfeld site and was a member of the Supervisory Board since 2017. And in honor and in memory of Sabine Schaab and in memory of the 24 employees at Bayer, who have passed away connected to the COVID infection and also in memory of all other Bayer colleagues who have passed away in the past year, I would like to ask you for a moment of silence. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, as I said, I would like to have welcomed you in person to today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting in person. Personal contact and dialogue is missing when I speak into a camera, but a face-to-face Annual Stockholders' Meeting is still not possible. And just like many areas of work and daily life, we are making use of the technical means that we have available for today's meeting. These technical possibilities have allowed us to continue social and economic life during the pandemic, and a good part of our work is remote whenever possible. And depending on the phase of the pandemic there is and has been school at home. And for an Annual Stockholders' Meeting, where thousands of people would come normally to attend, and we'd have people in a conference all together, I must say the virtual possibility is the only possible format. The virtual Annual Stockholders' Meeting allows us to protect our health, your health, the health of our service providers and employees, and it also allows us to abide by the legal regulations. But we made use of the time we had to prepare. And compared to last year's Annual Stockholders' Meeting, we are giving you more possibilities to take part, dear shareholders, and this goes well beyond what is required by law. In order to allow for substantive exchange, we -- and also, in addition to being able to submit countermotions and election proposals, we also allowed you to submit statements in writing or as videos. Many people took advantage of this possibility. We received 9 written statements and 13 video statements and all of them have been available on the company's website for the Annual Stockholders' Meeting. At the beginning of the -- and during the question-and-answer session, we will be showing you the video statements, but only those that abided by the length of 2 minutes or not much more. And those videos that we won't be showing can, however, be found on the company's website. I've also -- I would also like to mention the possibility that we have given you to submit questions up until 1 day before the Annual Stockholders' Meeting. In addition to that, you can also ask follow-up questions during the Annual Stockholders' Meeting. To give you the possibility to ask specific questions and targeted questions, we have published Mr. Baumann's speech as well as my speech on the company's website before the meeting. And as I said in the -- as was mentioned in the notice, we want to give as much possibility as possible for dialogue between the company and its shareholders. Exercising your vote is something that can be carried out during the Annual Stockholders' Meeting using the shareholders' portal. I will explain details to you in a bit. Ladies and gentlemen, at this point, I'd like to, first of all, thank everyone who was involved in preparing and organizing today's annual stockholders' meeting. Now let's come to some of the formal points. I'd like to give you some information on the course of today's virtual Annual Stockholders' Meeting. This year as well, we will be offering simultaneous interpretation of the entire Annual Stockholders' Meeting from German into English. You can select the language on the Internet. The notice to today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting, including the agenda and the proposals from the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board on the resolutions, were published in due time and form in the federal gazette on the 12th of March 2021. The annual financial statements, including the proposals from the Board of Management for the use of the profit as well as consolidated financial report, the combined management report and the information on acquisitions as well as the report from the Supervisory Board have been available on the company's website since the notice to the Annual Stockholders' Meeting was published. This also applies to the CVs for Professor Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser, which -- who the Supervisory Board will be selecting -- proposing for election to the Supervisory Board as well as for the Articles of Incorporation. Ladies and gentlemen, I know that the notice for today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting was made according to law and the Articles of Incorporation. This year, we will also be keeping a list of participants, and we will also include the company's proxy holder here as well as the shareholders represented here, if this was requested. In addition the shareholders and their shareholders' representatives, who ask follow-up questions until the end of the Q&A session, will also be included in the list of participants. Depending on the course of today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting, any of the authorizations granted or revoked to the company's proxy holder as well as shareholders and shareholders' representatives will also be able to -- this will allow them to change the number of shares represented. I would now like to announce the numbers as they now stand resulting from the list of participants. You can also view the list of participants at the top right of the shareholders' portal. Before we begin with the vote, I will give you this figure once again. Right now, the number is as follows. We have the number before us. Of the EUR 2,515,005,649.92, we have a total of 982,424,082 shares. 517,929,000 shares are represented with the same number of votes. This is 52.62% of the share capital. This list of participants can be viewed in the shareholders' portal, and in a difference, we also have the 7,818,973 shares have been received. So this means that for 524,884,883 shares, we have that number of votes, which is 53.42% of the share capital. Ladies and gentlemen, following my introductory remarks and the reports from the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, we will then take the questions from the shareholders and their representatives, if they were submitted by the deadline via the shareholders' portal as well as the follow-up questions. Now the possibility to submit questions beforehand, this is something that a lot of people made use of. Within the deadline, we received a total of 560 questions via the shareholders' portal, and we will answer all of them. As I said and also noted in the notice to the Annual Stockholders' Meeting, we will make it possible for shareholders and their representatives to also ask follow-up questions during the Annual Stockholders' Meeting. Shareholders and their representatives, who submitted questions by the deadline via the shareholders' portal, will also be able to ask follow-up questions. Submitting follow-up questions will only be possible via the shareholders' portal. In the shareholders' portal, you have the possibility to ask your follow-up question under your own question. This is a possibility that will be available once we start to answer the questions. When it comes to ending this possibility of submitting follow-up questions, that's something I'll inform you about in due time. Follow-up questions as the questions themselves must be asked in German. Please remember that when it's a question of asking follow-up questions, this goes well beyond what is required by law. This is a voluntary undertaking by the company. The Board of Management will try to answer all follow-up questions. Depending on the number and the scope of the follow-up questions, I might have to restrict the time a lot into answering follow-up questions. Following the answers to the questions and follow-up questions, we will come to the vote and also to the resolutions. Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you a couple of points on the voting procedure. This has been possible either by absentee ballot or by the company's proxy holder. This is possible until the beginning of the vote via the shareholders' portal. I will announce when this possibility will be ended. Until then, you can cast your vote via the shareholders' portal. And you can change your vote, and I will remind you of this once again, but let me request that you do cast your vote in due time. Information on exercising your voting rights can also be found in the notice to the Annual Stockholders' Meeting and on the company's website. The company's proxy holder will release the votes in accordance with your instructions. These have been stored in our system on the individual agenda items. Those absentee ballots, which were received in due time will also be taken into account when we determine the results of the vote. Voting and the counting of the votes will be monitored by our notary public. He checked the technical prerequisites beforehand. Any objections to the minutes with regard to resolutions taken at the Annual Stockholders' Meeting can also be submitted electronically in the shareholders' portal. As explained in the notice, we will have this possibility until the end of the Annual Stockholders' Meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, now that I've explained all of this to you, we can get down to the agenda item. This was the agenda with the proposals was published in the federal gazette. You will also find the agenda in the notice to the Annual Stockholders' Meeting on our website. This website also has provided you with the documents for the Annual Stockholders' Meeting, which were supplied to the shareholders. The company has received a number of countermotions and election proposals within the time limit, and these were made available on the company's website. These are considered as submitted if the shareholders will legitimize and also register to attend the Annual Shareholders' Meeting. Let's now turn to agenda item 1. And this is the annual financial statements and reports as well as the use for the distributable profit. I would also like to call out the remaining agenda items, agenda items 2 through 6. We will also be explaining information on each of these agenda items. The detailed version of the annual report for 2020 with the report from the Supervisory Board and the combined management report as well as the annual financial accounts and the use for the distributable profit as well as the consolidated financial have been available on the company's website since the notice to this meeting was published. You can retrieve them now. One example of all of these documents has been made available to the notary public. The annual financial statements for 2020 were prepared by the Board of Management, approved by the Supervisory Board and thus adopted. The consolidated financial statements were also approved by the Supervisory Board and 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 the distributable profit. The annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements and the combined management report have also been reviewed by the auditor, and this was given with an unqualified certificate, and the Supervisory Board has approved the results of the audit. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to give the floor to Mr. Baumann for his report for the Board of Management. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, welcome to our 2021 Annual Shareholders' Meeting. Last year, we became the first company in the DAX, Germany's leading index, to hold its shareholders' meeting completely online. And today's Annual Shareholders' Meeting is again taking place in a virtual format. We've taken note of your feedback from last year and included more interactive elements, for example, and we hope that this format will meet with your approval. I'm going to start straight away by telling things like they are. I'm talking about our company and the trust that was lost last year and about the disappointing performance of our stock. Let me say quite clearly, we cannot be satisfied with that. We didn't meet your expectations, and we didn't meet ours either last year. At this point, I could mention the substantial special charges or the currency effects that, in some cases, were unexpected. But the fact is irrespective of which factors were under our control and which were not, we bear the responsibility with no ifs, ands or buts. So it's important to me to emphasize right from the start, we want to regain your trust, and we're working hard to do that, and we will deliver. Now let me come to the main topics from fiscal 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented global challenge, a challenge that also places the highest demands on us as a company. Our first responsibilities in this crisis are to supply products to our customers and ensure the safety and health of our employees throughout the world. We've shown more than once. And again and again that what we do at Bayer with respect to health and nutrition puts us in the center of society and that we can provide practical help to hospitals, aid organizations, local or government authorities and so on. They have relied on our support, and we have been able to justify their trust. We've taken extensive protection measures at all our sites right from the beginning of the pandemic. And since then, we've continually reviewed them and adapted them to the specific situation. And for more than a year now, we've generally been working from home whenever possible. So thanks to the comprehensive measures, we've succeeded in keeping our promise to customers even under historically difficult circumstances. We've been able to avoid supply disruptions caused by the pandemic, and we've continued to provide water, in some cases, life-saving products to patients, farmers and consumers. And that's something we're very proud of. And here are some images of our colleagues on site. They represent the tremendous dedication of our global teams that they have shown in responding to the pandemic, and they've been working under exceptional circumstances in both their professional and their private lives for more than a year. And I'd like to express my sincere thanks to them on behalf of the entire Board of Management, and I'm sure, on your behalf as shareholders as well. Thanks to their commitment, we've weathered the crisis well from an operational point of view, and that shows very clearly that we are active in the right industries. After all, few things are more important to people than health and nutrition. Nevertheless, we also felt the special challenges of the pandemic in all of our businesses last year. For our agricultural business, 2020 was a year of ups and downs. Overall, we achieved sales growth of 1%, that was less than what we had originally planned. While we saw currency adjusted growth in the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions, our business in North America declined. For example, the pandemic led to a drop in demand for biofuels, especially in the first half of the year, resulting in significantly lower prices for agricultural commodities. And on top of that, we temporarily lost the registration for our most important herbicide, dicamba. So it was all the more significant for us that we received a new 5-year registration in October. The low rate of growth, and above all, the massive negative currency effects of more than EUR 0.5 billion weighed heavily on the earnings of our Crop Science business. We couldn't entirely compensate for this, even though we accelerated our integration measures and achieved substantial further cost reductions. So in the end, our clean EBITDA was down by EUR 178 million to about EUR 4.5 billion. Now we have a different situation. The market environment has since improved considerably. A sizable increase in the demand for agricultural products has led to rising prices, and of course, we hope that this momentum will continue. As a leading company in the global agricultural business, we are in an excellent position to benefit from this trend. Our aim is to grow above market starting next year by -- between 3% and 5%. And we also aim to raise the profitability of the business by 2024 and then achieve a clean EBITDA margin of 27% to 29% but getting back to fiscal 2020. This was a very eventful year for our pharmaceuticals business, too. COVID-19 led to a tangible reduction in the number of elective treatments, especially in the first half of the year. We probably all know about this from our private lives. For instance, that doctors' appointments have been postponed or canceled. This distinctly impacted our ophthalmology drug, Eylea, and our long-term contraceptives and the radiology business. In addition, a new purchasing procedure for medicines was introduced in China and the significant price reductions this entailed negatively impacted the sales and earnings contributions of our products, Glucobay and Avelox. Standing out positively, once again, however, was our anticoagulant Xarelto, which performed strongly last year with sales rising by 12% to EUR 4.5 billion. We nevertheless saw a slight decline in the sales of our pharmaceuticals business, overall. Thanks to the across-the-board cost reductions we made, we succeeded in raising clean EBITDA by 2.6% to EUR 6 billion. We're working hard this year to bring several major pharmaceutical products to market or launch them in additional markets. And they all have blockbuster potential, which means possible peak annual sales of more than EUR 1 billion each. Our new cancer drug, Nubeqa and Verquvo against heart failure have already seen first market launches. We've had to organize that almost entirely by virtual means because of the pandemic, and the launches were outstandingly successful. And especially for Nubeqa, we clearly exceeded our expectations. These are to be joined later in the year by finerenone to treat chronic kidney disease and the start of Phase III clinical trials with elinzanetant for menopausal symptoms. We anticipate robust annual growth of 3% to 5% total sales at pharmaceuticals through 2023 with a clean EBITDA margin of between 32% and 34%. In 2024, the patent expirations for Xarelto and Eylea will lead to a low to mid single-digit percentage decline in sales. But even for 2024, we expect a clean EBITDA margin of more than 30%. And from 2025 onwards, our pharmaceuticals business is set to grow again, thanks to our new products and our innovation pipeline. Ladies and gentlemen, during the pandemic, there has been a special focus on our health. And we've also seen this in our consumer health business. Sales in the Nutritionals category jumped by 23% last year with double-digit growth in all regions. At the same time, COVID-19 also had -- also adversely affected our business, too. For example, masks and distancing meant fewer people got cold or the flu. And that reduced the demand for the corresponding cold treatments. Overall, however, we are all the more encouraged by the fact that our Consumer Health division ranked at the top of our industry with adjusted sales growth of 5.2% to more than EUR 5 billion. The clean EBITDA margin also rose by a significant 110 basis points. Absolute clean EBITDA came in slightly below the prior year level due to portfolio effects. Our team got a lot of things right over the last 2 years and has laid the foundation for strong future development. At Consumer Health, too, we anticipate sales increasing at an annual rate of 3% to 5% in the coming years. We want to grow faster than the market and position ourselves as a leader in this industry, with the clean EBITDA margin moving toward 25%. So what does all this mean for Bayer as a whole? All in all, group sales in 2020 totaled EUR 41.4 billion and thus grew by 0.6% after adjusting for currency and portfolio effects. So this means the business was stable despite the crisis. And that also applies to clean EBITDA and to core earnings per share, the profitability indicators for our operational business before special items. Our clean EBITDA of EUR 11.5 billion and core earnings per share of EUR 6.39 was almost exactly matched to last year's figures. With the focus on cash flow and liquidity assurance and through the sale of the Animal Health business, we were able to significantly reduce our financial debt to about EUR 30 billion, too. Ladies and gentlemen, we did not reach the targets we originally set for the year 2020. However, we worked very hard to achieve an acceptable operating result despite the pandemic and a number of other negative effects, and on that basis, to pay an appropriate dividend. At today's Annual Shareholders' Meeting, therefore, we're proposing a dividend of EUR 2 per share. This means we are maintaining our dividend policy of distributing between 30% and 40% of core earnings per share. As I mentioned at the outset, we had to take massive extraordinary charges in 2020, which are partly continuing into 2021. Last year, we announced settlements totaling about USD 12 billion for the relevant U.S. litigation. Greater part of this, up to USD 9.6 billion relates to the current claims in the glyphosate litigation. And we have since settled by far the majority of existing claims. Contrary to our expectations and yours, however, we haven't yet been able to achieve a final resolution despite the progress made. This applies particularly to the management of future cases. The original settlement proposal submitted to the court in the summer of 2020 had to be withdrawn. A new proposal, agreed upon with and supported by plaintiff's council, has been now submitted to the judge in California for a decision. For the revised proposal, both parties have worked diligently to address the points mentioned by the court previously. In addition, we had to recognize impairment losses of EUR 9 billion on our agricultural business. The actual market growth and business development have lagged behind our expectations over the past 3 years, on top of that, came massive negative currency effects as well as changes in discount rates. And that meant that the original asset valuations could not be sustained. Due to these extraordinary charges, group net income was negative by EUR 10.5 billion last year despite our stable operational development. Ladies and gentlemen, the burdens we bore last year shouldn't obscure the view of Bayer's prospects. And I'll say this quite clearly, we're optimistic for the future. Our divisions are clearly set to grow and to increase their earnings power over the next few years, even if 2021 will again be a transition year. And that brings us to the outlook for the current year that we presented at the end of February. Assuming constant exchange rates, we expect sales to grow by around 3%, with earnings per share coming in slightly below the 2020 level. We will publish the results for the first quarter as planned on the 12th of May. So I can't give you any details here today, but early indications suggest that we had a successful start to the year. And in the agricultural business, in particular, we see a market environment that gives us increasingly positive prospects. Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, looking to the future, we also have every reason to be optimistic about combating the pandemic. People now understand better than ever before, that scientific progress and innovation are the key to a better life. In the record time of just a few weeks, the genome of the novel virus was decoded. And in a record time of less than a year, multiple vaccines were developed and approved. Most of them are based on the groundbreaking mRNA technology. Not far from here at our site in Wuppertal, our colleagues are currently working with great commitment to set up production for CureVac's mRNA vaccine. And at the end of this year, we plan to make available the first quantities of the CureVac vaccine from our own production facilities. Next year, we aim to produce 160 million doses of the vaccine. In addition, we're actively supporting CureVac in developing and supplying the vaccine, which hopefully will be approved for use in European union within just a few weeks. I hope that as many people as possible will be vaccinated against COVID-19. I'm sure some of you have already had the opportunity to do so. And I will get vaccinated, too, as soon as it is my turn because only systematic vaccination will end this pandemic. And what's just as important, only vaccination will protect us from what is, in some cases, serious and lasting health damage caused by the so-called long COVID syndrome. We're all very proud that Bayer employees are able to make a decisive contribution to this effort. The partnership with CureVac is just one example of our commitment during the pandemic, and that's what we stand for with our company's vision "Health for all -- hunger for none." The COVID-19 vaccine is a perfect example of the advances that can be made toward solving the major problems of our time through new technologies and global collaboration. But of course, there are also other pressing issues that need to be resolved through science. For example, how can we ensure the food supply for more and more people in times of climate change? And how can we ensure health care for an ever-increasing number of elderly people? Finding answers to these questions is what underpins Bayer's attractive long-term growth prospects. We're working on it the way our company has always done, with an untiring focus on innovation. In 2020, we invested nearly EUR 5 billion in research and development. And on top of that comes the investment of our Leaps unit, where we deliberately invest in groundbreaking technologies of the future. And in the area of agriculture, no company worldwide puts more money into research and development than Bayer. We invest nearly twice as much as our main competitor. Now why is that so important? Because we need a more sustainable agriculture that is better able to cope with the increasing weather extremes, benefit from the immense potential of data analysis and reduce its own use of resources while meeting the growing demand for food. Our researchers are working on all of these topics. Last year alone, we commercialized 10 new crop protection formulations and developed 3 important biotechnology products to market readiness. Our leading digital farming platform, Climate FieldView is now being used on over 60 million hectares of land worldwide. In the seeds area, we offered farmers across the world, more than 430 new varieties of corn, soybeans, cotton and vegetables. A striking example of this is the new short stature variety we have introduced as a pilot project in Mexico. You can see that here on this picture, the shorter stalks make the corn less susceptible to weather extremes. And the new variety needs less land to grow on, uses smaller amounts of water, nitrogen and crop protection, yet farmers get the same yields. This technology has the potential to revolutionize corn production in the coming years, and thus, to help growers with one of the world's most important crops in the years to come. Looking at our pharmaceuticals business, we used last year to set the course for future growth. We drove forward our research and development and worked on the new blockbuster candidates. And we entered into the record number of 25 collaborations and acquisitions. These included the acquisition of the U.S. biotech company AskBio, which greatly strengthens our position in the highly promising area of cell and gene therapy. Our researchers are working there on pioneering innovations to treat or even cure diseases that could apply to Parkinson's, for example, a neurogenerative disorder. Today, some 10 million people worldwide suffer from this disease and that number is growing. We currently have 2 different clinical studies that are ongoing for completely new therapeutic approaches to Parkinson's, which is so far proven impossible to cure, and we're now approaching a true milestone. In the coming weeks, doctors in the United States and then in Canada will be conducting the first ever human trial with our stem cell therapy. One of the approaches was developed by BlueRock, a company we founded with partners in 2016 as one of the first Leaps investments and then wholly acquired in 2019. And now BlueRock forms part of our cell and gene therapy platform. At Consumer Health, too, we invested substantially in new technologies last year. For example, we acquired a majority interest in the U.S. company, Care/of, a leader in personalized nutrition and a digital pioneer in this field. And this strengthens our position in the promising market for nutritional supplements, which showed such strong growth in 2020. Also, through our Leaps unit, we have purchased an interest in Ukko. This is a company that harnesses artificial intelligence to develop therapies for food allergies. With about 2% to 4% of global population suffering from food allergies, there is a great demand for treatment. And the potential uses for Ukko's innovations could become relevant for us, both in the health and agricultural areas. Ladies and gentlemen, we're looking with great confidence to Bayer's future, even beyond the next few years. The scientific progress in biology and artificial intelligence is tremendous and offers great opportunities. Looking back on the history of the company, we see that there was an era of radical technological change at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. That was when our predecessors had the foresight and the scientific understanding to recognize that the dyestuffs that Bayer was developing at that time were just the beginning. And that with the same chemical raw materials, there were quite different discoveries to be made that had seemed unimaginable to previous generations. It was when organic chemistry began to revolutionize our lives with new materials, medicines and fertilizers coming on to the market. During that era, about half of the Nobel prizes for chemistry went to German scientists, for example, for the pioneering Haberbosch process for developing artificial fertilizer. And today, we're at the beginning of a similar era. Today, there are, again, major urgent challenges that science is called upon to solve. And today, radical technological change is taking place, once again. It's happening in the world of genes and proteins. 8 of the last 10 Nobel prices for chemistry have been awarded for work in these areas. It's a world in which the boundaries between biology on the one hand, and data analysis and artificial intelligence on the other, are steadily emerging. Experts are calling this the bio-revolution. The work being done in this field in research laboratories, the world over, has the potential to give us a fundamentally new understanding of health and nutrition to show that many diseases cannot only be treated but truly cured, that plants can be engineered to fertilize themselves and that sustainable agriculture is possible while saving resources at the same time. And Bayer is better positioned than almost any other company to realize this long-term innovation potential. Of our 37 current Leaps investments in new technologies, 32 are centered around the bio-revolution. How profound these changes are can perhaps best be described in the words of a visionary. Former Apple, CEO, Steve Jobs was asked 10 years ago, about the greatest changes that lay ahead, and he replied, and I quote, "The biggest innovations of the 21st century will be at the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning." Bayer is in the process of transforming itself for this new era. And the special opportunity lies in the fact that the foundational technologies, such as gene editing and microbiome research will give rise to innovations in all businesses. We will drive Bayer's development forward at full power, keeping our goals firmly inside. The third decade of the 21st century is a period in which the international community must deliver. That means achieving maximum unity in the fight against the pandemic and ensuring the subsequent economic recovery. It means tackling climate change and pursuing the sustainability goals of the United Nations, and it also means ensuring cultural change, more participation and equal opportunities. This year, Bayer announced extensive goals for inclusion and diversity in our company, such as gender parity on all management levels by 2030 at the latest. About a year ago, we set ourselves ambitious sustainability goals. We plan to become a carbon-neutral company by 2030. And with our social sustainability goals, we aim to improve the lives of more people, especially in low and middle income countries. We've linked our long-term compensation to the achievement of the sustainability goals and are pressing ahead with their implementation. Let me state quite clearly. By doing this, we are acting in Bayer's fundamental interest. Because only a company that clearly and resolutely pursues its transformation toward sustainable business models and an inclusive culture will be in a position to form the best teams to operate in a rapidly changing world. There's also a very recent event that shows how committed we are to sustainability. A few days ago, the Leaf initiative was founded. This is a coalition of governments and companies led by the U.S. climate protection envoy, John Kerry. The common goal is to help countries in the global cells to protect rainforest and combat climate change. As 1 of only 9 companies overall and the only German company, Bayer is part of this initiative right from the word go. Ladies and gentlemen, those were the points I wanted to mention to you today. I've explained where we are with our company, what we're currently doing and our time line for achieving the next milestones. We're firmly convinced that this is the right course for Bayer and our shareholders because the pandemic has taught us one thing for certain, and that is that there's nothing more important than human health and nutrition. And that's where we can make a decisive contribution. The importance of our business means we bear a great responsibility for the safety of our products, for the sustainable use of resources, for research into new technologies, for an open dialogue with others and for the economic success of our company. We, at Bayer, aim to live up to that responsibility. Our goals are clear and so are our values. We have a strong workforce, and Team Bayer is gathered around an inspiring vision, Health for all, Hunger for none. Together with all our employees around the world, we will continue to work hard for the success of our company and yours, and we will deliver. Thank you very much for your attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Baumann gave you an overview of the prospects for the company for the last and for the year ahead and also for the last year with shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, as this is my first time sharing the Annual Stockholders' Meeting at Bayer AG, I'd like to begin with a few personal comments. I've been a member of the Bayer Supervisory Board for 3 years now, and I have been serving as its Chairman since April of last year. And this is a great honor for me. I'm assuming this important role with great joy and, above all, I am fully committed to doing it. And I'm doing this in the best interest of the company, its stockholders and its employees as well as its other stakeholders. We already achieved a lot last year, as I will explain to you in more detail later on. Ladies and gentlemen, I am fully convinced of Bayer's potential that's because Bayer's vision of Health for all, Hunger for none very much appeals to me personally. It is a vision worth pursuing. In April 2020, I took over from Werner Wenning as Chairman of a very well organized Supervisory Board at a time when Bayer is facing considerable headwinds. At the same time, however, Bayer is outstandingly well positioned to master these challenges. And I am optimistic that Bayer will see success here very soon. The Bayer revolution is just beginning and the Bayer is very well equipped as a life science company that is focused on health and nutrition and has made good progress in digitalization. Ladies and gentlemen, our aim is to assume a leading role in the Bayer revolution right from the beginning. Bayer holds a strong position in attractive markets with significant potential for growth and value creation. And in my role as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I will do my part to ensure that Bayer consistently takes advantage of these opportunities. And this brings me to the report of the Supervisory Board, which is part of agenda Item 1 of today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting. You will find the report of the Supervisory Board on Pages 13 to 20 of the Annual Report. I'd like to start by looking at key areas of the Supervisory Board's work, then I will explain the proposals for the agenda items of Supervisory Board elections and a resolution on the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, the Supervisory Board convened for 10 meetings last year. In addition to its day-to-day activities, such as monitoring the operating business, matters regarding the composition and the remuneration of the Board of Management and the review of the financial statements, the Supervisory Board also focused on the 3 following issues: first, the glyphosate litigation as well as the PCB water contamination; dicamba and Essure litigations, the Supervisory Board and several of its committees dealt intensively with these topics. Second, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Bayer's business and the short and medium-term planning. Third, individual corporate acquisitions and the divestment of corporate Shareholdings. As regards to the litigations, the Supervisory Board and several of intensively in 2020 with the glyphosate litigations as well as the other aforementioned litigations. In June 2020, the Supervisory Board approved the proposed settlement agreements based on the reports by the Board of Management and other internal and external legal experts, the reports by John H. Beisner, the external expert retained by the Supervisory Board, an advisory opinion on the admissibility of the settlements according to Stock Corporation Law and extensive discussions. Following interim statements by the court, the settlement was revised once again, and the revised version was then approved by the Supervisory Board at its September 2020 meeting. That decision was prepared and discussed with the same thoroughness as the June 2020 meeting. The Supervisory Board and the Audit Committee also dealt intensively with the establishment of the provisions needed to manage the glyphosate matter and with the planning of the necessity -- the necessary liquidity, including various bond issuances. You may rest assured that the Supervisory Board, its committees, and I, myself, are discussing the glyphosate issue very intensively and the same applies to the Board of Management. The best legal experts and law firms are working extensively and comprehensively on the details. Of course, it's important that the glyphosate litigations are dealt with extreme thoroughness. Every bit as significant, however, is that the Board of Management and the Supervisory board are also concentrating intensively on the core issues of innovation, growth, profitability and value creation within their respective fields of responsibility. And both bodies are doing so with great dedication. As regards to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, another focus of the work of the Supervisory Board was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business. At nearly every meeting of the Supervisory Board and the Audit Committee, we looked at how Bayer is handling the pandemic. Those deliberations were and remain primarily focused on our responsibility to the customers as well as on the safety of our employees at the sites. Our activity is also centered around the significance of the pandemic for Bayer's business. The Supervisory Board also discussed at length how Bayer can help fight the pandemic. Werner Baumann just addressed these points in detail. In the fall of 2020, the Supervisory Board held 3 meetings of which had intensively dealt with Bayer's strategy and discussed this together with the Board of Management. We dealt not only with the strategies of the individual divisions, but also with Bayer's portfolio strategy. Both sides of the Bayer Supervisory Board, the employee representatives and the stockholder representatives unanimously affirmed that together with the Board of Management, they are committed to the portfolio strategy of a diversified life sciences company. As regards to the corporate acquisitions and stockholding divestments, the third major focus of the Supervisory Board's work were individual corporate acquisitions and the divestments of corporate shareholdings. These included the acquisition of care of a company specializing in the direct-to-consumer sales of personalized nutritional products and the purchase and British biotech company, KaNDy Therapeutics. I should also mention the acquisition of the gene therapy specialist, AskBio and our consent to the sale of the Elanco shares held by Bayer. These transactions have one thing in common. They consistently strengthened Bayer's life science strategy. And the acquisition of AskBio reinforces Bayer's position as a leading company in the Bayer revolution, in other words, the convergence of Bayer technology and information technology. The Bayer revolution will provide impotence for both our Crop Science and our Pharmaceuticals businesses. At the same time, Bayer is resolutely divesting activities that are not integral to this strategy. In addition to these main strategic topics, the Supervisory Board intensively dealt with the composition of the Board of Management. In September, the Supervisory Board unanimously extended Werner Baumann's service contracts by 3 years until April 30, 2024. In doing so, the Supervisory Board expressed its desire for Werner Baumann to systematically and resolutely drive the accelerated implementation of Bayer's strategy together with the other members of the expanded Board of Management. In August, the Supervisory Board had already extended the service contract of Wolfgang Nickl, our Chief Financial Officer; and Heiko Schipper, Head of the Consumer Health division by 4 years each. The service contract of Stefan Oelrich, Head of Pharmaceuticals, was extended in February 2021 also by 4 years. I'm especially pleased the Supervisory Board was successful in having Sarena Lin to join our Board of Management. She introduced itself at the beginning of the Annual Stockholders' Meeting. Once again, a warm welcome to Sarena Lin. The Supervisory Board has ensured that a competent, diverse and a well-coordinated Board of Management team will address the challenges facing Bayer. Our focus is on growth and above-market earnings and thus, on value creation. That concludes my remarks about the key areas of the Supervisory Board's work last year. It goes without saying the constant close dialogue with the Board of Management is very important for the work of the Supervisory Board. The Board of Management reports extensively at the meetings of the Supervisory Board. Yet I also personally maintain close contacts with Werner Baumann and the other members of the Board of Management. Interaction with investors is very important to me. During a governance roadshow, undertaken in November and December of last year, I was in close dialogue with representatives of 24 of our leading stockholders that together account for 40% of our capital stock. The discussions revolved around governance and sustainability issues. However, issues related to the composition of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board and their compensation were also raised. Other intensively discussed topics were the role of the Supervisory Board in the further development of Bayer strategy, including the portfolio strategy and its role in the ongoing litigations. In February of this year, I discussed our proposals to adjust the compensation of the Supervisory Board with a smaller group of institutional investors. I will address that topic in more detail in a moment. I also have the opportunity to engage with other investors in the run-up to this Annual Stockholders' Meeting. The insights were received as a result of our discussions with investors, are of great importance, and we take them into account in our work with the Supervisory Board. The new system in place for the compensation of the Board of Management met with a very positive response overall in my conversations. With effects from January 1, 2020, the Supervisory Board introduced a new Board of Management compensation system that you, our stockholders, approved a year ago at the Annual Stockholders Meeting 2020 with the majority, that is now 94%. And as was already intended when the compensation system was approved, the following change has taken effect for fiscal 2021 and thereafter. As of this year, the long-term compensation includes an ESG-based sustainability component that significantly takes into account the progress made by the Board of Management in the areas of our environmental protection, social issues and responsible corporate governance. Since the program tranche introduced in 2021, the realization of sustainability targets accounts for 20% in calculating the payment from the long-term program. The attainment of the sustainability targets complements the other targets. So the development of Bayer stock compared with the EURO STOXX 50 and a return on capital employed, ROCE, which is the effectiveness of the capital that we employ. The sustainability targets relevant for compensation are derived from Bayer's ambitious targets for 2030 and includes support for small holder farmers as well as for women and children in underserved regions and the reduction of our direct and indirect carbon footprint. Incidentally, the inclusion of sustainability targets and the calculation of long-term compensation applies not just to the Board of Management, but to all Bayer managerial employees who receive long-term compensation according to this model. The result is that total variable compensation of employees whose compensation includes a performance component, including the Board of Management is harmonized, which will help to even better align the entire organization toward achieving the targets set. Except for the inclusion of sustainability targets, which had already been planned, the Supervisory Board has not made any changes to the compensation system for the Board of Management. In particular, the Supervisory Board did not retroactively revise the targets for variable compensation in view of the burden placed on the business by the COVID-19 pandemic. As Werner Baumann explained, the COVID-19 pandemic had a strong negative impact in 2020, particularly on sales growth as well as on other key data. This led to a substantial decline in the short-term variable compensation. I would like to further illustrate this for you. Target attainment for short-term variable compensation for members of the Board of Management declined by 44% on average compared with the previous year and amounted to only 60% of the target amount. The Supervisory Board did not see any reason to compensate for such fluctuations. On the contrary, such fluctuations are accounted for in our Board of Management compensation system and ultimately reflects the functionality of the system. The payment from the long-term compensation tranche at the Board of Management members that fell due in January 2021, also amounted to only 38% of the target amount for that tranche due to the decline in the price of Bayer shares in absolute terms and relative to the EURO STOXX 50. As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, the compensation system you supported is very heavily performance-related. With a sharply negative impact on the total compensation of the Board of Management and senior management in the current situation, it very clearly reflects the owners' interests. Ladies and gentlemen, the Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board extensively discussed and examined the annual financial statements at Bayer AG, the consolidated financial statements for the group, the combined management report and the audit reports by the external auditor. There were no objections, and we, therefore, concurred with the result of the external audit. We are in agreement with the combined management report and in particular, with the assessment of the future developments of the enterprise. The same applies to the proposed dividend. The Supervisory Board has sent the proposal by the Board of Management for the use of distributable profit, which provides the payment of a dividend of EUR 2 per share. Ladies and gentlemen, your company, Bayer AG, is very well equipped to become a highly valuable enterprise. As explained, activities are primarily focused on aggressive growth in sales, earnings and value. Some 100,000 employees around the world are working hard and with great dedication to achieve these objectives. On behalf of the Supervisory Board, and I'm sure on your behalf as well, I would like to thank the members of the Board of Management and Bayer's entire workforce for their hard work. That explicitly includes my gratitude for the tremendous dedication under the difficult conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the report of the Supervisory Board. I would now like to book the election, supervisor elections of the Supervisory Board. I wanted to give a special thank you to the 2 Supervisory Board members, who will not be standing for another term in office and who will be leaving the Supervisory Board as of today's AGM. Hanneke Faber was a member of the Supervisory Board since 2016. Now Ms. Faber, on behalf of the Supervisory Board and I think on behalf of all of our stockholders, a big thank you. Thank you for the excellent work, the way we've worked together over the past 5 years. Time and again, you have presented completely new ways of critical thinking to the Supervisory Board and you have also enriched the Supervisory Board as a result. Professor Wolfgang Plischke has been member also since 2016. Mr. Plischke, I would also like to say a special thank you to you from the Supervisory Board members and the shareholders of Bayer AG for your commitment to your work at the Supervisory Board and also as Head of the Innovation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. We'd like to say thank you for your activities, too. Due to your outstanding knowledge of our company, and your activity in R&D at Bayer and your close connections in this area, you have made a significant contribution to the effectiveness of the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, as of this ASM, it's not just Mr. Plischke's mandate as a Supervisory Board member that will end today, but also 40 years at Bayer. Now if you include the cooling off period, if you look at different areas of the companies, which he's worked from 2006 to 2014, he was a member of the Board of Management. He was responsible for innovation, technology and sustainability and for his decades of commitment to Bayer, which covered his entire working life, I'd like to say a very big thank you. Both of you, Ms. Faber and Mr. Plischke, I wish you the very best for the future, and I certainly hope that you will remain connected with Bayer. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to present the candidates to succeed the 2 outgoing members. I'd like to refer to the CVs that we made available on our website, along with the invitation to the ASM. Our aim was to expand the nomination committee with a view to improving diversification. So we had a look where the Supervisory Board required reinforcements in which technical areas. And also based on the ideas of investors, we considered who to nominate. Now if you look at Bayer's life science strategy and the challenges of the Bayer revolution, digitalization, artificial intelligence, but also agriculture and food on the other. The Supervisory Board is presenting 2 members who cover a number of different fields. Now they would like to briefly introduce themselves to you. Here, we have some videos that we recorded for you previously. To start with, we have Dr. Fei-Fei Li who will introduce herself.

Hello, everyone. My name is Fei-Fei Li. I'm very excited to have an opportunity to say hi to all of you from California. I have been a long admirer of Bayer as a consumer. So it's particularly an honor to be considered a candidate for the Supervisory Board of Bayer. I have spent my career as a scientist, a researcher and a technologist. My expertise is in computer science, artificial intelligence and machine learning. In recent years, much of my work has focused on how to develop technology that is human-centered and can make human lives and our society better. This ranges from my industry experience in Google Cloud to democratize AI, my work at Stanford to lead our human-centered AI Institute, my nonprofit work to support diversity of students of all background to study and enter the workforce of technology and also in particular, my decade-long work in digital healthcare and AI. So I hope that I could bring my experiences to contribute to the success of Bayer in the future together with all of you.

Thank you very much, Dr. Fei-Fei Li. Now I would like to introduce Alberto Weisser to you.

[Foreign Language] I just hope to contribute to the success of Bayer. Now for me, Bayer is a leading life sciences company with a strong market position, top products and also excellent research and development and thus has a great future ahead of it. I would be very grateful if you could place your trust in me. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Alberto Weisser. Ladies and gentlemen, I think you've got a good impression which the excellent candidates, the Supervisory Board is proposing for votes to become members. And we also believe that you'll agree they fit in with Bayer strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, next, I would like to speak about the adjustment of the compensation. And I would like to refer you to the invites to the ASM. Now this was basically speaking about the money, which is going to be paid for compensation based on meetings that take place in person, not digital. Now this may have made sense when the rules were created. However, during an age of digitalization and during the pandemic, the way that the Supervisory Board works has changed notably. Now working only at face-to-face meetings is a bit of an achronism. I think we can assume that once the pandemic is ended, we will not go back to having every single Supervisory Board meeting is face-to-face meeting. Rather, I believe that over the long term, the meetings will take place in the combination of face-to-face meetings and also virtual meetings. Now with this opportunity, the structure of the compensation system has been adapted in cooperation with external consultants, and we're proposing some amendments to it. We have some comments, and we also have some thoughts based on our experts on the way we've spoken to experts. They've always supported the approach that the nomination committee has identified, which says that Bayer needs to undertake efforts to find outstanding candidates with an international character as well. And I believe that this year, with Professor Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser, we have achieved this. However, to ensure that we continue to succeed on this front and future, it's important that Bayer offers competitive compensation to Supervisory Board members. Candidates who will to be considered for us need to be able to dedicate sufficient time to their Supervisory Board activities. Now a study by the external consultants concluded, the compensation system agreed on 4 years ago has fallen behind the benchmark. Furthermore, I would like to point out that the work of the Supervisory Board has become much more intense. Regularly, according to legislation, there have to be 4 ordinary meetings of the Supervisory Board members. And this was easy to achieve about 4 years ago, a few years ago. However, the number of meetings with time and the amount of work we've had to do has increased significantly. Last year, as I said, there were 10 meetings of the full Supervisory Board. And in 2019, there were 11. I expect that, in future, we will have a similar number of meetings. Furthermore, there are lots of discussions between individual members of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board about specific topics. With this in mind, we, the Supervisory Board, propose the change of the compensation system, which will lead to an increase. But we also want more distinction and a reduction for activities in the committees. As I said, according to our proposal, it should be stretched along the meetings and the basic compensation will be increased. But the meeting based money will only be paid for one meeting per day. That's it from me about the proposed amendments to the compensation system to Supervisory Board members. Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to conclude my remarks with a summary of what you can expect from the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG in the coming 12 months. The Supervisory Board will focus particularly on the following 7 points: firstly, increasing value through the accelerated implementation of Bayer strategy; second, supporting change processes; third, strengthening growth; fourth, resolving the glyphosate matter; five, disciplined capital allocation and debt reduction; six, targeted innovation and digitalization; and seventh, thoroughly addressing Bayer's ESG targets. I am firmly convinced that the measures planned in connection with these points are very well suited to help drive Bayer's transformation and further positive developments. I can assure you that the Supervisory Board and I personally will closely monitor and oversee the measures planned in this connection. We look forward to continued dialogue with you, our stockholders. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, the members of the Board of Management and myself will now begin to look at the questions that were sent to us by the deadline prior to the ASM. Now the questions on topics related to the Supervisory Board will be responded to by me as usual and the Board of Management will respond to the questions. And we can also assume that their responses to the questions about the Supervisory Board will be the same as the answers that I will give. Any follow-up questions on the shareholders' portal can be filed now. A digital ASM allows us to divide up the shareholders' questions into categories. So for the Board and the management and Supervisory Board, this is a conducive way to hold the ASM and also to improve the way that you receive your information. I would now like to hand over to Ariane de Hoog, and she will coordinate the answering of the questions and also moderate the session. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Ariane de Hoog. I work at Bayer, and I'm very glad to now present the answers of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board to your questions. Mr. Winkeljohann has just said, you were able to submit your questions until Sunday midnight. And these will now be answered by all 6 members of the Board and by Mr. Winkeljohann in name of the Supervisory Board. Many shareholders have asked us to please say their name when their question is answered. And of course, we will do so. As we have just heard, we have split the topics -- split up the questions by topic. And we will pull these questions according to topic and try to go into his greater depth as possible and try to avoid repetition. We will answer all questions that was submitted. One point to note out, as you have been told, you also have the possibility this year to ask follow-up questions. But please note that you will only be able to provide a follow-up question for a question that you asked yourself. So we ask for your understanding that during this live AGM, we will not be able to address any new content. And during the -- or the follow-up questions will be answered at the end of the Q&A. Ladies and gentlemen, normally at an in-person AGM, the shareholders would be able to hold a speech or make a statement before they ask their question to the Board of Management. Due to the corona pandemic and the change this year, this is not possible anymore. Our shareholders this year, however, had the opportunity to submit a statement or a short video to us. These videos are a sort of replacement for these speeches, which you would normally hear at the AGM. We have received the total of 13 videos, 2 of which, however, were longer than the 2-minute cutoff point. The other 11 videos will be played during this AGM. You will be able to find all of the videos and all of the written statements of our shareholders on our Internet website. Before we show you our videos, just one more point. Some of the videos contain questions for the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, but questions that were submitted in this format cannot be considered and we pointed this out in the notice of the AGM. So I just like to repeat that for all those watching. Now we come to the first 3 videos that we received, there from Marc Tungler from the German Shareholders Association, Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investment and Ms [ Sasha Garrison ].

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Marc Tungler I am the Head of the German Shareholders Association in Dusseldorf. And like in all years, this year, we will be attending the Bayer AG. However, this time, we will be presenting or submitting questions and a video statement. Shareholders at Bayer are used to worry. And of course, the share price has not been great, but there is hope. There's hope that in middle of May, the glyphosate litigation will be resolved. So there is hope. And it is also important that we concentrate on the business, pharma, crop science and consumer business -- consumer health. So in pharma, there was good news since the licenses for Xarelto and some of the other pharma products will not run into trouble. This is just meant to be a transfer period of a year, but we have heard positive news, which we are interpreting as positive. And also in corporate science, there's a well filled research pipeline. And we will hopefully see that the products will be offered at the right time and at the right price, particularly in the USA. But it's important there, first, for the litigation to be resolved and it's also important that a settlement is concluded and so that we can look positively towards the future. So ladies and gentlemen, I hope that we have a good AGM, another good year and hope that we will be able to meet in person next year at next year's AGM. Thank you.

Mr. Baumann, Mr. Winkeljohann, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Hendrik Schmidt, and I represent the DWS. We wanted to use this opportunity to present you our questions and to be in contact with you. Last year, Bayer and its employees had a lot to deal with, and we'd like to thank Bayer employees for all their work. But not just the share price but also the operative performance of the business has been worrying for us as well as the litigation in the USA. So we have some questions. What are the adjusted earnings in the crop business due to? And the acquisition of Monsanto has been a topic now for 5 years. And the only thing that increased were the special expenses and reserves. When do you think that the glyphosate litigation will be finalized? And how many -- what costs have been involved so far? When will we know about the sustainability report and what effects of the products that you have in your research pipeline? What effect will these have on the water needs of crops? And what about the neonicotinoids, how will this fit in with your sustainability strategy? We will abstain from voting to ratify the actions of the Board of Management. But hope that next year, we will be able to vote again. We thank you for answering our questions.

Shareholders and Board of Management, my name is [ Sasha Garrison ] I am the International Director of [ WETF ], and I am representing this company. For more than 25 years, we've been working towards a healthy environment. 1.6 million people die every year due to toxic chemicals worldwide, particularly worrying our new findings on the effects of these on fertility. And this shows that worldwide fertility in the last 50 years has dropped by more than 50%, but also cancerous -- types of cancer due to hormonal changes have been bought into connection with chemicals, endocrine disrupting chemicals, EDCs are used in many different chemicals and pesticides. The problem is well known, but industry interests have prevented any measures being taken against this. EDCs are in many products like cosmetics, toys, fabrics, takeaway boxes and pesticide residues. You, your children and grandchildren are consuming these without knowing them. We, together with the Pesticide Action Network, therefore, call upon Bayer to stop endangering these and future generations. Please look under #hormonGiftestoppen at our requests and demands. We would like to ask you to remove these products from the market, and we want you to finally assume some responsibility. We recommend that the Board's actions are not ratified.

Thank you. This now brings us to the answers to the questions of our shareholders. We will begin with the first topic block, which concerns organization and execution of this AGM. Here we have received questions from [ Ingor Schvizmen ], DEKA Investment, [ Thomas Delean, Michel Wharf ] and other shareholders. I'd now like to pass the floor to Werner Baumann to answer the first questions.

Thank you, Ms. Hoog. First, we were asked why we have this current format for the AGM? Why have we chosen this? The reason is the current situation due to the corona pandemic, which means it is not possible for us to have an in face -- in-person event. Last year, Bayer was one of the pioneers in virtual AGMs. Also, thanks for the wishes and ideas of our shareholders, we have expanded digital possibilities. For example, we have given shareholders the opportunity to ask follow-up questions and they also have the possibility of submitting statements in text form and as videos. And we published this information and also the statements on our Internet page. Also technical improvements have been made. We, therefore, are convinced that the possibilities we've given to you today are an attractive AGM format. We will also ask whether a recording of this AGM, including the answering of these questions will be put online. Yes, there will be a recording of this AGM. This is us accommodating a request of our shareholders and a sign that we are fulfilling our own requirements for transparency. The recording will be able to be downloaded online. There was also a question on the cost of this virtual AGM. The cost stands at more than EUR 1 million. The main chunk of these with more than half of the cost was spent on IT and service providers. Approximately 35% was spent on posting documents and the rest for other costs like room equipment and legal counsel. The further questions will now be answered by Mr. Winkeljohann.

Yes, thank you. We were asked how many votes were registered prior to the AGM. In today's AGM, we will not be receiving votes live. Shareholders can send their votes by post or instruct the company proxy voter, who is obliged to vote according to the instructions of the shareholders. If you registered in time, you could submit your postal vote until the beginning of voting. And it is also still possible to instruct the proxy before the beginning of voting. Before we began the AGM, we had the results of 525 million shares. That is the equivalent of 99% of registered shares. We received a question on the information on voting and also particularly regarding the proposed resolution on the auditor. All of the proposed resolutions of the Board of Management are in the invitation to the AGM. The auditor that we propose is Deloitte gMBH. Further information on the procedure of today's AGM is in the organizational information. The notice of the AGM and all organizational information can be found on our web page, which we referred to in the document set by post. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority in Germany is investigating the annual financial statements of [ Kalianfalv Cassel ]. We received the question of how we can trust this auditor. The investigations in [ Kalianfalv ] do not give us reason to doubt the competency and integrity of our auditor. The audit committee has looked at this question and on the independence and quality and the work of our auditor, but there have not been any reason to doubt trustworthiness thereof. It was also asked why in the proposal for the ratification of the actions of board members -- Board of Management, there was no individual ratification of actions. So it was requested that there should be individual ratification of actions and as well as for the Supervisory Board. In the elections for the Supervisory Board, there are individual elections. But for ratifying the actions of the Board of Management, we don't see any reason for there to be an individual choice. And this does take place in other companies, if there's been a problem with compliance or if there are any investigations, but this is not the case here. Now let's pass back to Mr. Hoog. Thank you.

Thank you very much. That brings us to the next complex strategy and we have received the following questions from the shareholders, Marc Tungler, from the German Shareholders Association, DSW; Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investment; [ Jana Virnig ] from Union Investment; Ingo Speich for DEKA Investment, [ coordination Gangber Guffohn ] and their related individuals and organizations, [ Albert and Luita Lewich and Barbera Stein ] and other shareholders. Werner Baumann will be answering the first questions.

The first question related to the long-term strategy at Bayer AG and whether humans and their health will again be our focus. For a detailed presentation of our long-term we'd like to refer to our Annual Report in the section called strategy and targets. It shows in detail what our business purpose is, science for a better life. We want to develop innovation in medical care and in agriculture as part of our sustainable strategy. Our vision Health for all, Hunger for none is to be implemented. And there, the humans are always the focus of our strategy. A question related to the long-term trend that we see for pharmaceuticals and crop science under the Bayer umbrella. In addition to cost and performance synergies in corporate functions and value of the common brand Bayer is where we see a number of technological trends, which make good sense and lots of advantages to further support our position. We also have in digitization and technological convergence with biotechnology. Some of our products in the Leaps area, our investment unit for potentially pioneering technologies are an impressive proof of all of this. In addition to fundamental trends in technology, we also see a number of mega trends in the development of our regional markets, and we see the tougher market for talents, which we are addressing together. And when achieving our sustainability targets such as, for example, inclusive growth in less developed markets or in decarbonization worldwide, here, we see a lot of common approaches. But let me say one thing very clearly, trends and strategic advantages are one thing. But in the final analysis, it's the performance of all of our businesses at market level or above market level. That's what we're concerned with, and that's what we focus on. We also received questions on a possible carve-out of our company or divestment or spinning off of crop science. We'd like to refer to our Annual Report here, where our group strategy has been presented and our comments made at the Capital Market Day at the beginning of March this year. Our vision is Health for all, Hunger for none. And we see the best possibility here to generate long-term value for all of our stakeholders. We do not have such plans as a result. Another question related to whether money for acquisitions and pharmaceuticals had become scarce due to the acquisition of Monsanto. And if we still see a need to increase this to gap -- close this gap. At the Capital Markets Day, we talked about how we want to strengthen the earnings power of our businesses and how we want to increase our free cash flow to about EUR 5 billion per year. In future, we will also have funds to strengthen our pharmaceutical business. And in addition to operational cash flow, we also have funds from the divestment of noncore activities below divisional level. Another question related to the divestment of Animal Health and whether this was due to pressure of not putting more of a burden on our financial framework. That was not the case. Our portfolio was rounded off in the past decade. And in those areas where we didn't see we were we the best owners and at the same time, we then strengthened our core businesses in attractive markets. Animal Health was a lucrative area in a growing market. The market positioning of Animal Health, however, had been fifth or sixth ranking and consolidation continued and our gap to the top became larger and larger. And in this area, to bring us into a leading position, this is something where our own innovation would not have sufficed. In other words, a major acquisition would have been necessary. That's why we decided to divest this division at an attractive price. Another topic was whether IPO of Consumer Health might be an option for the Bayer board of management and what added value might result when -- for -- if Consumer Health were to remain in the group. We are convinced that Consumer Health is an important pillar in Bayer's portfolio. The non-prescription drug area is attractive with sound long-term growth and margin potential, especially due to robust basic trends, for example, a growing and aging population. It's also an industry where sound, constant cash flow is generated. Long-term generation of value is in brands, and the market is driven by consumer demand, which develops constantly and is less dependent on cycles. We have an excellent position in this industry. Our business -- it has been our business for more than 100 years now, and Consumer Health has been built up with organic growth and targeted acquisitions to become a top company. Our business shows growth, which is above that of the market, and it's a good position to develop in the future with the market or above the market. Heiko Schipper, who is the Head of Consumer Health business, has made this very clear at the Capital Markets Day in mid-March of this year. We invest in this area in new growth fields, personalized food supplements, for instance. Consumer Health management focuses fully on implementing our ambitious plans and has the mandate and the resources in order to further develop our business in line with our strategy. There are no plans for an IPO of this division. We also received a question on the merger between Bayer and Monsanto. Wasn't this a failure considering the initial goals? This question is understandable, considering the litigation on glyphosate, the unsatisfactory share price or the impairments in Crop Science. In addition, the market for crop science has been moderate since the merger, more moderate than was expected throughout the industry at the time, not only by us. External underlying conditions, for example, storms, century flood in the U.S., the African swine flu as well as prices for corn and soya have been at a low level in many years. And a long-term strategic logic of the merger, however, did not change. Nothing has changed there at all. The approach to integrate our Crop Protection business vertically with the leading seed supplier and to become the leading supplier in this area is something which continues to be valid. The promised synergies from the merger have been exceeded and were achieved clearly before we had expected. The above-mentioned underlying conditions are now developing positively, and we see good opportunity that the strategic advantages of the merger will then materialize in terms of operations either short or in the medium term. We were also asked if and when the acquisition will be creating value. According to our plan, the combined Crop Science business will earn its cost of capital as of 2024. [Foreign Language] on this as well. The strategic rationale here of this acquisition is something which is independent of the lack of security that existed back then. There was a question about the cost benefit ratio for the takeover of Monsanto that was criticized, and there was a question about the personnel consequences that the -- were taken by the Board of Management. Well, in my statement, I already mentioned that we are convinced of the potential of our strong Crop Science business. We are a leading company in an attractive agricultural segment. We have the highest budget for research and development and are working intensively on solutions about how to feed a growing global population in a sustainable way. Correspondingly, the Board of Management regularly advises and decides on the managers and the teams that are more suited to taking advantage of this potential. With regard to the concrete question, I'd like to say that the management decisions are always made on the basis of available information at a certain point in time, and this must be taken into account, of course, when appraising anyone's performance. So as a result, we had no reason to take any personnel consequences that had anything directly to do with the decision at the time to acquire Monsanto. Then there was a question about why seemingly good -- currently seemingly good performance is not reflected in the share price and what can be done to increase the share price. Well, in September 2020, we first of all had to issue a profit warning for 2021 because the prospects for the fiscal year did not reflect the positive expectations of the capital markets. This was due mainly to the difficult fundamentals in the agricultural area at the time and the resulting low long-term growth rates at the time and the massive negative currency effects. However, we're still working full speed ahead on implementing the long-term corporate strategy and achieving our short- and medium-term operative targets. And we're convinced that constant and successful delivery of performance to achieve these targets is the best way to strengthen trust in the innovation, growth and earnings power of all areas of the company, and that is what we're focusing on. And as a result, we might have increasing interest of long-term investors in the company, which in the opinion of analysts has substantial growth potential for its share price. There was a question about the 10 biggest owners and who they are, and we're reporting on this in the annual report of Bayer AG on Page 22. And with regard to details, we can also point to the individual publications about voting rights announcement, and these are at our Investor Relations website. Please be aware that the actual amounts of shares held at any point in time can differ from the amounts announced for those points in time on our website. And then there was a question about our shareholder structure. In our share registry and in the regular share identification carried out and in -- as a result of the statutory announcements according to Section 33 of the German Stock Corporation Act, we believe that we have a good mixture of long-term investors. Among the biggest of these investors are, for instance, BlackRock, Temasek, Vanguard, Massachusetts Financial Services, Harris Associates, Norges, Amundi and also DWS. There are short-term investors, but it is difficult for companies to identify these short-term investors because most of them, they do not invest in the actual stock to a great extent, rather they invest in derivative instruments. And therefore, there is very little visibility of our company. And now I will hand over to Norbert Winkeljohann to talk about strategy question.

Yes. Thank you. There was a question as to when Mr. Baumann would assume responsibility for the alleged harm to business development at the Bayer Group due to the Monsanto acquisition and resign? Mr. Baumann, I can say, intends to fulfill his contract and to successfully implement the strategy supported by the Supervisory Board. In addition, there was a question about the composition of the Board of Management with regard to the background in terms of education of the members. Well, as you can see on the website and in the resumes published there, all of our Board of Management members have had different leadership roles at Bayer and at different companies, and they have extensive experience in these areas. And from the point of view of the Supervisory Board, the expertise and international experience that we have is quite appropriate and quite diverse. And incidentally, all of the members of the Board of Management incidentally are not people with business and economics degrees. Sarena Lin, for instance, first graduated in computer studies. And then there was a question about the criteria for successor plan for Mr. Baumann. Mr. Baumann's contract is going for another 3 years. And presumably, this year, we'll begin to define a process for the orderly identification of a successor to Mr. Baumann. The HR committee will play a key role in this. At the beginning, there will be the question to answer about what special capabilities and features or characteristics the person must have regarding the question -- regarding the situation of the company and the strategy of the company, and this will be an orderly process, and I don't want to preempt it here. I was asked to explain my statement that I made in interview with the German newspaper, Handelsblatt, in September 2020, indicating that I will also be disruptive or difficult in some cases. And then I was asked what demands I have for myself. Well, in the interview with this paper, Handelsblatt, I indicated that the Board of Management is responsible for daily business and the Supervisory Board supervises and advises the Board of Management. And I will always be there to challenge the direction and speed at which we're moving and also will be disruptive if necessary. The Board of Management must be supervised and supported. That's my job as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. And I have a view of the company from outside, and this helps me out. In addition to that, I can say that I have had many years of experience in consulting and management and supervisory boards in different companies, and this helps me to help drive forward necessary changes. And in doing all this, I am always supported greatly by my colleagues on the Supervisory Board. What this means for me? Well, I already mentioned that in the presentation or statement I just made. Then there was a question as to whether we have the right people on the Board of Management and how the Supervisory Board supports the Board of Management in order to overcome the concerns that investors have. Well, with regard to the compensation of the Board of Management, as I already said in my introductory statement, what the Supervisory Board intensively looked at this last year and at the beginning of this year, in 2020, we extended the appointments to the Board of Management of Werner Baumann, Wolfgang Nickl and Heiko Schipper. And in early 2020, we also extended that of Stefan Oelrich, and now we have Sarena Lin, our Chief Transformation and Talent Officer, who joined us at the beginning of this year, which filled the gap on the Board of Management. In addition to that, we have Liam Condon, and his appointment runs until the end of 2023. The Supervisory Board is convinced that we have an expert and diverse and experienced team on our Board of Management, which has been further strengthened by Sarena Lin coming in from the outside. This team concentrates on making Bayer focus on growth and success in the marketplace and achieving sustainable growth in value. We will be supporting the Board of Management in the years to come and how our focus is going to be is what I mentioned in my previous statement with the 7 points that I talked about. Then there was a question about information regarding the selection of candidates for the Supervisory Board. The Nomination Committee of the Supervisory Board has had a look at different candidates to Supervisory Board seats. And in its recommendation to the Supervisory Board to select Professor Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser, the Nomination Committee, in particular, took into account the targets described in the Corporate Governance report on the -- regarding the annual report for 2020 as well as the expertise profile and diversity concept for the Supervisory Board. Professor Fei-Fei Li is a leading scientist in the field of artificial intelligence in the United States, who has a lot of interests -- interface to the health segment. He has lots of experience in food and in research. And in science, for instance, from her time at Google, Alberto Weisser has lots of expertise in agricultural area. Particularly from his time as CEO and CFO at Bunge, the food and agricultural company, and he has outstanding knowledge about the U.S. capital markets. We'd also like to point out that Temasek, to whose America advisory panel he belongs, has its headquarters in Singapore and not -- as was apparently presumed in a question, it is not the sovereign fund of Indonesia. Detailed resumes and information on the expertise of Professor Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser were published with the invitation to the AGM on our homepage. The Supervisory Board is, therefore, convinced that with Professor Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser, we have 2 candidates that we are proposing, who are very well suited to be members of the Supervisory Board at Bayer and will very well complement the expertise and international composition of the Supervisory Board. We were also asked how the Supervisory Board candidates and what their stance is on a new member of the Board of Management. The question related to a new member of the Board of Management is not taking place at the moment. As I said, last year, Werner Baumann's contract was unanimously extended by the Supervisory Board to the 30th of April 2024. In one of my previous questions, I already spoke about the contract extension. It was also asked whether Mr. Beisner should be added to the Supervisory Board. Mr. Beisner is a very experienced U.S. trial lawyer, who was given the task by the Supervisory Board to deal with the glyphosate issue and other material Monsanto litigations and provide external consultancy. Now he is an independent expert and takes place on the discussions of the Supervisory Board Committee on the topic of glyphosate, and he has also taken part at the relevant meetings of the entire Supervisory Board. Basically, the Supervisory Board has ensured that they take into account external independent expertise when dealing with this litigation. Now the committee is a nonpermanent committee of the Supervisory Board. And once the litigation of glyphosate is over, this will be dissolved, and an election of Mr. Beisner to the Supervisory Board is not required and is not necessary. We were asked about the reasons for the change to Supervisory Board compensation and the underlying basis of comparison. And all it took place at the beginning of the year and showed that Supervisory Board compensation no longer corresponds to what is commonplace on the market. And also, if you look at the significant increase in what's required of Supervisory Board members is no longer adequate. Now as a basis of comparison, we look at other DAX-listed companies, other DAX 30 companies, not including financial services companies. Supervisory Board compensation has to be competitive to ensure that as many investors require of us, we have the best qualified international experienced members. Now compensation for the Supervisory Board was most recently amended in 2017 with a moderate increase by 10%, although back then we still required a 20% increase to bring it up to the levels of comparative companies. Another question was asked about excess for D&O insurance for -- board member insurance for Supervisory Board members. As long as the German Corporate Governance Code says that an excess has to be paid, then this has also been provided for in the insurance policies. Now once the recommendation was to remove from the code, we allowed this clause to expire in the policies. And we did not see any change in their willingness to enter into risks once they were no longer required to pay excess on their insurance policies. Now we don't have any empirical studies that have taken place to see if there's any link between the removal of this clause and the behavior of the Supervisory Board members in terms of risk. We will continue to keep an eye on this issue, but as things stand today, we do not believe it would be a good idea to introduce a new -- to reintroduce the system for excess for part of the members. I will now hand back for more questions.

Now for the third question -- and the third round of questions was speaking about financials and the balance sheet. We received questions from the following shareholders: Mr. Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investment, Joachim Kregel from SDK; from the Coordination Against BAYER-Dangers, [indiscernible] and also other people affiliated -- and organizations affiliated with the Coordination Against BAYER-Dangers. We also have [indiscernible] and other shareholders. Werner Baumann will respond to the first of these questions in this part.

Thank you very much. Now one of the questions related to whether at an operational level, it was a deserved dividend that is being paid this year. As things stand, we assume that in the current fiscal year, based on our assumptions hitherto, we will deliver sufficient earnings from our operating activities and also from the dividends from our operating subsidiaries will be acceptable. Moreover, a question was asked about what the overall spending was for the purchase of Monsanto on what the level of spending on Monsanto has been since 2016. Now the purchase price was around EUR 84 billion. Moreover, we have had expenses, legal expenses, tax-related expenses and also transactional consultancy and also anti-trust approval and financing services to the tune of around EUR 1 billion. Another question was asked about how significant the synergy effects have been thus far from the Monsanto transaction. When we acquired Monsanto, we announced that as of 2022, earnings contributions from cost synergies would amount to around EUR 870 million and also revenue synergies to the tune of around EUR 170 million. Now that the -- we are very impressed with how the integration has come along. And as such, we expect the targeted cost synergies to be achieved in full by 2021, which is one year earlier than originally forecast. Now if you look at the sales generated in 2020, which came in at around EUR 200 million, then this demonstrates that we even achieved this earnings contribution synergy 2 years earlier than we had originally planned. Furthermore, there was a question asked about other spin-offs and sales if earnings do not come in as projected. Our current strategic financial planning requires measures, does not require any more material sales or spin-offs that go beyond the communicated measures. We always review the business and our portfolio to see how competitive it is strategically, to see how attractive it is to the market in order to determine our capital allocation and investment profile. For other questions about finance, I'll hand over to Wolfgang Nickl.

Thank you very much. So the next question is which investments and outflows from litigations will be recorded in cash flow in 2021? Now in the year 2021, we anticipate free cash flow of a negative EUR 3 billion to negative EUR 4 billion. This includes anticipated outflows from litigations amounting to around EUR 8 billion. Now if you look at spending for tangible assets and plants and facilities, we assume that this will come in around more or less the level of the prior year. We were also asked whether in the future we could expect to receive a higher dividend. Our aim is to maintain our current dividend policy, and we also plan to pay out 30% to 40% of adjusted earnings per share as a dividend. I was asked how the target rating of A can be reached once again and when Bayer will achieve a ratio of net financial debt-to-EBITDA of 3? Bayer has tasked 3 rating agencies, Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch with a corporate credit rating. This rating is composed of a multiple of -- multitude of factors, including the size of the company, the business profile and the level of debt. But this depends on the relevant agency. They each have various requirements that are defined in order to come up with a rating. On the Capital Markets Day, we confirmed that it is our priority to achieve a target rating in the A category. Alongside improvements in operative EBITDA and debt repayments from the free cash flow and also further divestitures, we could, hopefully, achieve this goal in the medium term. Based on our current planning, Bayer, by the end of 2024, should achieve an EBITDA ratio to debt of 3 or lower. We also received a question, what the EUR 9.1 billion adjustment in the Crop Science division is due to and whether our hedging strategy during the second quarter 2020 was sufficiently optimized. An important reason for the drop in value in the division Crop Science was the difficult market environment, particularly in North and Latin America, which led to a worsened outlook on the agricultural markets. Drivers here were a low price level in important crops and intense competition in soya and lower biofuel consumption. These factors were, unfortunately, worsened due to huge currency effects and increased capital costs, unfortunately. On the question of whether our hedging strategy in the second quarter of 2020 was sufficiently optimized, we can say that our hedging strategy is regularly updated and adjusted as it was in the second quarter of 2020. Another issue was our balance sheet structure. The question was, when again we can expect a normal balance sheet structure, which means that the long-term assets are financed by equity capital and long-term liabilities? We assume that during 2021, we will achieve, again, a balance sheet structure where long-term liabilities are covered by equity -- sorry, long-term assets are covered by equity and long-term liabilities. We also received a question whether share buybacks can replace dividends in the future. The tax incentives associated with share buybacks really do depend on individual circumstances of the shareholder. Since these advantages are not present for all shareholders and many shareholders appreciate a cash dividend, this means that we cannot alone base our strategy on dividends or share buyback programs just depending on tax incentives. We also received another question on which matters led to our guidance of adjusted earnings per share of EUR 6.10 to EUR 6.30, and how the plan for earnings per share is? The method to calculate the earnings per share to the adjusted earnings per share is detailed in Chapter 2.3 of the Situation Report. The EUR 6.10 to EUR 6.30 for the adjusted earnings per share corresponds to our guidance for the year 2021 on the basis of the exchange rate of last year. The adjustments in the forecast are due to special factors valued at EUR 1.5 billion, particularly for restructuring expenses and depreciation of intangible assets and -- to the sum of EUR 2.3 billion and corresponding tax effects. And we will not be releasing a guidance for earnings per share. There was also a question on our hedging strategy in order to avoid currency losses as far as possible. The other income, which is due to currency conversion amounting to minus EUR 3.5 billion, has occurred mainly due to the difference in the equity of our company in comparison to the exchange rate on the relevant transaction day. These effects are not hedged by us. Our hedging strategy is based on cash flow risks and is based on a long-term cost benefit calculation. Here, we also consider a certain remaining uncertainty, which will mean that certain future cash flows cannot be ruled out. This strategy is assessed regularly by us using market parameters, and risks involving transactions with foreign currency are hedged 100%. Future planned transactions will be hedged between 30% and 70%. A further question was what effects would have -- would an impairment test have had if the post-tax capital cost rates had not been dropped from Q3 to Q4. Well, here, we can say that calculating the capital cost rates are based on the market. And this calculation depends on the development of risk-free interest rates for the future cash flow that is expected. This means that we work using the relevant accounting standards and the same applies for further assessment parameters like exchange rates and carrying amounts. So the assumption that the interest rates was reduced due to accounting reasons is not appropriate. We would now like to refer you further to our explanations on the interest rate, which is on our Situation Report, Page 199. Further -- many other questions refer to the share ownership. One of these was, why Bayer Crop Science AG in Monheim did not make any profit and whether there is profit from the Crop Science business in the Corp Science subsidiaries in Basel and Diegem. The annual earnings of Bayer Crop Science AG for the year 2020 was EUR 0. And the reason for this is an adjustment to an investment worth EUR 4.8 billion. Without this adjustment, the Bayer Crop Science AG would have made a profit for the year 2020. So also, in the Corp Science subsidiary businesses in Basel and Diegem, there was no profit. Lease payments were made and dividends were paid. I was also asked which other affiliates in Bayer Global Investments, Mijdrecht, are present and whether there is any profit stored here. In the 5 largest shares in affiliated companies in Bayer Global Investments, Mijdrecht, these are BGI Deutschland GmbH; Bayer Schweiz AG; Bayer Netherlands BV; Bayer SAS, France; Bayer SpA, Italy. The retained earnings for these at the end of 2020 summed up to EUR 9.5 billion. This derives from the dividends of Bayer Global Investments BV affiliates. The company also pays out significant contributions to its shareholders, and this was also the case for 2020. We were also asked why Bayer Limited, Limassol in Cyprus needs EUR 11.7 billion equity and whether this is a tax haven holding. Bayer Limited, Limassol has received this equity for fulfilling internal financing needs. This is not a holding company, and the company pays its taxes in Cyprus. We were then asked what the purpose of Bayer Pharma AG is and what shares are present there and how high the amount of sales is and the number of employees. Bayer Pharma AG is an original owner of large parts of our pharma business. During the restructuring of Bayer AG as an operative unit, this business was leased to Bayer AG. Bayer Pharma AG receives every year lease payments. Bayer Pharma AG has the following stakes from the group of consolidated companies: Bayer Gesellschaft für Beteiligungen mbH; GP Grenzach Produktions GmbH; Bayer Altersversorgung GmbH; Alcafleu Management GmbH & Co. KG; Sechste Bayer Real Estate VV GmbH; Steigerwald Arzneimittelwerk GmbH; Jenapharm GmbH & Co; Bayer Schering Pharma GmbH; Bayer Pakistan (Private) Limited; Bayer S.A., Morocco; Bayer S.A., Panama; Bayer Korea Limited; Bayer HealthCare Company Limited; Bayer S.A., Colombia; Bayer World Investments B.V.; Bayer HealthCare Shanghai Company Limited; Productos Químicos Naturales, S.A. de C.V.; Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH. The proceeds from the year 2020 amounted to EUR 1.2 billion. The company does not employ anyone because these are employed at Bayer AG. It was also asked whether Bayer U.S. AG and Bayer U.S. GmbH & Co, Monheim, whether the losses in these companies have been managed and whether the losses in the Bayer World Investments are connected with this. In business year 2020, we had to make adjustments in our Crop Science business. The losses were reflected in adjustments in the stakeholder chain and in equity, both in Bayer World Investments and both -- and also in the parent companies Bayer U.S. AG and Bayer US II GmbH in Monheim. A further question was referring to the business environment of Climate Corporation International AG in Basel. The Climate Corporation develops worldwide technologies, which are used to provide information on agricultural land for farmers to increase their yields and to make sure food can be produced more efficiently. Climate Corporation International AG in Basel is the European branch for these activities. Further, we were asked on our business activities of Beeologics, Inc., British Virgin Islands; MonSure Limited, Hamilton, Bermuda; and Pianosa B.V., Willemstadt, Curacao. All 3 of these companies are currently being round up at the moment. Due to legal and contractual restrictions, the dissolution of these companies has not yet been finalized. Would also like to point out that all companies have to pay tax in Germany, in the Netherlands or in the U.S.A. as well as their local tax obligations. So German companies cannot enjoy tax advantages from so-called tax havens, since relevant income of these companies are subject to German provisions of foreign tax -- Foreign Transactions Tax Act. We were also asked to number or list all our affiliated companies and the number of parent companies there are in the share ownership list. We keep to statutory requirements in presenting of our share ownership. A listing of all our companies will be evaluated, however. We were also asked if Bayer uses factoring programs. Factoring is only used at Bayer in exceptional cases, for example, if short-term securities, if we don't have enough demand for them on the market. Otherwise, conventional financing, for example, the market for short-term securities, is more favorable for Bayer. A similar consideration applies if customers offer the use of supply chain financing. Here, Bayer does not make any use of this because this form of financing for Bayer in nearly all cases is not advantageous. We were also asked how high our bank debts are without factoring. Bank liabilities are -- were at the end of 2020, approximately EUR 3.7 billion. In the first quarter of 2021, we paid back a majority of this amount. Another question dealt with the number of company holdings, which we offered to sale or sold in 2020. As part of our external reporting, we reported on the sale or divestment of the following business or company parts, for example, our Animal Health business, which in this [indiscernible] also the Elanco shares, our shares in CRISPR Therapeutics AG and Covestro AG. We also were asked a question about the sales and number of jobs of these companies in 2019. Sales at Animal Health in 2019 amounted to EUR 1.6 billion, with 4,400 employees. The other companies were held as pure holdings and that is why we cannot refer to the sales nor the number of employees from these share investments. We were also asked about the profit from divesting Animal Health to Elanco in fiscal 2019 and 2020 and what the sale proceeds were from the Elanco shares in fiscal 2020. The business was transferred to Elanco on the 1st of August 2020. At this point in time, this was when we had the profit realization. The share price of the Elanco share on the 1st of August 2020 was USD 23.63. And based on the exchange rate on the 1st of August 2020, the preliminary sale price was EUR 5.857 billion and EUR 4.401 billion of which was the cash component and EUR 1.456 billion was share component. The proceeds in fiscal 2020 amounted to EUR 5.171 billion. The proceeds from the sale of Elanco shares in fiscal 2020 amounted to approximately EUR 1.5 billion. The sale of Covestro shares was another issue. We were asked what proceeds resulted from the sale of Covestro shares in 2020 and what book profit resulted and what the average share price was at which the Covestro shares were sold in 2020. In fiscal 2020, proceeds from the sale of Covestro shares amounted to EUR 303 million. The financial results, we saw profit from the valuation of the sale of Covestro shares amounted to EUR 45 million. The average amount for the sale of Covestro shares in 2020 was EUR 48.71. We also were asked about the time at which the Covestro shares were sold. On a regular basis, we review our financial and nonfinancial assets and whether they are necessary for our life science business in terms of operation or our strategy. And if this is not the case, we try to sell these assets so that we will have finances to invest in our core business or to pay back our debt. And to determine the point in time and how we divest anything, we also take into account any possibilities of fluctuations in the value. We don't see this speculation in long-term further development of nonstrategic assets as part of our business objective. In addition, we were asked about the tax advantages of leasing vis-à-vis merging when doing away with the holding structure. We're doing away with the holding structure. We did not consider a merge due to the vesting period for taxes. Back then, when we talked about the leasing agreement and merging, we were not considering tax savings, but this was also the plan of the disproportionate high extra burden in terms of taxes. Only in this way could this merger make sense from an entrepreneurial point of view for the operations at Bayer AG. Another question related to the number of employees at Bayer Capital Corporation and Bayer World Investment. We were also asked how many holdings the Bayer World Investment has, how many companies it has holdings in. We were also asked about the 5 employees. We also have a functional support by a number of other employees from the Netherlands organization at the same site. Bayer World Investment has a holding in 15 companies. Another question related to our position and our commitment and the discussion on the international reform of corporate tax as well as the proposal from the U.S. government to introduce a global minimum tax rate. Since in Germany, we have major disadvantages to -- compared to our competitors in terms of taxes, we welcome this current discussion. Worldwide minimum tax rate of 21% as called upon by the U.S.A. is in line with the average tax rate in the EU. Our target must be to have a competitive tax burden as well as legal certainty when it comes to taxation procedures. With our tax experts, we've been following the current developments and support associations with information and content as well as the positive and negative effects of these tax initiatives. Other questions related to the reaction of Bayer to the reduction of the tax rate in Leverkusen with result -- with possible discussions with the City Treasurer and also profit transfers. We welcome all efforts by the City of Leverkusen to be a competitive site. And we are in a regular exchange with the important communities and with their treasurers. The City of Leverkusen has informed us as to their decision with regard to the decline in the tax rate. This is also something that is taken into account in our restructuring projects, but this does not result in tax advantage for Bayer. Another important question related to the Bayer's position with regard to the so-called zones of declaration with regard to competition amongst localities. The constitution and the constitutional court protect and promote competition amongst localities. And this is also the framework that is defined by public officials. We have an assessment [ rate which was ] defined in 2004 and introduced by the Red-Green government. The distribution of taxes between the federal government, the states and the communities is up to the legislators. They would be called upon, if need be, to come up with compensation at a local level. There was a question about our expenditures for IT data security in the past 3 years. In the past 3 years, Bayer has increased its expenditures for cybersecurity. Today, we spend about 7% of our IT budget for cybersecurity. This is a low 9-digit figure per year. These expenditures are in the upper range on an industry-wide comparison. The focus of these expenditures was to secure integration of Monsanto systems, improve security of end-user devices, management of weaknesses, new capabilities and recognizing risks on the basis of data analysis, for instance, for cloud applications and training and sensitizing employees. In addition to that, there was a question about how, in the future, we intend to protect ourselves against cyber-attacks. We've adjusted our activities to these risks and, if need be, we can react 24/7 around the world. All safety-related defensive measures have been brought together in what we call our corporate's Cyber Defense Center. There, we work 365 days a year around the clock to observe global critical activities on the Internet and, if need be, repel attacks. And in doing this, we work together with authorities around the world. Businesses and lawmakers are working together in cybersecurity in 2015. Bayer and other major companies in Germany founded the GCS or the German Cybersecurity organization, which is a center of expertise and a preferred cybersecurity service provider for German businesses. Then there was a question about the use of Dutch patent boxes. Bayer does not use the Dutch patent box. Then there was a question about when our customers will be able to pay with Bitcoin. We are constantly watching current developments in the market, which includes innovative payment possibilities for our customers. But we do not see currently that there is a need for us to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment. Those were the answers to the questions on the subject of finances. And as a result, now I'll give back -- I'll hand back to Ariane de Hoog.

Thank you. As you can imagine, we also received a number of questions on corona and our activities in fighting the pandemic. These questions will be answered now. The following shareholders have submitted questions on this subject: Joachim Kregel from SDK; [indiscernible], Union Investment, CBG and associated persons and organizations; [ Klaus Wannen ] and other shareholders. I will now hand over to Sarena Lin to answer the first question.

We received the question about what Bayer or how Bayer looks with regard to COVID-19 infection numbers comparing their workforce to the average of the industry in Germany. In general, the number of cases in our workforce is about the same as the numbers in each different region with regard to the number of infections among people below retirement age. We do not have a statistic overview of the numbers for industry as a whole in Germany. On the basis of what is known from other companies or individual segments, we can state that it is possible to observe in many areas that the development there is similar to the development at Bayer. And on that note, I'll hand over to Stefan Oelrich.

Thank you, Sarena. Several questions refer to the opportunities and risks that Bayer has or sees in vaccine cooperation with CureVac. In order to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and help out as best we can, we signed a cooperation and service agreement with CureVac. Within the framework of this agreement, we will support the CureVac and its COVID-19 activity with regard to development and providing that, and we will support CureVac with local activities in select countries, too. In addition to that, in February 2021, we announced that we have the necessary capabilities, possibilities of producing the mRNA-based vaccine from CureVac. And as a result, in 2020, we planned to produce further doses of the CureVac vaccine and increased the total capacity with the help of Bayer's production network. The first vaccine from that expansion might already be available at the end of this year. The focus for us here is very clearly helping out. At the same time, this package has an economic value, too, and will be reflected in our numbers. The risks are in line with the risks for -- well, they are in line with the normal risk for a project of this type. The cooperation of Bayer with CureVac was the subject of numerous other questions. First of all, questions were asked about the reasons for and the timing of the cooperative or the cooperation and whether or not this is an exception, or whether we're moving into the business of vaccines. Starting point for our discussions with CureVac was quite simply the question of how we can provide support so that people can have at their disposition another vaccine? How can we use our knowledge and our resources to make a contribution to fighting the pandemic? We have a global pharmaceutical network and expertise in the development of biotech products. Initial contacts between our company and CureVac originated in the middle of 2020. The contract conclusion was announced on the 7th of January 2021. Furthermore, there was a question about -- there were questions about further activities regarding vaccine projects. First of all, we want to ensure that our cooperation for fighting the coronavirus is a success. And for this, we are going to support CureVac in providing their product as quickly as possible to patients in almost all parts of the world. Then there was another question about the alignment of our cooperation with regard to the U.S. market. Our current cooperation and service agreement covers all EU member states, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and United Kingdom as well as Switzerland. In addition to that, there was a question about the sales rights that Bayer has with after -- will have after approval for the mRNA vaccine. The contract negotiations on that point have not yet been concluded. Furthermore, there was a question about the market approval for CureVac's vaccine candidate. On the basis of the cooperation and service agreement between Bayer and CureVac, CureVac will be the owner of the approval for the product, whereas Bayer will support CureVac in its country activities within the European Union and in select other markets. Bayer will be given options to become owner of market approval in other markets outside of Europe. And furthermore, there was a question asked about the price of the future CureVac vaccine? Bayer itself is not involved in determining the price of the vaccine. And therefore, we cannot provide any information on that. Then there was a question about access to and distribution of the future vaccine. In this context, I'd like to say, we should remember that Bayer is merely a supplier to CureVac, who is the owner of the approval and will be marketing their mRNA vaccine. CureVac receives the orders, and then will decide where the vaccine is delivered. Then there was a question about the sites of vaccine production. Bayer will use its entire global pharmaceutical production network and play -- and a major role will be played here by our factory in Wuppertal. In addition, there was a question about Bayer's involvement in fighting the pandemic. Since the pandemic broke out, our company has helped in many different areas. For instance, in more than 60 countries, Bayer donated money, medications, protective equipment and medical equipment worth nearly EUR 30 million. And Bayer are also helped out with additional test capacities for PCR tests. Furthermore, there was a question about the suspension of patent rights to coronaviruses in order to secure a provision of vaccines to poorer countries as well. In fighting a pandemic like this, what's first and foremost at the focus of our activities is helping people as quickly and unbureaucratically as possible. And therefore, initially, patent protection rights are not at the focus. But regardless of this, protection of intellectual property rights is an incentive for developing new medications and drugs. And this is the basis for the fact that today, with the help of new technologies, it's been possible to develop vaccines in record time. Without intellectual property rights, these vaccines against COVID-19 would not exist. At the same time, innovative pharmaceutical manufacturers are very well aware of their responsibility to countries with low-income levels. For instance, COVAX, which is a cooperative venture between WHO, Gavi, CEPI and governments. COVAX makes contribution to ensuring that vaccines reach people everywhere in the world, even in countries with low-income levels. CureVac has already submitted a COVAX tender. Then there was another question about whether Bayer is participating in research and development and production of COVID-19 medications and is planning to do this for the future? In our drug development activities, we are looking amongst other things at an active agent that is being tested for COVID-19 patients. This is adrenaline [indiscernible] and an indication for acute respiratory distress syndrome. This project is currently in Phase II of clinical development. And on that note, I'd like to hand back to Ariane de Hoog.

So Mr. Oelrich, Miss Lin, thank you very much for your responses to the questions from our shareholders related to the coronavirus pandemic. Now before we begin answering the rest of the questions, we would like to show you a few video clips. These videos are from [ Susan Taback ], [ Andrea Solma ], [ Marias Stelzman ]and [ Yan Perhca ] . [Video] Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Susan Taback, and I'm one of the co-founders of the group of people who suffered from the consequences of a drug-related thrombosis issues. Now in our initiative, more than 100 women have joined up who due to the contraceptive pill suffered from a stroke or thrombosis. It's assumed that around 10,000 -- out of 20,000 women at 12 people received this. According to the [indiscernible], there's 1 in around 160,000 who have [indiscernible] from the Astrazeneca -- from Astrazeneca immunization. Now as a result of this, there have been a lot of restrictions put in place, but nothing has been done about this where the contraceptive pill is concerned. We've been trying to get a legal voice and try to get the pills taken off the market. And for compensation to be paid for the people who have suffered thrombosis. This should certainly be a course to either stop or at least review the use of the contraceptive pills in question. So I have the following questions related to this. Do you know of any link between taking any of your contraceptive pills and any thrombosis, which takes place after vaccination? And they were [indiscernible] on containing pills in that -- and people who took them in the U.S. received compensation. How many location lawsuits are pending related to this in the U.S. and elsewhere? And how many pending cases are there related to this in Germany? How much money has Bayer paid or put aside [ centralized ] provisions for compensation for this? I would like to ask the stockholders not to ratify the actions of the Board of Management. I am [ Andrea Solma]. I am the Head of the Network of [indiscernible] and I am authorized to speak here today. This relates to [ dyriginon ] and this was related to a high-dose pregnancy test. In the year 2010, we went to court against Bayer. We wanted to view the files at the time, but we lost the court. Because Bayer managed to prevent us. But also because the statute of limitations is expired. But for us the statute of limitations never expire. Now lots of people have suffered as a result of this. A lot of people have died as a result or are dying from the consequences of what happened. At the end, the English Health Ministers apologized to the people affected. And in the U.K., they're going to strengthen patient rights. And there are set to be discussions about the possibility of compensation payments. In Germany, Minister Spahn, in the year 2020 initiated a research project, which looks at finding out to all extent, the authorities at the time and also sharing works together to try and ensure that the product can be kept on the market as long as possible. But we have 7,000 pages of documents. And here, it clearly shows who was embroiled. We believe that this project will come to a positive conclusion, and it will be decided in our favor. I will just like to ask Bayer, when will the company finally take social responsibility and help people? Ladies and gentlemen, my name is [ Marias Stelzman ]. I am the Head of Coordination against Bio Dangers. It took around 50 years until after the end of the Vietnam War. Now a trial has begun in France to look at the responsibility of Monsanto for producing the chemicals that we used in the war. [indiscernible] -- she witnessed the Vietnam war. She has accused Monsanto of using and supplying agent Orange. So U.S.A. used between 1961 and 1973 on a wide-scale in the war against the Vietcong -- in Vietnam. He wants to hold the company responsible. I'm not speaking about myself, but my children and millions of people. This is what she emphasized at the beginning of the trial, just south of Paris. We support this lady in her fight for justice. Now when Bayer -- since Bayer acquired Monsanto, the responsibility for this now lies with Bayer. And now arguments go to the Board of Management. Damage for fair compensation for all people who suffered the consequences of Agent Orange. We would also like to open the files. Bayer and Monsanto should provide us all of their internal documents about the production and distribution of Agent Orange. The demands to have a legal examination of this. If it's determined that there has been crimes committed in this respect, then there should be consequences. The Board of Management has tried to prevent any progress in this case, which is why you should vote against ratification of their actions and agree with the CBG's counter motions. [ Yan Perhca ], I am a journalist and I'm part of the coalition against Bayer changes. Bayer's record in fiscal 2020 is disastrous for a societal, economic, environmental point of perspective. Bayer still has not managed to find a solution from the people who have suffered the consequences of glyphosate. Bayer wants to keep it on the market for profit, but is not considering the health-related consequences that it can have on people. And this is why the settlement talks are taking so long. Now glyphosate is not just dangerous to people itself, but also for the environment. Its use is very energy intensive. But as such, it has a negative effect on CO2 emissions. According to a study by the Green Party in the European parliament, Bayer over the past 10 years due to creative accounting measures has managed to get around EUR 3 billion. 488 Bayer companies are based in a tax havens in Luxembourg or the Netherlands, for example. The Supervisory Board is trying to conceal this practice. But they've also approved significant increases in compensation. This is a disgrace. A time when people are worried about their livelihoods, when people all read about losing their jobs, and it is unacceptable. This is why the CBG would like to tell the ask -- request that shareholders do not ratify the actions of the Supervisory Board and Board of Management. This now brings us to the next topics which is about product liability cases and other legal issues. Most of the questions were related to the product liability cases in the U.S.A., and we'll begin with this. Now the questions on these topics came from Mark Tungler from the DSW, Henrik Schmidt from DWS Investment, [indiscernible] With SDK, [indiscernible] with Union Investments, Ingor [indiscernible] from DEKA Investment, CBG and persons and organizations affiliated with them, Albert and [indiscernible] , [ Marias Stelzman ], [ Klein Forge ] and Henrik [indiscernible] and a number of other shareholders, too. I will now give the floor to Mr. Baumann.

Thank you very much. Before I begin answering the questions, there's one thing I would like to add to a question that came up earlier at the start of the ASM. [ Mr. Lulemon ] asked how many people are registered and how many people are watching online? 70,000 shareholders are registered. And at 11:44, we had around 3,650 people watching the AGM. We received a number of questions relating to the current status of product liability claims in the U.S.A. We assume that these questions relate to -- that these questions relate to glyphosate dicamba, PCB and [indiscernible] . I will now bring you all up to date. And later on, I will go into the specific financial implications. To begin with, I would like to speak about the status of the glyphosate case. Now here, there are 3 things we need to distinguish between. Firstly, the pending cases, which have already been negotiated before court. I'm going to the next engine is in the case of Johnson, we've decided that we will not ask for a review of the U.S. Supreme Court, which will bring this to a conclusion. The reason for this decision is not related to anything with the content of the case, but it's just simply for strategic reasons. Now in Hardeman and Pilliod, we do intend to pursue this with legal means in the next instances. In the appeal of the Hardeman verdicts, we are waiting for oral proceedings -- we're waiting for a decision on oral proceedings that were held before court. In Pilliod, we are waiting for the verdict of the oral proceedings relating to the appeal. Now in the appeals, we point out that the EPA in the U.S.A., in alignment with all of the other licensing authorities throughout the world, has repeatedly said that glyphosate-based products are safe, if used correctly, according to the product instructions and are not carcinogenic. The judges in the U.S.A. decide on the admissibility of approved based on case law. The positive opinion of the EPA has not been done justice, and this is a significant error, which justifies the repeat of the proceedings. In this context, you have to look at our approach in the case of [indiscernible] what the sum was that the company paid to Mr. Carson. We came to a settlement with Mr. Carson, according to which, he would receive a payment of USD 100,000 in order to continue his appeal. One of the key arguments in defense of Bayer was examined by a -- by the next instance of judges. If the appeal is successful, then another payment will be necessary. Secondly, the current lawsuits. Here, we are looking at reaching settlements with the individual plaintiffs. And we wanted to settle these litigations, and we are approaching all law firms, which are representing plaintiffs. Now there are no due additional approvals required for this. The settlement that we announced on the 24th of June 2020 was related to around 125,000 filed and non-filed lawsuits. The final figure will not be determined until the settlement process has been concluded because there is still a bit of uncertainty when it comes to the justification and actual participant of plaintiffs. The number of settled cases is always communicated when we announce our quarterly results. So recently, we had -- we communicated around 90,000 current lawsuits, which we had a degree of fixed settlements or other settlements. Now new figures will be communicated when we produce our first quarter 2021 report on the 12th of May. In this context, we were asked about the sums that the law that the plaintiffs received as a minimum/maximum. Please understand that the current point in time, we cannot give you any detailed information about this. So to avoid any significant detriment to the company due to the ongoing settlement process and also for confidentiality reasons. [indiscernible] , we have future lawsuits. On the 3rd of February, 2021, we reached a formal settlement with the representatives of plaintiffs for possible future lawsuits. Now this is a class action, and these type of lawsuits require judicial approval. As you know, we are reviewing the first proposal from the summer of 2020 to try and address the concerns issued by the judges. We want to ensure that the settlement is fair for all parties. The 12th of May 2021 was when we expected a hearing. Yesterday, this was -- was put back by a week to the 19th of May. This isn't because it was requested so by a party, it was simply for organizational reasons. When it comes to -- we're not allowed yet able to comment on any reports. And we do not know of any independent expert opinions, which have been commissioned. Let me now move on to dicamba. In June 2020, we announced a settlement, which means that we want to finalize claims filed by farmers relating to the cultivation of soybeans in 2015 and 2020. And in which, there was a decline in harvest due to the use of dicamba products on crops with the Xtend system. There are currently 35 lawsuits from around 175 farmers in the U.S.A. that are pending. The large majority of these cases now currently no longer apply due to the settlement reached in June 2020. Outside of the U.S.A., there are no lawsuits against Bayer relating to dicamba. The settlement also contains a component for other damage to non-soy-related plants for legal and trial costs. Now the minimum participation rate of 97% adheres to the minimum required. Claims can be registered up until the 28th of May 2021. And the total sum to be paid out is thus not been established. And the only first instance case, which reached a verdict on dicamba, we filed an appeal. And on the 12th of March 2021, we filed this appeal with the court. The written proceedings will -- are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The decision by the Appellant court is not expected before 2022. This brings me to PCB in water. On the 19th of March 2021, we reached a new settlement in court, which takes the form of a class action lawsuit for the vast majority of the PCB-related litigation, and it now requires approval by the court. According to the settlement, lawsuits relating to around 2,500 bodies and authorities, for example, ports we settled in the U.S. through a payment of around USD 650 million. The hearing of the preliminary opinion of this class action lawsuit is expected to take place on the 12th of May. Furthermore, in June 2020, Bayer reached an agreement for the settlement of individual lawsuit from general state attorneys in the U.S.A. relating to PCB for a figure of around $170 million. We are still speaking to other state attorneys as things stand. In the pharmaceutical business there have also been settlements related to Essure in the U.S. On the 20th of August 2020, we announced that around 90% of the 39,000 filed and non-filed lawsuits relating to Essure would be settled. But we are making progress in the settlement negotiations. The 3rd of February 2021, we had reached an agreement in 99% of cases, we continue to negotiate with law firms who represent the remaining plaintiffs. This means we have almost settled all of the cases in the U.S. They don't have any impact on the settlements in other countries because the case is related to things specific to the U.S. legal system. Now when it comes to glyphosate and the other lawsuits, this is a very significant thing for our company. And there are a number of law firms that were providing advice as is required by a legal [indiscernible] of this magnitude. We have [ Arnold and Porter ] and also [indiscernible] , who are involved. The Supervisory Board is also speaking to U.S. attorney John H. Beisdner firm of the renowned law firm, Skadden in Washington, D.C. also to speak about trial tactics and mediation. Now the committee of the Supervisory Board are dealing with this, met twice in the year 2020 to prepare Supervisory Board decisions on the proposed settlements. Now the preparation of such important decisions by the Supervisory Board is the specific task of this committee. And the continuation of the glyphosate cases is discussed and reported on in the Supervisory Board overall in a more detailed manner at the Audit Committee. And a special aspect of the proposed settlements, which were details related to the expert body, were discussed in Innovation Committee. We received a lot of questions relating to the costs of the lawsuits relating to the aforementioned products. And also about the level of settlements that were paid. I've spoken about the status of these lawsuits. So I'd now like to speak about the financial implications. For the product liability cases on glyphosate in the U.S.A., total costs for expected settlements will amount to around USD 9.6 billion. And when it comes to future lawsuits, we expect cost of around USD 2 billion. If the settlements are approved by the court for dicamba, we expect USD 300 million and the settlement also contains additional funds to the tune of USD 100 million for further non-soya plant-related damages and also for legal costs. After the settlement announced in June 2020 for PCB, there were around 2,500 municipal bodies and authorities in the U.S.A. with whom we will settle for -- to the tune of around USD 650 million. In addition to this, in June 2020, Bayer reached an agreement for settling individual lawsuits from state attorneys in the U.S.A. related to PSB (sic) [PCB] for a total sum of around USD 170 million. And we are currently in discussion with other state -- federal attorneys. And when it comes to settlements for Essure in the U.S., we expect a settlement of around USD 1.6 billion. Now the provisions for the aforementioned settlements as of 30th of 12/2020, stood at around $10.2 billion. You also asked about the payments made in 2020 for these litigations and how they would be accounted for in cash flow? Now the settlements for 2020 amounted to around USD 4.5 billion. And the costs incurred to the 31st of the 12/2020, for our legal defense indications amounted to USD 840 million. We anticipate an additional USD 800 million. Now the figures about provisions, payments made and legal costs, most of the figure can be attributed to glyphosate. As in our investor conference call on the 25th of February 2021, we expect that cash flow for the current legal cases will come in at around EUR 8 billion for 2021. So it will be negative for payments. We also received a lot of questions about the prospects related to the weighted to -- when we expect to be able to bring to a conclusion the cases relating to Monsanto and its product liability cases? Now we also have -- we've got the port Liability cases of glyphosate, dicamba and PCB. We are determined to bring these litigations to a conclusion in a favorable manner as quickly as possible. Particularly if you have a look at the pending cases on glyphosate, where you're approaching all law firms, which are currently representing plaintiffs. The decision about settlements is not only our decision to make. None of these law firms has categorically ruled out further settlement negotiations. The next trial for glyphosate is expected in the third quarter. However, this could be subject to delays due to the pandemic and also the efforts of the parties to come to a settlement. This also applies to a handful of other glyphosate-related cases, which to date which are expected to take place in 2021. As I explained, the settlement has been put to the court, which should include future cases and also a class action lawsuit. There will also be a Scientific Committee of experts, which will look at whether glyphosate can cause, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and what dosage can cause this. Now generally, approvals on these class settlement agreements can take a year or longer. The schedule depends on the specific court. As we said earlier on, in the American legal system, it is not -- it is not possible to completely rule out any future lawsuits. We are convinced that the settlement filed is fair for all parties, and we will do everything we can to ensure that we reach an arrangement for possible future cases as well. Now we have a -- now we had the appointment that was moved back from the 12th to the 19th of May, and this relates to the preliminary approval for the settlement for future glyphosate lawsuits. And we'll then let us know how we need to approach this in the future. But there are still -- a lot will be questions to discuss. Now the preliminary -- if we do receive the preliminary approval, the information to the members of the class will take place, and then there will be a hearing for final approval. Generally speaking, approvals on these class settlement agreements can take around a year or longer. It depends on the specific court. We don't believe there are any alternatives at the moment. And there is nothing else we can tell you at the moment because we don't want to weaken our position in this case. But please rest assured that we are thinking about alternatives as well. Now the settlement for dicamba is currently implementation phase. The plaintiffs have until the end of May to file their claims. We expect a decision for the preliminary approval of the settlement 12th of May. Now I would also like to have a look at some of the other cases as well. I'd also like to speak about some specific legal cases. There was a question asked about cancer risks of glyphosate and also a link between glyphosate lawsuit and the general availability of glyphosate-based products. Now the evaluations, which have been conducted by national and international licensing authorities have come to the conclusion that the product is not carcinogenic. And this is confirmed time and again by experts and studies. Of course, we have great sympathy with the plaintiffs. But we are still firmly convinced that the accusations that were leveled at us are not based on a scientific finding and law, which is why we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against these claims in courts. Those are the claims that led to exposure that glyphosate has led to cancer. We will also ask whether continued legal disputes protect Bayer from unfriendly takeovers, whether there is an interest on a clear decision on the 12th of May of how future actions concerning glyphosate are dealt with. I would not like to judge whether this litigation can protect Bayer from a hostile takeover and don't want to speculate. Anyway, this appointment has been moved to the 19th of May. But I would say that it's not up to us whether these disputes can protect us from hostile takeover. And we -- as I said, we do not want to speculate on this. It is our goal to resolve these litigation on glyphosate as soon as possible. And therefore, we are trying to reach a settlement for the existing and future actions. We want to make sure that whatever agreements we have is fair for all parties, and we will fight for an agreement. Therefore, we think that the 19th of May, we're looking forward to this with a positive view. We also received questions as to whether the -- or why Bayer has rejected claims of those affected by Agent Orange? And why Bayer in France has pleaded not guilty? Agent Orange was used or produced exclusively for the U.S. government for military purposes. But then the U.S. courts have found that vendors of agent Orange are not liable for damage claims for use of this during the Vietnam War. On the trial in France, of all -- even though we have great sympathy with Miss [indiscernible] , we think that there are many reasons why this dismissal of this action is justified. And according to French law, French courts are not competent for the political decisions of foreign governments. We will also ask if there -- or how high the settlement sum is, which Bayer intends to pay due to the problems there were environmentally in the decomposition of the glyphosate precursor product, phosphorus in Soda Springs in the U.S.A. We have worked together with other parties to come up with a restructuring plan for the metabolites company that produced these in 1950s, 1960s. The process for achieving this included an action of the U.S. Environmental Agency of the state Idaho and indigenous tribes. At the same time, a proposed settlement was submitted, which included the obligation of paying USD 340,000 and also for reimbursing the costs of this restructuring plan. We also received a question on the current status of the arbitration proceedings initiated by BASF against Bayer. BASF has made these damages claims in connection with the divestment of a certain seed business to BASF in 2018. And BASF claims that Bayer did not disclose properly the cost items associated with this business. And the all proceedings for this litigation is planned for the fourth quarter 2021. We don't expect a decision from the court before the second quarter of 2022. We find this action is unfounded and will defend ourselves. We were asked why we do not use the -- why do we not change our business policy and check the safety of our products more carefully because this would save us money in terms of legal costs. The safety of our products is very important to us. And during product production and development, we go to great -- we check very carefully that we are adhering to all safety standards. We also collect much data about the safety of our products in practice and react quickly and consistently to signals that there are risks. Another important topic that was spoken about was the pending actions of investors who claim that Bayer did not meet its duty to provide information in connection with the Monsanto acquisition. There were 2 actions pending at the District court in Cologne, which demand compensation. These actions are still at an early stage and oral proceedings have not been set yet. We think that these actions are unfounded and will accordingly defend ourselves. We are convinced that Bayer and the Bayer Board of Management has met its obligations to inform the capital markets appropriately and took accordingly good due diligence measures. We saw that this was confirmed by an independent panel of experts, which you can find on our Internet page. We also received a question on Iberogast and the investigations of the Cologne state prosecutor. We ask for your understanding that we cannot give you any further information on a -- these legal proceedings, which are still running. Iberogast is a reliable, effective and safe medicine. It is used -- or it has been subject to a large number of clinical studies. And please be reassured that the health and safety of patients has always been the highest priority we have at Bayer. I'd now like to pass back to Ms. de Hoog.

Thank you, Mr. Baumann. We will now continue with various questions on the activities of our divisions. We will start with some questions on our agricultural business, which came from the following shareholders. [ Mark Tungler from DSW; Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investment; Rahim Kreko from SDK. ] The coordination against Bayer dangers from [indiscernible] [ Kriefski ] and persons and organizations close to CBG, the umbrella organization of critics amongst shareholders, Christian sites, [indiscernible] and further shareholders. Liam Condon will be answering this round of questions.

Thank you, Ariane. In the area of crop science, we had several questions on the sales of this division. Bayer is a leading supplier of pesticide, seed and plant traits and nonagricultural plant protection products. Around 45% of our sales in the division crop science were generated with seed and plant traits. Sales with GMOs, which are here biotechnological plant traits makes up around 3/4 of our total seed with -- sales with seed and plant traits. Accordingly, 1 quarter is made with conventional seed. Just under 48% of our crop science sales were generated with pesticides for agriculture in the areas of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. Less than half of our herbicide sales of EUR 4.7 billion in 2020 came from herbicide like glyphosate and dicamba. Another question was how much percent of our seed sales were made from corn, soy, rice and wheat seed? And how much was made up of hybrid seed and GMO seed? Of our seed sales from 2020, around 60% was corn seed and plant traits, and less than 1/4 was soybean seed and plant traits. The sales for rice and wheat seed was less with each, less than 1% of our total seed sales. The majority of the crops in our corn, soybean and cotton seed is sales -- sold under our biotechnological plant traits. The proceeds here are counted under our sales of GMO seed and make up around 2/3 of our total sales with seed and plant traits. Approximately 65% to 70% of our sales with seed and plant traits are in hybrid seed, particularly for corn, oilseed and most of our vegetable cultures. What influence does the increase in prices for agricultural commodities have on the success of our Crop Science division? That was another question. Higher prices for agricultural commodities are generally good for our crop science business because they improve farmers' income. And this makes an incentive for our customers to invest in innovative solutions at Bayer. The high level of prices for corn and soybeans. If this can be maintained, then we should be a leading supplier of seeds and crop protection agents, and we should benefit from this. Another question dealt with the market figures for dicamba tolerant crops and sales figures for our Bt cotton. In 2020, our Xtend technology for dicamba tolerance in soy and cotton plants was increased and planted on about 24 million hectares in the United States and Canada. We also plan to also launch [indiscernible] to Xtend soybeans this year in Brazil. Apart from regulatory approvals and other factors, we also expect the launch of dicamba tolerance in corn to be sometime between the middle and end of this decade. The product should also include tolerance to 5 different herbicides and will offer farmers a simpler or more flexible solution in weed control. With regard to Bt cotton, please understand that we do not publish sales figures at product level. Another question related to loss in sales for dicamba products in the first quarter. At the end of October last year, we received our new 5-year approval for XtendiMax herbicide. This is dicamba product with less volatility after the farmer approval had been withdrawn earlier in the year by a decision from the court. The new product label approved by the European -- by the American Environmental Authority, the EPA has some changes, which secure that farmers can use this product safely and with success. For our XtendiMax herbicide, which is an important component in our soybean system. Here, we now have received complete registration in all United States -- all of the United States in January of 2021. So we could not compete with a competitor who had all the necessary approvals. In future, for the remaining period of the season, we, again, will have a rounded portfolio. We think that with our new XtendFlex soybeans, which are now providing increased yield of 4 bushels per acre as well as the increased flexibility in the selection of a herbicide will make us highly competitive. We were also asked about Bayer's acquisitions in the last 2 years in the field of agriculture. In this period of time, there were no acquisitions by the Crop Science division. We were also asked about additional active ingredients, which we will take from the portfolio. Please bear with us. We only report on further adjustments to our portfolio of active ingredients when we have first informed our customers and the authorities. We received a question on the research pipeline at Crop Science. In Crop Science, we are the -- have the highest R&D investments worldwide. We're in an excellent position. We have an estimated sales value of up to EUR 30 billion, which gives us the most productive research pipeline in the industry. It includes a number of new chemical crop protection agents -- new chemical crop protection agents, seed varieties, digital products, biologicals, which make it possible to have sustainable agriculture and higher productivity. In the last 15 years, we have launched more than 15 plant traits and 15 active substances. We assume that this series of successful product launches will continue. We were also asked what Bayer is working on now with regard to genetic engineering and what products are being approved or which will be launched in the next few years? In Brazil and Argentina, we are now working on the launch of seed with the plant tait VTPRO4 so that it will be on time for the 2021/2022 season. It is a new solution for combating harmful insects that have become resistant. In 2022, the corn seed SmartStax PRO is to be launched in the U.S. This seed offers us 3 mechanism action to combat the corn rootworm. This is the -- this is a mechanism based on RNAi. And we also we are planning to launch ThryvOn technology in the U.S. to combat pests in cotton farming. We received a number of questions on R&D, trades as well as commercialization of genetically modified crops, especially with regard to our Short Stature Corn. Genetic engineering and genome editing are essential globally, in our opinion, so that we will be able to feed about 12 -- 10 billion people in the year 2050. The short stature crop from Bayer, for example, will revolutionize crop of corn and will lead to reduce losses in harvest. It will help farmers to use their crop protection means more precisely and to optimize the use of important resources, nitrogen, soil and water. We're developing 3 different approaches for short stature. Corn in order to make market access easier and more available. 2 approaches, modern cultivation and biotechnology, are now in Phase III already. In 2023, VITALA will arrive. That's our conventionally cultivated corn in North America. And for Europe, South America, Asia and Africa, we expect market launch to be in the next 5 to 10 years. By the end of this decade, we expect the launch of a variety, which was cultivated with biotechnological methods. Bayer has also developed the first combination of tolerances to 5 herbicides for soybeans. The new traits are now in Phase III and supplement the 3 tolerance that we have at XtendFlex. Another mechanism of action is also in Phase II, and this focuses on tolerance to PPO inhibitors. When it comes to research investments in these different cultivation areas. This is something that we cannot mention any of the financial details due to competitive reasons. We also received a question on the cost for current genetic engineering procedures and approvals compared to new genetic engineering procedures. We cannot give you any details for competitive reasons. But in general, we can say that newer gene-editing methods can be more precise so that R&D costs can -- could be lower. The cost for regulatory approval remains dependent on the country for approval as well as the authorities. The plant traits are then assessed individually from case to case. Another question related to research and commercialization activities in the field of traditional cultivation. Bayer cultivates varieties in the 6 largest crop areas: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, canola and cotton. In addition, in a number of other vegetable crops. For example, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, spinach, broccoli and sweet corn. Our company commercializes more than 400 new varieties every year. In addition to their yield properties, these varieties also have other traits, for example, resistance to disease, drought or frost. In addition, they also have quality features such as a longer shelf life or taste. With regard to the share of research volume here, again, we cannot give you any details due to competition reasons. We received another question on the possible commercialization of plants based on our RNA interference. In the seeds area, they are developing new plant varieties with the help of RNAi technology. For instance, we're planning in 2022 to introduce the corn seed Smartstax PRO in the United States, which provides better protection against corn rootworm. In addition to that, we're planning to use this technology for pest control in the field of cotton. For the 2021/2022 season, the launch of VTPRO4 in Brazil and Argentina is now being prepared. We regularly apply for patent protection for our innovations in chemical crop protection and in the seed area. But the interconnection, the interrelationships between patents and products are relatively complex because products often combine different technologies, which have different protection in different areas of the world. And in addition to that, patents often are only granted relatively late in the product life cycle. We have another question about RNA interference in the context of Smartstax PRO technology. Smartstax PRO offers 3 mechanisms of action for controlling corn rootworm, including an RNAi-based mechanism, which provides improved protection -- improved action and protection against pests, which are hard to control. In addition to that -- in addition to the protection against corn rootworm, it offers protection against other pests. In Crop Science, we are regularly carrying out in all development phases of our products the officially prescribed and internationally standardized tests for the protection and safety of users, environment and consumers. We have no indication that the appropriate use of products with a mechanism of action based on RNAi would lead to any negative effects. In addition that we were asked about the possible effects of RNAi sprays. During the development phase, we test our crop protection agents on the basis of officially prescribed and internationally standardized test, but not just for their effectiveness and environmental compatibility. We also check the scope and distribution of possible residues in and on plants. In addition to that, we have stipulated internal processes that provide for responsible use of our products across their entire product life cycle. In addition to that, Crop Science continued its membership in the excellence through stewardship organization in 2020. We also received a number of questions on BioDirect technology. Bayer has carried out different field studies, for instance, on the effectiveness of the product. We are not planning to introduce BioDirect into the European market. In addition to that, there was a question as to whether Bayer is working on a Roundup formulation on the basis of dsRNA viruses. No. Bayer is not developing any formulations for glyphosate-based products on the basis of dsRNA. In addition to that, we received a question about the status of our biotechnology research on microbial products for agriculture. In the framework of our joint -- bio joint venture, we developed together with Ginkgo Bioworks, powerful biologics, which are intended to lead to a new class of sustainable agricultural solutions. By developing microbes, we can develop a new class of biologics, which are sustainable and contribute to the growth of plants because they allow them efficient access to nutrients and protect them against pests and diseases. Our objective is to substantially reduce the independence of farmers on synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. There was a question about hybrid rice varieties for saline soils, their breeding and plant commercialization. Currently, Bayer is working in the development of hybrid rice varieties for saline soils. The objective is to market these in select market segments in Bangladesh and parts of India. This is an important contribution to supporting small farmers in these countries. Different molecular breeding methods are being used in order to achieve properties such as saline tolerance and tolerance to stress factors such as flooding or plant diseases. Currently, we are in the final phase of pre-commercial development. In addition to that, we are testing the combination with direct seed rice, which is sold as dry rice and uses much less water. We are not able to provide any details about the local provision and marketing of these products for competitive reasons. We received questions about other cooperations and their focal points in agreements in the field of genetic technology, genome editing. We are part of a global network of partners from the different areas of agricultural business and work together with a number of public-private institutions, NGOs, universities and other organizations. In February 2020, for instance, we announced an agreement with Myogenix France. Both companies intend to work together to develop Myogenix' technologies in the field of plant breeding and genome editing. In addition to that, Bayer established a cooperation with Pairwise. This research partnership serves to develop tools for gene editing of products in corn, soybeans, cotton, rapeseed and wheat. In order to discover and develop promising mechanisms of action, Bayer is working together with our genomics for instance. These are just a couple of examples. Details of these cooperative ventures are not going to be mentioned for competitive reasons. There was another question about cooperation with major technology companies. In the field of digital farming, we have a number of active research the development cooperations with technology companies. For instance, we work together with Amazon and Google as IT service providers for our agricultural software, Climate FieldView. Furthermore, we are considering other cooperative ventures that would help us maintain our industry-leading position and increase the value for our customers. Furthermore, there was a question about the status of the development of alternatives to glyphosate. Glyphosate is going to continue to play an important role in Bayer's product portfolio. At the same time, the company is going to invest in the years to come substantial amounts of money in additional methods for weed control. A new mechanism of action from Bayer for the control of weeds after they have emerged from the soil has already reached Phase III. We expect market launch in a number of years, depending, of course, on approval by the different authorities. It was also asked about would you substitute products Bayer will be offering from the year to 2024 in Germany? Now if glyphosate be banned in Germany, it would pose a significant problem to the German farmers when it comes to weed control. Now there is no adequate alternative on the market when it comes to cost effectiveness and environmental compatibility. Furthermore, a blanket ban would not be compatible with the European law, if the EU approval of glyphosate is extended beyond the year 2022. Other than Roundup, Germany does not have any other broadband herbicide in its portfolio. And as the market leader in the herbicide segments, however, Bayer can offer what I call a selectively effective products for weed control. We're also asked how many, many patents has, glyphosate, glyphosate products and glyphosate-resistant seeds? And when the patents will lapse? Now the patent protection for glyphosate has expired. However, we do continue to have a number of patents for formulations, mixes as well as manufacturing method for this substance. Bayer globally currently has more than 600 patents related to this. The duration of the next patent is expected to end in 2039. Furthermore, Bayer has more than 3,200 patents related to plant traits. The duration of the most recently approved patent also extends into the 2030. Now this relates to granted and also patents that have been filed. We received questions about Bayer's activity related to the reapproval of glyphosate in the EU and also about our strategy for trying to bring a greater level of exceptions around glyphosates. The current approval of glyphosates will expire in December 2022. With Syngenta and other companies, we have set a target to try and ensure that farmers in the future will also have access to this important weed control tool in future. This is why then we will take another step when it comes to transparency. Now the dossier that was filed and made public last year demonstrates the security, the safety and sustainability of glyphosate, which we believe will be justified. And we currently in talk to journalists, politicians, scientists, regulatory authorities, consumers, shareholders, civil society organizations and other farmers about this. There was also question about the ethical founding of Bayer for the use of glyphosate and whether we plan to withdraw it from the market. When used correctly, glyphosate has proven itself to be safe and noncarcinogenic. Scientifically found in evaluations performed by regulatory authorities and other institutions have confirmed this. We do not plan to withdraw glyphosate from the market because we fully believe that it is safe. Glyphosate will continue to play an important role in agriculture. One question seem to suggest that it was our intent to cause cancer amongst people by selling glyphosate. Or sorry, just to cause cancer by selling glyphosate-based products. But this accusation is completely absurd. And we comprehensively reject this. If used properly, it is a safe product. It is noncarcinogenic and does not have any type of estrogen-like effect. Another question seem to suggest that would whether in comparison to common agricultural practice during the approval processes, we use less glyphosates in the herbicide-tolerant seeds, but we reject this. Across the trials we do, they take place and the tests are very intensive under the correct climatic and geographical conditions. So depending on the location, the products use the seed, the soil and the amount of weeds there, the level of glyphosate used can differ. The same applies to the number of repeat applications. There were also questions about the damage to gut flora caused by the consumption of herbicide-tolerant plants. Plants whose cultivation required a genetic modification are subject to extensive health and environmental scrutiny. The U.S. -- the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. analyzed 900 studies from 20 years and came to the conclusion that genetically modified plants are safe for human consumption. And the same applies to herbicide-tolerant seeds. The comprehensive evaluation of studies on glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides show the product does not have any detrimental effects on gut flora or gut bacteria. We received a number of questions about genetically modified plants. I'd like to start with a question about our field trials for genetically modified corn and also genetically modified soya in the U.S.A. and why these are not performed in other regions? When genetically modification methods are used for cultivating plants, they are subjected to extensive investigations, scrutiny relating to the health and environmental consequences. There are a wide range of climatic conditions in the U.S.A., and they offer perfect environment for testing these products. Now the regulatory authorities can request additional information and data, if they have any concerns about specific genetically modified plants. Furthermore, there was a question about toxicity tests for the Bt toxins. Now all products that have applied for an import permit or for approval have been subjected to wide research and also subjected to extensive safety tests. Now this also applies to Bt plants, which is subject -- which have to comply with just a strict standards as any other genetically modified food or feedstuff. We also received a question about suggested chronic inflammation processes when consuming genetically modified plants. We have no reason to believe that genetically modified plants can bring about chronic inflammation processes. Finally, it was also asked whether there are health issues of corn with insect resistance, especially in the case of corn MON 87411. All GMOs are subject to a 90-day study on rats before the EU can grant an import authorization for these. Individual Bt proteins are also subject to an additional 28-day study on mice with a high-dosage before the EU can approve these. The RNA sequence for MON 87411 was also subject to a 28-day high-dose mouse study. The safety and approval studies for this product have not shown any indication that there is negative impact on human health. Therefore corn MON 87411 has been approved for import as food and feed by the EU. We also had a question on the import authorization for Bt crops into the EU. The EU commission in January 2021 approved the imports of these crops. And for their use, they also approved their use as a food. This means that these crops adhere to strict EU standards. It was also asked which substances in pesticides are used in each of our plants. Propineb is produced by Bayer and Dormagen. [ isoxsuprine ] and indaziflam are produced in Frankfurt. [indiscernible] is produced in U.S.A. and ethiprole in India. Pyroxasulfone does not exist. Further 8 other inactive ingredients that were asked in this question are not produced by Bayer. Another question referred to neonicotinoids and biodiversity. Neonicotinoids are an important tool for farmers in order to combat pests, which otherwise would destroy large parts of our harvest. In most usages, this -- the seed is treated, which means that direct contact with insects like these is avoided. Neonicotinoids are not allowed to be applied to crops in their flowering phase because this is when they are particularly attractive for pollinators. Outside of the flowering phase, there is only a small risk -- a low risk. In the last few years, we have taken many measures in addition to prevent any effects on the use of neonicotinoids. This includes innovations in the addressing procedures, which reduce powered emissions up to 95%. And also introduction of the [ Horst Baier ] test, where we can measure the amounts of power emitted. Publication of the environmental risk profile will probably take place in the second half of 2021. A further question referred to the amount of waste, which is produced in our plant Luling in U.S.A. in the year 2020. At the moment, we don't have any specific figures. The amount of waste is now being measured. The publication of these numbers by the U.S. EPA will probably be published in summer this year. We also received a question on our internal safety standards for pesticides. These are based on the guidelines and standards of international organizations like the FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the WHO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as from other supervisory authorities worldwide. This ensures that we can contribute to a uniform foundation of product security -- safety. In further questions, we were asked about pesticides, which are approved in Brazil, but not in the EU and in detail about the different labeling of our products in Nativo in Germany and in Brazil. The differences in the labeling of these products due to different legal requirements, in Europe and Germany, the practice of labeling pesticides is based on the global harmonized system for classifying and labeling chemicals, GHS in short. Bayer supports the use of the GHS and recommends that this be used worldwide. However, some countries do not use the GHS yet or only use this in parts and have their own labeling guidelines. Bayer follows these strict regulations on labeling its products in each of the relevant countries. Often voluntary additional labelings -- labels are not possible. Currently, Bayer sales products in Brazil with 13 active ingredients, which are not approved in Europe or Germany. Also on the other hand, various products which are not approved in Brazil, are approved in the EU. Another question asked us about the active ingredients, thiodicarb and beta-cyfluthrin. Thiodicarb is not produced by Bayer anymore, but we do sell products with this active ingredient for seed treatment. Beta-cyfluthrin is also used in our spraying sequences for avoiding resistances and addresses a large numbers of pests worldwide. Beta-cyfluthrin is produced in our plants in India at the scale of around 500 tons per year. We continually make decisions on our products on the basis of safety aspects, but also considering social, ecological and economic considerations for farmers. In this context, we do not have any intention to take these ingredients of the market. Another question was whether Bayer views the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam War as a war crime? Monsanto and other producers produced Agent Orange in the name of the U.S. government. The U.S. government said that there were strict production conditions according to which Agent Orange should be used and where it should be used and when. Now decades after the end of the Vietnam conflict, it is not up to us to assess the political and military actions of the conflict parties involved at the time. Courts in the U.S. and elsewhere have looked at the use of Agent Orange by the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. No court has ruled that the production of this defoliant breached international law. The U.S. courts rejected these accusations explicitly and came to the conclusion that producers were not liable for damages. Aside from this, I'd just like to emphasize explicitly that war and violence is always something to be condensed, and that's suffering of those affected is an important issue for us. We were asked how much of the active pesticide, active ingredients are patent-protected and how high the percentage of patent-protected active ingredients is at Bayer. Well, this is a complex topic because these products often unite various different technologies, which are protected in different regions of the world differently. Also, the -- it can take a long time for patents to be granted. Therefore, it's not possible to come up with a generalization here or to give an exact number of the patented active ingredient. We were also asked about the future of exports of Crop Protection products that are not approved in the EU, but to countries in the South. It was also said that in the future that we no longer want to market carbetocin. We have not been marketing carbetocin since this year. As part of the analysis announced in 2019 with regard to our overall portfolio of active substances, we will also take a number of other products off the market if innovator -- more innovative alternatives are available, even if they are from competitors. Another question related to the export of Crop Protection agents to other regions of the world, if not -- that are not approved in the EU. It is correct that we do market Crop Protection agents in some countries that are not approved in the EU. This is due to different requirements in the respective agricultural practice. So that's why it's not surprising and doesn't say anything about the safety of such Crop Protection agents. In Africa, for example, we have huge swarms of locusts which could destroy the harvest or the nutritional basis for millions of people. This is a problem, which farmers in the EU are not familiar with. This is -- because -- this is because registering and marketing does not have a uniform approach when it comes to agricultural products. When we talk about the crops from Bayer, we do not know what use is made of these crops. National and international statistics authorities do, however, see certain developments on the markets. In the United States, in 2019, for example, it was shown that 40% of corn was used to produce bioethanol. Soy is used as a bean without being harvest with a direct allocation to food or products. Beans are exported to a great extent and end up in different countries, usually to be reprocessed where they are turned into product or food oil or other products. We were also asked about the impact of the megatrend could have on our business model. The fact that many people get their protein from alternatives to meat. We were also asked what measures we play in order to participate in this trend. We welcome new approaches in order to meet the global nutritional needs, plants and alternatives to meet is just one of many possibilities. We expect that the market for meat substitutes will have an annual growth rate of about 15% per annum as of 2020. And by 2027, we expect the value to be about USD 17.5 billion. Soybeans are the most important source and they account for 60% of the vegetable material, plant-based material, which are used in alternatives to meat. As global leader in soybeans, this puts Bayer in a very good position to help farmers meet the growing need for plant-based protein and to do so in a sustainable way. We heard some questions on FieldView and our digital solutions. Farmers in more than 20 countries have been using our platform on more than 60 million subscribed hectares. Due to competition, we do not give the precise figure of the Climate FieldView users. The prices for FieldView product functions differ from one country to the next. The base price for FieldView Plus is EUR 300 per year. All of the data shared with us by our customers belong to our customers and are subjected to our data privacy commitments. In order to offer new solutions to customers, we work with cooperation partners on a project basis. Information on the amount of R&D on this -- in the field of digital land farming is not given by us. We also had another question on our FieldView platform in order to reduce greenhouse gases. We are working on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in large farming markets per kilogram of harvest by 2020 -- 2030 by 30% reduction. This applies to areas where Bayer is active. That is why we support farmers when making use of climate-friendly practices, for example, doing away with plowing and making use of digital solutions in order to reduce CO2 emissions. Our FieldView platform is a very important building block. The precise savings potential is hard to estimate because it depends on a large number of factors. How many farmers will use FieldView and all of its possibilities? And what crops will be used and in which reasons it will be used? So now I'd like to hand the floor back to Ariane de Hoog.

Thank you very much, Mr. Condon, that was the topic with the largest number of tongue twisters. Now I'd like to come to the field of health, pharmaceuticals and consumer health. Here, we received questions from [ Mark Turner from DSW ]; Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investment; [ Yana Verning ] from Union Investment; Ingo Speich from Deka Investments; CBG and related persons and organizations and other shareholders. Stefan Oelrich will be answering the first few questions.

Thank you very much, Ariane. We received a question on innovation strategy for the Pharmaceuticals division. A major focus here is to increase productivity and flexibility. We count on external innovations and cooperation with partners. In this way, we want to obtain access to do knowledge on diseases and pioneering discoveries and technology. By implementing this strategy, we can say we're making good progress. Last year, we were able to conclude 25 transactions. These include cell and gene therapy. Here, we also saw the acquisition of BlueRock Therapeutics and AskBio as well as license agreements with Atara and Biotherapeutics (sic) [ Atara Biotherapeutics ]. This is in the field of CAR-T cell therapies. This strengthened our position. With the acquisition of KaNDy Therapeutics, we were also able to improve our leading position in the field of gynecology. In addition, we have some exemplary agreements with Atara Biotherapeutics and also Informed Data Systems in order to jointly developed digital health products for a number of different areas as well as the U.S. biotechnology company, Recursion, for new therapeutics with fibrosis of the lungs, kidneys, hearts and other organs and also other therapy therapeutic tests. In 2021, we plan to invest in such similar cooperations. The focus of our work is in the fields of oncology, cardiovascular diseases, cell and gene therapy, digital health solutions and ophthalmology, gynecology, hemophilia as well as radiology. Another question related to the relevance of patents that are expiring for Xarelto and EYLEA, what effect will this have on our sales figures. Of course, when these patents expire, these relate to our 2 strongest selling pharmaceutical products, but we're well positioned and well equipped. Overall, we expect that our new products and our investments in cell and gene therapy will contribute to largely compensating the expected loss of sales in Xarelto and EYLEA. In Pharmaceuticals, in 2024, we expect a moderate decline in sales in the low to middle single-digit percentage. And then in the year -- the very next year, 2025, we expect to return to sustainable growth. And then we were asked about both the potential of our pharmaceuticals pipeline, loss of sales due to patents expiring? And how would we compensate for that? Our Pharmaceuticals pipeline has developed very dynamically in the last 2 years. With Nubeqa and Vitrakvi, we have launched 2 new cancer drugs. Verquvo is used to treat cardiac insufficiency, and that was at the beginning of this year in United States. And finerenone, this is a candidate active substance to treat renal disease in diabetics, and we expect the first market launch to be in the second half of this year in the United States. Elinzanetant, which is a product to treat menopause symptoms, we expect to be able to launch this product in the middle of this decade. So altogether, and our investments in cell and gene therapy, we expect that these products will largely compensate the expected decline in sales of Xarelto and EYLEA after their patents expire. Linked to the question just asked, we were also asked how sure we can be that our plans for replacing lost revenues in Pharmaceuticals are sufficient. I already explained that our plans for compensating expected revenue losses with Xarelto and EYLEA as a result of patent expirations. Research and development projects in Pharmaceuticals, in particular, are, of course, always subject to a certain risk as to whether it'll be successful. This applies, in particular, to the early and medium range phases of clinical development. For our key products that are intended to help to compensate for lost revenues with Xarelto and EYLEA, this development risk is already substantially reduced. Cancer medicines, Nubeqa and Vitrakvi, are already in market introduction. Same applies with Verquvo and finerenone is already in the approval proceedings. It's already gone through the testing. And for cell and genetic therapies, we focus on contractual development and production businesses as well as license income with AskBio, which is already generating revenue today. So as you can see, we are well prepared to achieve our medium-term goals for replacing lost revenue in Pharmaceuticals. In addition to that, we were asked how great the danger is that our plans in pharmaceuticals might be too ambitious? Well, we believe that the plans we already explained to mostly compensate for the expected loss revenue with Xarelto and EYLEA are ambitious. But according to our current estimations, they are very realistic. The approval risk for our new products, as I mentioned, can be well estimated, but we can't rule out the possibility that there might be regulatory intervention and also a change in reimbursement methods, which would have perhaps a negative impact on our projections that we might not be able to see now. We were then asked about the importance of a strong pharmaceutical pipeline for Bayer. For all pharmaceutical business, a strong R&D pipeline is always the indispensable foundation for medical progress for the benefit of patients and also for a sustainable and lasting development of our business. And for this reason, last year, we invested more than EUR 2.7 billion in research and development in Pharmaceuticals. And we've been successful with this because our clinical development pipeline currently contains more than 50 projects, including many in important therapy areas such as cardiovascular disorders and cancer. There was a question that referred to the development portfolio of our Pharmaceuticals division in the field of cell and gene therapy. Bayer has established a very promising development portfolio in the field of cell and gene therapy, which comprises several active agents in advanced development stages. This includes novel therapeutic approaches for disorders with a high level of unmet medical needs, such as, for example, neurogenerative disorders, neuromuscular disorders and cardiovascular indications such as the Pompe disease, Parkinson's disease, hemophilia A and heart failure. In addition to that, we can also mention a gene therapy for multisystem atrophy for which we are preparing the beginning of clinical studies and an allogeneic mesothelin CAR-T cell therapy. As a result, we're laying the foundation for further long-term growth in our Pharmaceuticals business. We also received the question about how the Pharmaceuticals division intends to have an EBITDA margin for 2024, that's still above 30%. Well, for this, we are going to continue to systematically continue our successful cost management. To support the ongoing and expected new approvals, we are planning targeted investments in addition to the reordering of existing resources to achieve our margin target for 2024. There was another question that referred to antibiotic development and research at Bayer. Antibiotics are no longer a component of the development portfolio at Bayer. Having said that, though, Bayer is true to its vision of health for all and hunger for none in supporting the AMR Action Fund quite substantially. As a result of this, between now and 2030, 2 to 4 new antibiotics are supposed to be made available to counter the rapid increase in antibiotic-resistant infections. In addition, we received another question regarding the drug substances that the company sources in India and China. For the purchase of active agents and intermediates, Bayer takes advantage of the global purchasing market, including China and India. A small share of the active ingredients as well as precursors for active ingredient synthesis are purchased from select and trained suppliers in China and India. This includes, for instance, precursors for contrast agents as well as antibiotics. Bayer appraises all possible and potential active agent suppliers for drug substances by means of an established training process that has to be passed successfully. There was a question then about studies in children's homes in the 50s and 60s. In the reports that have been published so far on this subject and in our archives, there are indications of studies that were carried out in the time period between 1950 and 1978 in psychiatric and neurological hospitals on the approval of Bayer preparations. These were carried out on the basis of the legal and ethical rules and regulations at the time and always ensuring that the necessary indication for them was present. These studies were part of a clinical development program for these substances. We support expressly the historic appraisal of this. We see no cause for any possible payments. There was another question that regarded the medical studies carried out with children -- in children's homes connected to the information that this person had negative experience personally. And the specific question was why were studies carried out on people and children in children's homes and whether these children are less valuable than anyone else and other children. Let me begin with the last question. I personally persuaded that these children require the special care and the special protection of all institutions that are relevant in our societies. I very much regret that your own experience in this context is so bad and that you and other people to this very day suffer from this. Why in the past, medical tests were done on children in children's homes is a question I cannot answer. We have carried out internal research about possible applications or use of various of our products in the 50s and 60s that were mentioned in the framework of this discussion. In doing so, we did not find any documents in our archives that would indicate any abusive conductance of tests or studies with these products by our company. Now we received several questions related to former products, Primodos, also referred to as Duogynon. And I'd like to answer these questions as follows. Bayer still refutes the claim that Primodos or Duogynon are the cause of embryonal deformations. Now in the 1970s and the 1980s, extensive investigations and expert took place in reports from renowned experts in the field are conducted, and these took place in Germany, England and the United States. And none of these studies or expert opinions found any link between taking the products and the cases that were recorded at the time. So same conclusion was reached by a lawsuit filed in England at the time. And there was also a criminal prosecution related to this in Germany that also reached the same conclusion. There have been no new scientific findings in the meantime, which should call into question the assessment of the situation conducted at the time. Recently, in the U.K., the Health Minister formed a body of experts, which received report from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which was a task with reviewing the medical and scientific findings relating to any link between taking Duogynon and comparable products and also embryo-related deformations. Now the committee looked at all of the proof relating to a possible link between the use of hormonal pregnancy test during pregnancy and an alleged increased rates that the children being born with deformities. In the results of this review, the committee failed to find any causal link between the use of this type of hormone-based pregnancy test and embryo deformities. Now this has not changed following the investigation of the product contents in the zebrafish embryos published in 2018. The analysis of these studies by an expert group commissioned by the English licensing authorities and also supported by our experts came to the conclusion the studies conducted in fish could not be applied to humans. Another publication, which was published in 2018, provided a meta-analysis of known studies from Heneghan and others. Now this study was also analyzed and evaluated by the English approval authorities and an expert group and experts from Bayer. Now there are a lot of methodological flaws in this meta-analysis. And as such, the experts came to the conclusion that the results should be treated with significant caution and that the validity of the evaluations conducted thereto would remain unchanged. Now the fate of people who have to struggle day to day with physical disabilities is something for which we are very sorry. But the scientific findings do not suggest there is any link between the use of Primodos or Duogynon and undesired events, which occurred in these [ projected ] phases of pregnancy, which is why a Bayer will not be paying -- making any goodwill payments of any type relating to this. There were other questions relating to litigation -- related to litigations connected with Duogynon. As I have already said, Bayer refutes that Duogynon is a cause of embryo deformities, which is why Bayer believes that any compensation, damages or goodwill payments of any kind are inadequate and will defend any claims made against it in England. Bayer does not have any detailed information about the research projects commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Health. Now the question of viewing the files was -- has already been subject of litigation. I would now like to hand over to Heiko Schipper to answer the next questions.

We received a question about COVID-19 and about sales generated from drugs used to combat cold and flu viruses. Now in 2021, due to the pandemic, we expect a contraction in the growth in our portfolio with cold treatment products. Now this is due to the public health measures in place, which have meant that the transmission of COVID-19 and other drop -- and other illnesses, which are transmitted by means of droplets, has fallen. Now in the year 2020, we expect a degree of normalization in the growth rates of the products in this category. And now I'd like to hand back to Ariane.

Thank you very much, Mr. Schipper. Now before we move on to the next topic, here, we have 4 more video statements from shareholders or their appointed representatives. We have Bettina Müller, [ Rogitta Henshiveisel ], Peter Clausing and [ Simon Ernst ]. The floor is yours.

I'm Bettina Müller and I am speaking as an authorized representative. Now at PowerShift, I have been dealing with people and organizations in South America, who due to -- who were suffering due to the pesticides sold by a Bayer. Now the number of people suffering from cancer in villages, people in areas which are being sprayed with glyphosate is 4x higher than other regions. Children who are born with genetic mutations and also other lung illnesses are much more prevalent as well. Moreover, the pesticide active ingredients, which are banned in the EU due to them being dangerous and produced in Germany are simply exported to Latin America. Propineb, indaziflam, ethiprole, now these are just certain examples of a large number of such products. Now this is doing business while compromising the health of people. Now the Mercosur members have come to an agreement to allow Bayer to continue selling its products there. Now at the moment, Mercosur imposes tariffs, import tariffs on these products, but they plan to lift them. I would like you to stop this toxic business. Stop the production and export of highly dangerous pesticides and finally, take responsibility for your products -- for the damage that your products are causing in the global south.

I am [ Rogitta Henshiveisel ]. I am from the BCG -- CBG. My statement is directed towards Werner Baumann, the entire Board of Management and also shareholders. Now recently Koblenz-Landau University published a study. It stated that insecticides, in particular, are used in much lower quantities, but they are much more poisonous for pollinating insects. And one of the main causes of damage in the study is cited as pesticides from the group named neonicotinoids. Now another problem, which the study looks at, relates to some of the undesired side effects of products such as glyphosates. It was confirmed that pollination has been so significantly reduced that you do have some species that will -- that are on the verge of vanishing. And there has also been cases of plant resistance, which means the products are less effective and different herbicides have to be used instead, which causes additional damage. Our coordination wants an extensive ban of glyphosate and other crop protection products, the neonicotinoids and [ pyrethroids ]. We would like the environment to remain intact. The critical studies -- the studies critical of this are denied -- the critical studies of this continue to be denied, and this is unacceptable. This is what we have to fight for.

My name is Peter Clausing. I'm from the Pesticide Action Network in Germany. On Bayer's website, in speaking about the transparency initiative, it says, and I quote, "If we believe that it makes -- if we believe it makes sense, we will take products from the market, withdraw them from the market, which we're doing with certain products. Methiocarb is an acutely toxic substance in the Ib WHO category. Bayer has publicly stated that it is obliged as of 2014 to withdraw these products from the market. Why has this measure been delayed by 6 years? Carbendazim, in the year 2010, was considered to be reproduction toxic and dangerous. It has been banned for a number of years now in the European Union. So the question is why -- how it makes sense to continue to use this in the global south? Any moral concerns about damage to health of humans in the global south seem to be irrelevant here.

My name is [ Simon Ernst ] for the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers. I am speaking as an authorized representative. Bayer and Bayer Monsanto, as we should probably call the company, constitutes a threat to the world society. Glyphosate has been sold for a number of years now. And this is dangerous to consumers and also to workers not only in Germany but worldwide. Insects and birds die because of this, and it also damages the soil. In the U.S., EUR 10 billion have been paid to plaintiffs who have suffered the health consequences of glyphosate usage. Why did the EU Commission continue to ignore this in order to ensure that the profits are preserved at Bayer and Monsanto? You need to look at the needs of society rather than simply profiteering, which is why we request and for years, we have demanded that glyphosate production be brought to an end. It should have been banned a long time ago. The health of millions should not be sacrificed for the profit of the few. We have to stop the death of insects. Stop glyphosate now.

Thank you very much. Those -- that was all of the 11 video films that we were showing. Now this brings us to your questions relating to sustainability, our work with interest groups and also about other company activities. This is the last group of topics. Now we've received a large number of questions from the following shareholders on these topics. Mark Gachagua from DSW; Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investments; Joachim Kregel from SdK; Janne Werning from Union Investment; Ingo Speich from Deka Investment; Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionäre, so the umbrella organization for critical shareholders, the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers; and other shareholders as well. Mr. Baumann will begin answering these questions.

Now thank you very much. Before I begin answering the questions, there are 2 things I would like to add to some of the questions that I answered previously. There were 2 questions where I said something incorrect. The first point relates to the Carson case. Mr. Carson relayed $100,000 and not, as I said, EUR 100,000. Now the second point relates to glyphosate. The cash outflow for the current legal matter is not EUR 8 million but EUR 8.2 million. When it comes to sustainability, one question asked about the assessment of our sustainability targets by rating agencies. We received very positive ratings. The most recent example is the Sustainalytics agency, which, due to our ambitious targets to improve access to health care, given us a significant rating upgrade. Another example is the rating agency ISS ESG, which has ordered our objective to improve our climate neutrality and reduce CO2 emissions. Our ambitious social and ecological targets are closely aligned with the sustainable development goals of the UN. And this is an important criterion for the capital markets. Another question relates to an alleged violation against the principles of the U.S. Global Compact (sic) [ UN Global Compact ]. Here, I would like to emphasize that we emphatically reject this accusation that has been brought about by 2 ESG rating agencies. Bayer has been a member of the UN Global Compact since it was founded. At no point has the UN Global Compact shared or commented on the opinion of these agencies. And we know that the results of the rating agencies are important for our investors, but unfortunately, these agencies are not held to any specific standards. This means that we were recently able to significantly get a significant improvement from Sustainalytics, while we still had a negative rating from MSCI. We speak closely with rating agencies to try and ensure that we have an unbiased assessment. Another topic was which investments are necessary for Bayer in order to be CO2 neutral by 2030. In order to achieve this target in future, various measures will be implemented in the fields of energy efficiency, the fuels compensation and value change. By the year 2030, we want to invest around EUR 500 million in greater energy efficiency in our own plants and facilities. Furthermore, we were asked to what extent we need portfolio changes due to sustainability. By focusing on food and health care, unlike any other company, we have a great opportunity to make a significant contribution to solving some of the most pressing problems of our time. As things stand, we do not believe this [ resuscitates ] any portfolio changes in relation to sustainability. Furthermore, we were asked about further steps towards our climate strategy and CO2 transparency. In 2020, Bayer cut its CO2 emissions and successfully implemented additional measures. This includes the introduction of an internal CO2 price to the tune of EUR 100 per ton, also embedding the climate objectives as -- in board compensation and the publication of a climate report according to the requirements of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure. For the current year, we again plan to take part in the recognized rating CDP climate. And beyond this, we want to publish further information about our commitment to combating climate change. Our goal is to reduce our emissions in line with the Paris Agreement in order to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. And we will also try and ensure that other companies and states support this. So we also are asked about our compensation payments and CO2 certificates. Bayer does purchase CO2 certificates. When selecting the compensation projects, our focus is on reforestation, forest protection and agriculture. When selecting the project, we have a clear focus on ensuring that we have a long-term commitment to CO2 reduction, and this takes place without -- which would not be possible without purchasing [ CO2 ] certificates. We prefer projects, which also have a societal aspect for disadvantaged groups, but it's also important to us the -- are beneficial to biodiversity, water conservation and also preventing decertification. Another question referred to the reduction of direct CO2 emissions last year. Our emissions last year went down by 4.8% to 3.6 million tons compared to the year before. This reduction, therefore, exceeds the target regarded as desirable by the science-based target initiative of 4.2% per year. In addition to this absolute reduction, we also sold a further 200,000 ton in CO2 certificates. Now I'd like to pass over to Liam Condon.

Thank you, Werner. Now we will come to the CO2 emissions of our glyphosate production in the U.S.A. At Bayer, we support the Paris Climate Agreement. And therefore, in 2019, we made our own plants -- one of our group goals was to be climate-neutral by 2030. We do not publish any CO2 emissions according to our plant consumption, but there is an overview of the development of greenhouse gas emissions for the division Crop Science on the Bayer sustainability report. We are currently verifying whether we can transform our U.S. plants to a supply with clean energy from renewables. We also have up and running programs and projects for energy saving and emission reduction. We were also asked what the new sustainability strategy for the business areas of Monsanto means. The acquired agricultural business has been fully integrated in Bayer -- in the Bayer Group since the end of 2018. Therefore, our sustainability strategy, including the group rules and items applies for the whole group. We hope -- or we have the goal by 2030 of improving the lives of 100 million smallholder farmers. An important instrument will be producing seed, which can be grown under different conditions like in dry soils. Another question referred to our pipeline and improvements concerning the water needs of crops. The effects of climate change on the agricultural production are considerable, and we can see these today already. In our research, we're working on crops, which can handle weather extremes better. This means specifically that we have produced a low growing corn crop, the short-stature corn. This is more resistant to extreme weather conditions, for example, storms and heavy rains. And it needs less resources to grow and reduces potential harvest losses. Another example is a rice variety, which is sown in a dry state and therefore, needs a lot less water. We're talking about up to 60% less water than in conventional rice. Furthermore, we are researching on seed, which can grow in drier, saltier soils. I will now pass on to Ms. Sarena Lin for further questions.

Thank you, Liam. We were asked which local employee regulations, based on national laws, are included under the Bayer global standard. Specifically, it was asked about occupational safety employee rights, vocational training and working hours. Regarding a dual vocational study program, this is something that is unique to Germany. Most countries, their vocational training is -- the responsibility lies with the state. So there is no national rate -- rule, which would fall under the Bayer standards. In terms of employee rights, the employees in all Bayer plants worldwide have the right to elect their representatives themselves. So-called collective agreements or work agreements apply for approximately 55% of our employees worldwide. The working hours, even in the contracts of our employees, do not exceed in any of our main plants 48 hours per week. For occupational and health safety, the minimum requirements are always the local laws, and these must always be complied with. Furthermore, Bayer regulations also need to be complied with, which often go beyond statutory requirements. Compliance with regulations is checked in the form of global audit and also through audits on site. I'd now like to pass back to Werner Baumann.

Thank you, Sarena. We also had another question referring to the report of the Sustainability Council and its activities in this year. We are planning the first report of the council in May should be published, and it would look -- the council will look at biodiversity, decarbonization and sustainable finance this year. We were also asked about the use of water in our large plants in North Rhine-Westphalia for the year 2020. In 2020, in Bergkamen, Wuppertal, Dormagen and Leverkusen, a total of 4.4 million cubic meters of water was used. That is 7.7% of our total use of water. Another question was whether Bayer has been in touch with the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia on its -- on the new State Water Act. No, there have not been any discussions with them. Another question was which Bayer plants are in areas where there is water scarcity. We have production sites in Chile, China, India, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Spain. All plants are checked in terms of how they are using water, so their water management. And in 2020, all of the sites which suffer from water scarcity had a working water management program. Our policy is assessed using the CDP guidelines, and we received full marks last year. One question referred to the donations to U.S. politicians in their election campaign. Bayer does not donate money to political parties. But there is an exception in the U.S.A., where donations are part of political culture. At national level, it is not allowed to give direct and indirect donations to political candidates. Therefore, Bayer employees can use the opportunity to support individual candidates for their parliamentary offices using a Bayer Corporation Political Action Committee. These political action committees are state regulated in the U.S.A. and legally independent associations of employees for collecting and using private donations to political candidates and organizations. Furthermore, Bayer, due to its engagement in many plants in the U.S., has decided to provide donations at federal state level. We were asked if Bayer supports people who deny climate change with money. Let me say that the climate change has big risks and threats. That's why this is something that deserves great attention. Bayer is committed today for climate protection and has set itself ambitious goals for the future. I'd like to refer to our publications, which describe these goals in detail as well as our activities. So it's clear. We do not intend to support people who deny climate change. This is also something that will be reflected in this year's award cycle. We also received a question with regard to the expected impact of the German law on due diligence with regard to the supply chain and procurement. We will not be able to give you a final analysis of this until the -- before the legislative procedure is completed. The established [ product ] for enshrining sustainability and supply chain is where -- has put us in a very good position, and we meet with our due diligence requirements. So we don't expect any major impact with regard to our procurement should this bill be passed. We received a question on our priorities with regard to the new legal requirement with regard to due diligence in the supply chain, a similar question. We support promoting human rights on European level and even better at the OECD level by corporate governance. What was important to us was to come up with a constructive solution and a practical implementation for the economy and to avoid national going it alone. Part of the original core concern can be found in the current German bill, focus on human rights and Tier 1 suppliers, in other words, suppliers where we have direct relations. However, a number of critical points can still be found in the draft of the German bill. And this is something which will make it more difficult to implement this in practical and legally certain terms. But at the same time, we want more incentives as opposed to bans. We were also asked about priorities of our lobbying in Berlin. Bayer has dealt with a number of issues and bills in the field of health, agriculture and research. Let me mention the modernization law on patent law. We also focused on combating the corona pandemic, for example, in the field of protecting employees. We also focused on economic policy, for example, the bill that I just mentioned beforehand, the supply chain law. We also received a question as to which associations Bayer is involved in when it comes to deregulation of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is something that is very important for many companies in the field of high technology, including Bayer. A number of institutions where Bayer is a member want to have better political underlying conditions in this field. Here, we're talking here about the association of chemical industry or also the Federal Association of German Industry. Another topic was to what extent or how is Bayer involved in consultations on the Farm to Fork strategy and the study on new genomic techniques. Was Bayer involved and to what extent? Bayer was involved in the EU consultations on so-called Farm to Fork strategy. The contribution is public, and you can see it in the network presence of the European Commission. With regard to the report of the commission on new genomic techniques, Bayer was not involved because only associations were invited to make a statement. Associations in which Bayer is a member and those who were involved in the Farm to Fork strategy include European Chemical Industry Council, European Association for Bioindustries, CropLife Europe, European Seeds Association and Friends of the Countryside. Associations where Bayer is a member and which were involved in the consultations on the report of the consortium on the new genomic techniques include, among others, Euro Seeds, Europa Bio and EFPIA. We were also asked about the extent of our political lobbying with the EU and also expenditures for memberships in the respective associations. Information on the scope of our political lobbying in Brussels, which is important for the legislative proposals, meetings with politicians, members of associations and also expenses is something that can be seen in detail in the transparency register of the European institutions. The registry can be seen. It's open to the public. Another topic was the number of Bayer employees in the EU transparency registry, which have access to European institutions. In the transparency register of the EU in accordance with the requirements, a total of 7 employees are listed, and they have access to the premises of the European Parliament. We were also asked about the form in which Bayer institutions supports institutions such as Re-Imagine Europe. We do not support Re-Imagine Europe financially, but we have 2 members in the Task Force on "Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation". Another question related to the supplier assessment carried out in 2020 and the problems that were identified in the field of human rights. In -- the assessments are listed in the sustainability report, and we see a number of different aspects such as health and environmental protection, safety and business ethics. In general, the suppliers showed primarily room for improvement in the fields of ethics and environmental protection. For the audits, however, this is related particularly to protection of health and safety. When it comes to human rights, we identified room for improvement. These were due primarily to questions with regard to working hours and minimum wages. Solutions also are being worked on together with the suppliers with action plans and support by local procurement workers and training session. There was another question about possible child labor in our supply chain. At Bayer, we have a strict ban on child labor according to core labor standards of the international labor organization. Both our human rights position and our code of conduct for suppliers makes this binding for all suppliers around the world. All of our suppliers are obliged to forego any child labor. In our comprehensive appraisal of suppliers, we also look at human rights risks, and we also do audits if necessary. And if necessary, we can even decide not to work with a supplier. In addition to that, we were asked how we intend to decrease child labor in our supply chain. As I just mentioned, we have a strict ban on child labor at Bayer. This also applies to all of our suppliers. In our entire seeds delivery chain, we've achieved very good success. In addition to that, we have an exchange of opinions with other companies within the framework of the industry initiative such as Together for Sustainability and the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative on the subject of human rights, and the awareness of all suppliers on this subject is being enhanced. And if it's necessary, it's addressed and sanctioned. There was a question about the concrete measures we take if in our audits on the adherence to human rights we see there are violations in our supply chain. Our audits are carried out by trained internal and external Bayer auditors who check the adherence to the requirements on site at the suppliers' companies. And if a violation is determined, there is immediate definition on-site of corrective measures to be taken and also a schedule. Depending on the severity of the violation, we can make very tight schedules and deadlines. If there are critical violations, the correction must be made within 90 days. Implementation of the corrective action plan is monitored by Bayer, and the objective is also to promptly improve this -- always to promptly improve the situation for employees. We were asked why our objective for decreasing Scope 3 emissions is only 12.3%. A reduction of emissions in the supply chain is much more difficult than reducing our own emissions. It demands a much more complex type of cooperation with suppliers, the establishment of suitable interaction and measurement methods. And at the same time, we have less of a possibility for influencing things. The intermediate objective for an absolute reduction of 12.3% between now and 2029 is in line with the objective of restricting global warming to 2 degrees centigrade. In addition to that, we have, as an objective, to reduce emissions for Scope 3 to net zero by 2050 and thus complying with the Paris Climate Agreement to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees. We received a question about achieving climate-neutral footprint for Scope 3 between now and 2050. Despite the major challenges I mentioned with regard to the supply chain, we have committed ourselves to the net zero emissions by 2050 for our target -- as our climate target. We are leaders in the cross-industry working group for the sustainability initiative of the chemicals industry. It's called Together for Sustainability. In addition to that, our commitment on the CDP supply chain initiative has been expanded. We work together with hundreds of suppliers and contacted them. And our expectations with our suppliers and for ourselves is to achieve net zero by 2050 by making these reductions. We received a question about the human rights analysis commissioned by Bayer. In 2020, we began working together with an external partner to analyze our corporate-wide human rights risk. The UN guiding principles on business and human rights are the methodologic foundation for these. Results of the study will be available during the course of this year. In addition to that, I was asked whether or not our -- the assessment expressed in the book, Milestones, published by Bayer in [ 1998 ] on the company Degesch and the role of IG Metall would be maintained. The passage in this book, Milestones, reflects the assessment and judgment of American courts on Degesch and on IG Metall, IG Farben activities and their activities during the national socialist period. I will hand back over.

Thank you, Mr. Baumann, for your answers to these questions. On Sunday, just before midnight, and that's just before we closed the question part, we received a high number of questions from [ Matthias Gabler ] in Stuttgart. Since we received these questions so late, we couldn't put them into the various different groups of questions that we already answered, and we will all -- answer them all, therefore, individually. And I will hand back to Mr. Baumann to answer the first of these questions.

Thank you, Ms. de Hoog. [ Mr. Gabler ] wants to know how many questions were received by how many -- from how many people for the AGM, how many weren't in German and how many were not related to the agenda. We received 560 questions from 33 shareholders. They were all in German, and they're all related to the agenda. You asked whether or not the questions were received in due time. We received them at 7 minutes to midnight on Sunday, and they were all your questions. You also asked how many questions were received today that were not in -- that were not received at the -- at our website for questions, and we did not receive any of those that will be answered. You also asked as well how they correctly transmitted the sound and the audio. Now all technical systems, including the audio and visual transmission are tested from ourselves and also from the companies we've contracted. The same group of parties continually monitors the transmission during broadcast. This [ includes ] to ensuring that you have the right time, that you have the right synchronization of the audio and sound. You also wanted to know about the technical broad -- about the clinical bandwidth. We have a bandwidth of about 10 megabytes. You also wanted to know whether the -- have a delay of at least 30 seconds and also that when looking at the results if -- I don't know what it is. Now the technical delay is around 30 seconds, and we take this into account when conducting the vote. And we're also using specific computer conditions that play a role here, too. You also asked how much time is required to answer the questions submitted by the shareholders in 2020. And also how much time is required this year and how many internal and external employees deal with this. Now the questions, with one exception, were all answered by internal employees. There are 50 colleagues who deal with this, and we do not know how much time exactly it takes them. You also asked which external attorneys from which law firms we -- you wanted to know how many we received. How many questions were received to answer. Now in 2020 -- in 2021, we only received individual questions that were sent to external law firms, and we ask them to provide us a draft response for an entire question or for parts of a question. In 2020, the questions were sent to links later, specifically to [ Dr. Volvo ], [ Kiessling ] and Dr. Zenner. For 2021, the question was sent to -- comes to the law firm, [ Thomas Coburn ] and to [ Mr. Horn ], who is an attorney as well. As always, the final processing and answering of the questions take place by Bayer employees. You also asked whether we had any significant additional expenses when preparing or executing orders or managing supply chains. Now due to the coronavirus, 2020 was a very challenging year in all different aspects, in particular, when it came to production and logistics. We had cost increases, particularly transport costs because, for example, the availability of containers is limited and the cost of renting containers increased and also because airfreight capacity due to the reduced number of charter flights was cut. Other aspects include temporary scarcity, production capacity and the supply chain or the -- all the emergence of trade barriers as well. You also asked about furloughing at individual sites and also temporary site closures. In the Bayer Group in Germany in 2020, we do not have a furloughing at individual sites and we have not had any temporary closures. You also asked whether a head count reduction was expected solely down to the coronavirus crisis. No, we do not expect a reduction in head count only due to the coronavirus crisis. COVID-19, however, has underlined how systemically relevant our company is. You also asked how the level of employee fluctuation was in the reporting year compared to the prior year. In the current reporting year, fluctuation was 12.3%. In the previous year, it was 15%. You also asked how many employees before the pandemic were working from home. For many employees at Bayer, there was no strict obligation to work from home. But since we did not have any data on this before the pandemic, we are unable to provide any specific figures now. You also wanted to know how many employees are working from home at the moment in Germany. During the pandemic, around 12,000 employees have been working from home. I'd now like to pass to Mr. Nickl.

Thank you. You asked about tax payments of Bayer AG and domestic affiliates. Bayer AG and its main domestic affiliates form one fiscal unity. Therefore, the answer to your question will be given for Bayer AG and its tax consolidation group and for all domestic group companies in total. Bayer AG and its domestic group had paid taxes in 2020 to the tune of EUR 545 million. There was also a profit tax expense in Germany of around EUR 748 million. For 2020, there were tax payments for the corporate tax amounting to [ EUR 316 million ]; for trade tax, EUR 185 million; and for the solidarity surcharge, EUR 17 million. EUR 217 million was attributed to the Bayer AG consolidated tax group. Electricity tax for the year 2020 was EUR 8.9 million with an amount of electricity of [ 436,044 ] megawatt hours. EUR 7.9 million was attributed to Bayer AG with an amount of electricity of [ 388,503 ] megawatt hours. In terms of land tax, EUR 8.6 million was paid. This is based on an area of 21,717,000 meter squared. The taxes for insurance were the highest in Bayer AG, which was EUR 7.2 million. You also wanted to know how many guests were admitted to this virtual AGM. Guests, so people who do not have a role in today's AGM, are not present here in this meeting room. But any number of members of the public can follow this AGM online. You also wanted to know about how much domestic tax and social security and pension contributions were paid for employees of Bayer AG. For domestic employees of Bayer AG in 2020, a total of EUR 645.8 million in tax was paid consisting of wage tax, [ charge ] tax and solidarity surcharge. The employee share of social security contributions in this period was EUR 281.9 million. For the employees of the other domestic group companies, a total of EUR 182.8 million was paid in tax, and social security contributions, including pension contributions were paid to the tune of EUR 52.3 million. You asked also whether the income from profit and loss transfer agreement is always completely collected and which companies had to assume losses. You also wanted to know what the reasons were for these losses and what is being done in order to make these more profitable, a profit collected by the parent company -- or is collected by the parent company after approval of financial accounts unless is a payout freeze, which would apply under Paragraph 8 of the commercial code in Germany. The following companies in 2020 assumed losses: Bayer AG, Bayer Pharma AG, Zweite K-W-a Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fussball GmbH, Bayer CropScience Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Bayer CropScience AG. The loss of the domestic subsidiaries resulted both from the operative area but also from depreciation of subsidiaries. Short-term effects on the annual earnings, sales and equity of the individual subsidiary companies are not the focus of individual taxation, though we do try to ensure the solvency of these companies with assumption of loss. You also wanted to know whether we have -- or envisage difficulties from possible supplementary financing needs. At the moment, we do not see any such difficulties. You asked how, where and in what degree we are going to adapt our costs due to crises. We are managing our costs in an active manner in order to be able to react to developments and we look at short- and long-term effects on our business. In terms of the COVID pandemic, an important factor was the cost for travel and events were a lot lower than usual compared to a normal year with costs of around EUR 600 million to EUR 700 million. Last year, these were around 50% lower than the year 2019. The effects of the pandemic and their influence on reaching our goals meant that staff expenses, so for the bonus programs of the broader management and for employees was lower than in 2019. You also asked to what extent investments have been cut or postponed. Our investments, which we usually define as research and development costs or as tangible or intangible assets are usually based on a medium- to long-term time frame. As we presume that the current pandemic will not have long-term effects on our business, we have not adapted our investments for the year 2020 based on the pandemic. Another question was which financial losses we expect due to the corona crisis. 2020 showed that our business is resilient. Alongside negative effects, we also saw positive effects on our business. On the negative side, for example, there are the treatments, which there were fewer of and there was lower demand for products in the area of pharmaceuticals. There was lower demand for bioethanol in U.S.A. and lower demand for corn and corn seeds and also increased costs in the logistics chain. Furthermore, there were expenses for health protection of our staff like masks and donations for the general good. At the same time, in Consumer Health, we had increased demand in some product areas, for example, in food supplements. We hope in the future there will be a normalization of the situation. How quickly this will happen, however, will depend on the dynamic of the pandemic and is hard to guess. We expect for the time after the pandemic, there will be a very different world of work where working from home will be very important. This means for us that we will have a new reality in terms of the numbers of commercial buildings we will be using in terms of specific examples. One of your questions was referring to how many employees in the -- in Germany has an annual income gross of more than EUR 120,000, more than EUR 250,000 or more than EUR 500,000, except for the Board of Management. At the end of 2020, there were a total of 3,261 employees who had a fixed annual gross income of more than EUR 120,000. That's 5% less than last year. This includes 74 people with more than EUR 250,000. That's 4% less than last year. And thereof, one person with more than EUR 500,000 annual gross income. That's 50% less than last year. You also wanted to know whether due to the crisis, some of our KPIs had been dropped in existing credit liabilities. This was not the case. You also asked which banks or which credit lines have been -- already exist. We have a revolving credit facility worth EUR 4.5 billion with a bank consortium consisting of 23 partner banks. Since the credit line is not being used at the moment, we are currently paying just a fee to keep this going, which corresponds to the conditions of businesses with an investment-grade rating. You also wanted to know what amount -- what banks we had to pay negative interest and what has been done in order to avoid this. In 2019, Bayer AG paid EUR 6 million of negative interest. In 2020, this expense was about EUR 9 million. The top 6 banks which received these negative interest payments were, in 2019 and 2020, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. If in 2019 and 2020, there had been a positive interest rate, it would have been necessary to invest in the rating range of BB- and BB+. These would have involved speculative investments, which does not correspond to our risk-averse investment philosophy. I'd now like to hand back to Werner.

Thank you, Wolfgang. You also wanted to know, [ Mr. Gippler ], how many people were online when this -- when we started answering this question. At the beginning, it was 3,000, and now we're at around 3,800. And there have been many more participants who have logged on in the meantime. You wanted to know how Bayer is coping with the demand to be able to work more from home. The health and safety and protection of our employees is a priority for us. We've not just adhered to the pandemic policy of the government but gone beyond this. All of our employees are allowed to work from home if their activity allows so. And those who generally work on-site have the possibility to work at home if it is possible. You also asked about the possibility to save if only 10% of the working hours were to be dealt with at home after the end of the crisis. With a theoretical approach of 10% work from home, we could mathematically expect about 5% reduction in office space. You also asked how many people from Bayer AG and in foreign and domestic companies have come down with corona. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have 7,061 COVID-19 cases at Bayer. In Germany -- so I'd like to ask Mr. Winkeljohann to give us some more information on the -- for the course of the meeting and the follow-up questions.

Yes. Thank you very much. We've now been here for about 5 hours. We have all sorts of questions and follow-up questions that we still need to answer, and it's going to take some time. So that's why I would like to announce that the follow-up questions can only be asked in the next 10 minutes so that we can conclude the meeting at a reasonable time. So if you want to submit any follow-up questions, then please do so now. I will let you know once again when we have decided that we're going to stop the possibility for asking follow-up question. That will be about 10 minutes from now.

Thank you much, Mr. Winkeljohann. Okay. In Germany, we know of 458 COVID infected abroad. We have 6,603 confirmed COVID-19 cases. We do not determine these cases separately according to Bayer AG or subsidiaries. We were asked if there are any fatalities and if we help survivors. Unfortunately, yes, we did have some fatalities, unfortunately. We generally look after survivors, and we also make financial payments. In Germany, for example, we had 3 months long, what we call, survivor's allowance. That is the amount of pay that the diseased person receives. Another question was related to COVID-19 and relates to the working days that were lost through quarantine at Bayer AG, foreign and domestic subsidiaries that were lost. You also asked if certain sites had to be shut down due to corona. As far as we know right now, due to the quarantines required by the authorities, we had about 11,465 working days that were lost. 9,375 of them were at Bayer AG and 2,090 days at domestic subsidiaries. The data from our foreign subsidiaries are not recorded centrally, so we cannot give you that figure right now. Due to the pandemic, we did not have any notable production restrictions. You asked about the Board of Management in 2021 and how they want to improve over 2020. The Board of Management wants to achieve its ambitious financial goals for 2021. We also have a number of other targets. The group goals were presented to all top management at the beginning of the year. You also asked about the major challenges for 2021 apart from corona. We'd like to refer to the statements made in our outlook for 2021. You also wanted to know what software the Board of Management and Supervisory Boards use at their meetings and how do you guarantee confidentiality and security. Supervisory Board exchanges documents using the so-called BoardRoom software from Brainloop. The Board of Management uses a secure SharePoint. The solutions we use have been checked for their security, and encrypted e-mails are also used for communication. You asked about the realistic risks that we have to expect. We'd like to refer to the section called Risks in the annual report. You also asked for an updated forecast for sales and earnings for the current fiscal year. As up to now, we expect 42% to 43% -- EUR 42 billion and EUR 43 billion in sales, currency adjusted, and this is an increase of about 3%. And the clean EPS should be about 6 -- should go from EUR 6.10 to EUR 6.30, currency adjusted. You also asked about our investment plan for the next 5 years. When we refer to investments, we refer to R&D, investments in PPA and intangible assets. For R&D, we've planned EUR 4.9 billion for 2021, and investments in PPA and intangible assets will be at around EUR 2.4 billion. For the follow-up, yes, we expect R&D expenses to go up slightly. And this will be based on the development of our sales figures. Investments in PPA and immaterial assets, we expect the amount to be the same in the follow-up years. You also asked about investments in conventional business fields and for tapping new business fields. How is this broken down? We review our portfolio on a regular basis with regard to market attractiveness and competitiveness, and this is how we derive our focus for investments. We don't categorize them systematically by conventional and new business field, but most of our investments will be in new business fields and the further development of business fields. Some examples of this will be R&D activities in the development of our pharmaceutical pipeline or for solutions in the field of crop science. You also asked about the scope of our assets which are pledged to banks for loans. For financial liabilities, in other words, bonds and the term loan as well as loans, we do not have any real collateral. You also asked a question about the development of equity quota on a monthly basis in the last 24 months. The equity portion for the first 17 months starting in January 2019 was dependent on factors such as monthly profit contributions, dividend payment, and currency effects was between 35% and 39%. In month 18, the second quarter of 2020, the equity ratio fell to 29%. In the 21st month, third quarter of 2020, it fell again to 26%. And this is where it has remained stable until the 24th month. You also asked that on the basis of impairment test, any impairment would be required in the year under review and in the course of 2021. In the year under review, regular impairment tests were carried out in all divisions in the fourth quarter. In addition, in all divisions in the first quarter of the year under review, an extraordinary impairment test was carried out on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Crop Science segment, we also had an extraordinary impairment test in the third quarter, and this was because of the challenging market environment, especially in North and South America. As part of the extraordinary impairment test in the first quarter of the year under review, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Crop Science segments did not need any impairment. As part of the extraordinary impairment test in Crop Science, we needed to have an impairment amounting to EUR 9.3 billion. In Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health segments, we did not have any extraordinary impairment test that was required in the third quarter. As part of our regular impairment test in the fourth quarter, we had no impairment that was recorded in the books for Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health. In Crop Science, we had a need for impairment amounting to EUR 0.3 billion and write-offs amounting to EUR 0.4 billion. You also asked about the largest claim in the year under review and whether these were covered fully by the insurance company. The product liability case with glyphosate was the largest insurance claim in the year under review, 2020. It exceeded our existing insurance coverage. With regard to our list of holdings, you asked about the 3 largest companies and the 1 -- the 3 with the largest deficit according to sales in euros and change in percentage compared to the previous year, the result in euros for -- to profit and loss transfer and change in percentage and also the number of employees and change in percent compared to the previous year, the total equity in euro and change in percentage compared to the previous year and also measures taken by the Board of Management and Supervisory Board if they were negative deviations. When it comes to the financial, the largest ones are Bayer Healthcare LLC, Bayer Consumer Care AG and Monsanto Company. For the ones with the largest deficit in fiscal 2020, we have here Bayer World Investments B.V., Bayer U.S. II GmbH & Co. KG as well as Monsanto Technology LLC. Sales at Bayer Healthcare LLC declined by 4.7% to EUR 5.9 billion, and sales at Bayer Consumer increased from 6 to 5 -- by 6% to EUR 5 billion. Sales at Monsanto went down from -- by 21% to EUR 4.3 billion. The change at Bayer World Investments B.V. to EUR 0.3 million is a decline of 7.9%. And at Bayer U.S. II GmbH & Co. KG in both fiscal years, so no -- did not report any sales. At Monsanto Technology LLC, a decline to EUR 0.9 billion was noted. This is a decline of 48.2%. The results at Bayer Healthcare LLC declined compared to the previous year by 224.5% to minus EUR 499 million. At Bayer Consumer Care AG by 152% from EUR 248 million to EUR 650 million, there was an increase of 152%. The result at Monsanto Company changed from minus EUR 1.9 billion to plus EUR 13 billion in 2020. At Bayer World Investments B.V., the results declined from plus EUR 0.9 billion to minus EUR 25.2 billion. At Bayer U.S. II GmbH & Co. KG, it went from minus [ EUR 0.2 ] to minus EUR 8.5 billion. At Monsanto Technology LLC, the decline was more than 1 point -- from plus EUR 1.2 billion in 2019 to minus EUR 6.2 billion in 2020. In the last mentioned changes, there was a change in -- from positive to negative. So it is not meaningful to give you a percentage of change. At Bayer Healthcare LLC and Bayer U.S. II GmbH & Co. KG, in both fiscal years, they had no employees. At Consumer Care AG, there was an increase of 3.2% to 866 employees. The head count at Monsanto Company went down by 99.4% to 34. And at Bayer World Investments B.V., the figure remained constant at 5 each. At Monsanto Technology LLC, there was a decline by 21.5% to 333. Equity at Bayer Healthcare LLC declined by 16.9% to EUR 8.9 billion, and the equity at Bayer Consumer Care went down by 7.7% to EUR 2.2 billion. At Monsanto Company, equity of minus EUR 9.3 billion went to plus EUR 4.3 billion. We cannot give you -- it makes no sense to give you a percentage of change due to the change from negative to positive. The change at Bayer World Investments B.V. to EUR 30.8 billion is a decline of 40.1%. And Bayer U.S. II GmbH & Co. showed a decline by 38.4% to EUR 8.1 billion. At Bayer -- Monsanto Technology, there was a decline to EUR 16.3 billion in 2020. I think I'm going to hand you for just a minute so that Mr. Winkeljohann can make an announcement.

Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, as I said, it will now no longer be possible to ask follow-up questions. The questions that have not yet been answered will be answered now, but it is no longer possible to submit follow-up questions. So I'll give the floor back to Mr. Baumann.

Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann. This is a reduction of 31.6%. Bayer manages its -- the portfolio of its subsidiaries in a strategic way. So short-term effects on the annual earnings, sales and equity of individual subsidiaries are not the focus of individual management. However, solvency or going concern has to make sure that we also have to secure that we can still manage to pay a dividend from Bayer AG. We can also have a number of measures. We can have increase in equity or loans within the group. You asked about what the strangest or oddest litigation was at Bayer. We are a global company. We have all sorts of litigation, and this is part of business life. But we do not classify the litigation according to a category called curiosity. You also asked about the number of proceedings in labor courts and -- pending in the fiscal year and their results and fiscal 2020 at Bayer AG. We had 30 proceedings pending in labor courts, and these were all suits filed by current or former employees of Bayer AG. At about 60% of cases, the labor court proceedings were settled out of court. About 27% of cases are currently still pending. And the other cases, the proceedings at labor court ended by a withdrawal of the suit by the plaintiffs or conclusion of the proceedings at the court. There was another question about the cost for the paying agent for the 2020 dividend. The costs were less than EUR 100,000. There was another question that you asked. It was about the number of political lobbyists that Bayer has in Germany and abroad. In its liaison offices, Bayer employs 50 people whose main job is to do political lobbying, and the number for Germany is 7. There was another question that you asked about the costs that were incurred in 2019 to 2020 by the company for political lobbying. The cost of our political liaison offices in 2019 were EUR 17 million. EUR 2 million of that was for Berlin. In 2020, the costs were EUR 16 million. And of that amount, EUR 2 million were for Berlin. This information comprises material, HR and project expenses and can be found in detail in our sustainability report. You asked about the 3 most successful products in 2020 and 2019 in Germany and globally in economic terms and in volume terms. The 3 most successful products in economic terms around the world in 2019 and 2020 were Xarelto, EYLEA and Adempas. In Germany, in 2019, these were Xarelto, EYLEA and Betaferon. And in 2020, they were Xarelto, Adempas and EYLEA. Due to the diversity of our product portfolio and the different volume units that we use, as a result, we can say that the question about volumes cannot be answered. And now I'd like to hand over to Heiko Schipper. Heiko?

Thank you, Mr. Baumann. You also asked what products, segments developed extraordinarily well or poorly in the fiscal year and also what was the highest volume, the highest revenue and highest margin product in each of these years, 2019 and 2020. In the Consumer Health division, the nutritional supplies division developed extraordinarily well. There were no extraordinarily poor product categories. In Pharmaceuticals, the development for Adempas and Vitrakvi was extraordinarily strong, whereas with Glucobay, we saw stronger declines. In terms of revenue and margins, the strongest product in 2019 and in 2020 was Xarelto. A purely volume-based answer to your question is, unfortunately, not possible. We also received from you a question about the development of purchasing prices for raw materials. After the corona-induced collapse in March of 2020, raw materials prices have rose steadily since. According to Bloomberg News agency, global raw material prices have increased in price by about 12% on a dollar basis. The increase is very different in each of our different business areas, depending on the raw material, the region and the product. However, currently, we do not expect any significant impact on our business or our products. Furthermore, you asked what the revenue and profit contribution volume was from the top 10, 20 and 50 volume products in 2019 and in 2020. A pure volume-oriented answer to your question is, unfortunately, not possible. You also wanted to know how the 5 most expensive products -- or what the 5 most expensive products are and how their prices have developed in the past 3 years. Bayer has a diversified portfolio with various different products such as seeds, plant protection agents, over-the-counter drugs and pharmaceutical products. In addition to that, price levels for products vary -- sometimes vary widely in different parts of the world. And therefore, it is not possible to clearly identify the 5 most expensive products. Even within a division such as Pharmaceuticals, the price of a tablet is an irrelevant parameter for annual therapy costs because many other factors such as dosing and therapeutic schedule and duration must be taken into account. So in summary, I can say that there is no way to answer that question in any meaningful way. Furthermore, you asked how detailed and how up to date our merchandise management system is. Our merchandise management system is SAP based and records inventories of all goods, products and raw materials very quickly. Reordering is done automatically. And as a result, inventory on demand is assured, taking account delivery times and any possible bottlenecks in the market. You also asked how many tons of aspirin were produced in 2020. The unit on measuring our production volumes is the number of packaged packs produced. Last year, we produced 630 million packs of aspirin, Aspirin Cardio. You asked how many tons of Bepanthen were produced in year 2020. We measure our production quantities with the number of packages produced. Last year, we sold around 110 packs of Bepanthen. And I will hand back to Mr. Baumann.

Thank you very much. Another question related to changes for the -- charges for the dual system in Germany in 2019 and '20. In 2019 and 2020, Bayer paid levies of less than EUR 500 to the dual system in Germany. What needs to be taken into account here is that the packages for crop protection products and also pharmaceutical products that come into contact with the products are not subject to the packaging law. For the packaging of crop protection products in Germany as a sector solution, we have our own return and usage system. And in 2020, Bayer paid charges of around EUR 900,000. Now for the reuse, repackaging of drug products in Germany, we pay levies to packaging producers for system participation obligation packaging. In 2020, this was around EUR 650,000. Furthermore, you asked whether in fiscal 2020, we had any notable price increases that we were able to pass to our customers. We did not have any -- we were not able to put any significant price increases in 2020. The next question relates to advertising costs, and this includes all costs for promoting our products. At Consumer Health, it was EUR 5 million in 2019 and EUR 6 million in 2020. In Pharmaceuticals, Crop Science and Animal Health, there was no significant payments. You also asked about the level of depreciation for goods and whether they were disposed of or sold at a reduced price. We did not send these back of the sales channels. Now when it comes to crop protection, our products are usually reprocessed, which means that we don't have any significant depreciation. In the ESC business, we either dispose of them or look for alternative uses and sell them on as animal feed. In our annual report, we have reported impairments on inventories of around EUR 63 million. You also asked how many new products in 2020 were launched in Germany. In Germany in 2020, at Crop Science, we had 20; Consumer Health, 4; Pharmaceuticals, 3 new products that were launched. You also asked how many products in 2020 were removed due to a lack of demand. Well, I cannot really answer this question properly. You asked about the impact of Brexit -- impact from Brexit on our sales. We have not noticed any impact on sales or our relationship with the suppliers. You also asked about our contribution margins and sales. Now sales revenues in the companies came in at EUR 1.1 billion in 2020, EUR 1.2 billion in 2019. The profit contributions came in at EUR 242 million in 2020 and EUR 334 million in 2019. You asked how many legal disputes of Monsanto were this year and last year and how high the litigation value was. You also wanted to know where these were distributed geographically. We don't know how many lawsuits are associated with these proceedings at the moment. The existing product liability trials for Monsanto on glyphosate, PCB and dicamba will only be able to be determined once the settlement proceedings have been finalized. Before this, due to there being large fluctuations, we are not able to make any firm figures on this. We don't also know how many of these lawsuits, but I've already said what we assume this level will be. Also, the litigation value will only be able to be determined once the allegations have been explained in more detail and once the court trials have verified these. We've also already spoken about what financial burden we expect due to this litigation, but here are some more specific details. For the liability lawsuit on glyphosate in the U.S.A. in the report 2019, we reported 48,600 claimants. In Canada, there were 11 requests to certify a class action. In 2020, we had lawsuits of around 61,800 claimants in the U.S.A. New numbers will be communicated in the report on the first quarter 2021 on the 12th of May. The number of requests to certify a class action in Canada was 14 in 2020. There were some product liability litigation cases on glyphosate in Australia, Chile, France and Israel. There were 3 requests for certifying a class action in Australia and 1 in Israel. On dicamba, in June '19, there were 117 lawsuits, and in 2021, 175 in the U.S.A. With the settlement that we achieved on PCB in water, we aim to settle the claims of 2,500 municipal bodies and authorities. Additionally, Bayer has made settlements in June 2020 with 3 attorney generals in the U.S.A. concerning PCB. Furthermore, there are also trials concerning PCB in buildings. There are 3 series of proceedings with several claimants that are pending. There were also further litigation cases involving Monsanto, for example, Agent Orange and that there were false product information on glyphosate. But this is mainly in the U.S.A. You also wanted to know about the trial expenses for pending Monsanto cases. The legal costs for the product liability litigation on glyphosate and also concerning dicamba and PCB amounted to USD 278 million in 2019. In 2020, this is USD 66 million. And most of this was in the U.S.A. Another question regarding the payments in the Monsanto trials in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. Due to the first instance judgment and final judgment and the settlement course and how this was distributed all over the world, settlement payments made in 2020 amounted USD 4.1 billion. Three cases were put before a jury court, and these are not included in this number. As we already said, Johnson case was settled at an amount of USD 20.5 million. These numbers were just relevant for the U.S.A. For further numbers, which are relevant for the first quarter 2021, we refer you to our quarterly report, which will be published on the 12th of May. You also wanted to know when we will regain our stock market value we had before acquiring Monsanto. We'd refer you to our strategy and financial planning, which is in our business report. But we are optimistic for the future. We are unable to say what share prices will be achieved on the stock market in future at what times. Another question was how many Wirecard shares Bayer AG had in its portfolio on the 31st of December 2019. There have never been any shares of Wirecard AG in the Bayer direct investment portfolio. Now Mr. Winkeljohann will continue.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Baumann. Ladies and gentlemen, another question is what consequence within the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board did the Wirecard scandal have when the election -- when it came to choosing the auditors. Well, we look here in the Audit Committee. We try to ensure that there is an independence of the auditor. And there's been no indication to -- that we should doubt the competence and integrity of our auditor, Deloitte. Another question was whether we have phantom revenue at a high level in our company and whether we can rule this out. The Audit Committee looked at, in its meeting, after the first half of 2020 and did not see any indication of this. Bayer has many internal control measures, including an internal control mechanism, which ensures that there is sound financial reporting. Furthermore, the majority of our business model is not very vulnerable to phantom sales like models in the area of financial services. Also, there are checks carried out during the audit by the Audit Committee. Another question was what is the number for the final financial accounts and what the tolerance is for this compared to the year before. Here, we can tell you that the communication of the auditor to the public is carried out with a confirmation mark. All other results of the audit are addressed just to the auditor themselves. And this is well known. You asked questions about the process for selecting the Supervisory Board candidates and the candidates proposed by the Supervisory Board for election. The candidates proposed were identified by the Nomination Committee of the Supervisory Board, which gives the Supervisory Board a recommendation. In the selection process, there were 18 candidates who were included. And this process was supported in one of both cases by an HR company, Egon Zehnder. There were the total of 6 candidates with whom we had long conversations. The conversations were with the head of the Supervisory Board and further members of the Nomination Committee of the Supervisory Board. I already told you some of the reasons for why we chose those. In the end, 2 were chosen, including expertise in digitalization, AI and agriculture and food. In his -- in its recommendation for the election of Dr. Li and Dr. Weisser, the Nomination Committee has explained its goals in the business report 2020 and has paid good attention to the competency profile of the Supervisory Board. There's no relations between Bayer and Dr. Li and Alberto Weisser. The Board sees, therefore, these 2 are independent. As you can tell in the published CVs and as we already heard this morning, the Supervisory Board has selected Professor Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser due to their experience and their skills. And they have -- they complement the Supervisory Board. Both of them have experience in -- as members of the Board of Directors of larger U.S. American listed companies. This was -- Professor Fei-Fei Li was at Twitter and Alberto Weisser on the Board of Management at PepsiCo. We were also asked how long the Supervisory Board members, the ones that have stepped down, Hanneke Faber and Professor Plischke, how long they were on the Supervisory Board and why they're not running for reelection. Both Hanneke Faber and Wolfgang Plischke have been members of the Supervisory Board at Bayer since April 2016. Both of them are no longer available for reelection. You asked a number of questions on the proposed increase in the Supervisory Board compensation. Both Boards review the Supervisory Board compensation on a regular basis. This was done at the beginning of this year, and we saw that the compensation is no longer in line with market practice. And based on the increased requirements with regard to the work of the Supervisory Board, the compensation is no longer adequate. We use other large listed companies as a comparable basis, including, in particular, DAX 30 companies as not including any financial service companies. If we compare the compensation with that of the employees, when we -- this was also considered when we consider the proposed increase. The average gross income of a Bayer employee in 2020 in Germany was approximately EUR 117,000, and this has gone up by about 15% since 2017. And at Bayer, due to the pandemic, there was no reduced working nor was there any loss in fixed income for the employees. Supervisory Board compensation has to be competitive in order to ensure a good composition with qualified internationally experienced members. This is what the investors call for. Compensation for the Supervisory Board was increased moderately in 2017 for the last time by 10%, although back then, when we compared this with peer companies, it should have been increased by about 20%. That is why the proposed increase amount is necessary and appropriate. The attendance fee of EUR 1,500 is what we consider appropriate. This is common practice at companies which we have compared ourselves. The absolute amount is in the upper mid-range, EUR 1,500 per meeting. If there are more than one -- if more than one meeting on 1 day, then this fee is only paid once. You also asked why we didn't have a special audit on the acquisition of Monsanto. The Supervisory Board dealt intensely with this question as to whether the Board of Management had abided by its due diligence in conjunction with the Monsanto acquisition. A legal expert opinion was performed by a well-known law firm as well as a professor for corporate law, and they both decided that the decision to acquire Monsanto was within the framework of business judgment rule and that their due diligence requirements were not violated. And then there was also a voluntary special audit for the M&A process at Bayer, and this came out positive. Also, the legal opinions prepared before the acquisition with regard to possible legal risk in conjunction with glyphosate were tested and reviewed on an independent basis and came up with an appropriate risk assessment. So all of these questions were worked on comprehensively by external experts. And you can see all of this on the website for -- on the company's website with last year's Annual Stockholders' Meeting. You also asked what -- how the Supervisory Board can improve in 2021 compared to 2020. The targets for the Supervisory Board's work have already been mentioned in my speech earlier today, and I summed it up in 7 points. And I'd like to refer to that point. And now I'd like to hand back over to Werner Baumann.

Thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann. Vaccines, you're asking why other companies overtook us. Bayer focuses its R&D on cancer, cardiovascular diseases, gynecology and cell and gene therapy. Vaccine was never one of our focuses. And irrespective of all of this, we are supporting CureVac in developing, producing and delivering their vaccine for COVID-19. You also asked about the strength of our R&D portfolio in the Pharmaceuticals division. We have a promising research and development portfolio, especially in the fields of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, gynecology, cell and gene therapy. We have Nubeqa, finerenone, elinzanetant, [ Verquvo ] and a number of potential blockbuster products. You also asked about cooperation agreements in order to combat COVID-19. We have agreed with CureVac that we will support them for the approval and sales of their candidate vaccine. This cooperation was announced at the beginning of this year. The production of the vaccine by CureVac is being planned by Bayer. And we plan to be able to deliver 160 million doses of the CureVac vaccine. You asked about public subsidies that Bayer received in 2019 and '20 in Germany, Europe, the U.S. and worldwide. The research activities in the pharmaceutical area were subsidized with a total of EUR 655,277. In Germany, this was EUR 320,327 and in Europe, EUR 334,950. In 2019, the amount was EUR 659,979, of which EUR 454,028 were Germany and EUR 205,951 in Europe. No repayment is foreseen as long as all of the conditions are met. At Crop Science, the amount in 2020 came to EUR 31.8 million, EUR 12.8 million of which in Germany and EUR 19 million in Europe. In 2019, the amount was EUR 33.2 million, of which EUR 11.4 million in Germany and EUR 21.8 million in Europe. The repayment conditions in Germany are such that if the -- if something is launched successfully, then this money is paid back together with interest and perhaps a surcharge. But in Europe, no repayment is provided for. Another question related to nonoperating capital at Bayer AG and in the group. Considering the determination of ROCE, we define nonoperating capital as a difference from -- between total asset and gross capital employed. Total assets at Bayer Group amounted to EUR 117 billion on the 31st of December 2020. Gross capital employed amounted to EUR 100 billion. That means that nonoperating capital amounted to EUR 17 billion. The amount going to Bayer AG amounts to about EUR 10 billion. You asked about the inventories in our collections and similar assets and their value of the current inventory. It's about 5,000 pieces of art. The vast majority has a nonmaterial value. About 5,000 of them are -- about 250 of them are in our Bayer collection, different art forms, and they are not investment oriented. They serve to support the arts. Total value of the collection is several million euros, but it is always subject to major fluctuations. You then asked why shareholders did not receive the entire convocation to the AGM this year but rather an abridged version of the information according to the EU implementation regulation. The sending of AGM documents to our shareholders is done on the basis of the amended statutory rules of Section 125 of the German stockholder -- Stock Corporation Act and the EU implementation regulation contained therein. And they were -- they reflect EU directive and were used this year for the first time. The version of the overview that you -- were sent out this year complies with legal requirements. If you want to question the purpose and the meaning of legal requirements, we're not the right to addressee for that. You also asked why the complete agenda was not sent out with the proposed resolutions, but this was already answered with regard to the shareholder rights directive. The additional cost for our 6,000 -- 600,000 shareholders would have been about EUR 0.55 per shareholder. You also had a question about the cost or sending the documents for the 2021 and 2020 AGM. The 2020 costs were about EUR 600,000. And for 2021, they were about EUR 540,000, even though this year, we have about 200,000 shareholders more in our share registry. You also asked why we're cutting back on information sent to shareholders, and you mentioned as an example the agenda last year, the act on implementation of the second shareholder rights directive came into effect. That covers communication between the company and shareholders. This new act impacts, for instance, the announcement from the company to shareholders regarding convocation of the AGM and the content and format of that announcement, and they are aligned toward electronic transmission. And Bayer AG has taken advantage of this possibility for their virtual AGM in 2021. And on that note, I will hand back to Ariane de Hoog.

Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann, and thank you to the Board of Management for answering the questions from our shareholders. Finally, we will now move on to the follow-up questions. And some of the shareholders asked these follow-up questions after the answers to their questions. We received 9 follow-up questions after our investor portal was shut down. And I will now hand over to Mr. Winkeljohann to answer the first question -- follow-up question.

Thank you very much, Ariane de Hoog. We were asked whether he had to vote against the ratification of the entire Board of Management if he just wanted to refrain from ratifying the actions of the CEO. As I said, it applies to the entire Board of Management. Your vote on this item of the agenda is based on all of the members of the Board. [ Mr. Gippler ] asked why when answering these questions, the names of all shareholders was not mentioned but only the questions of the institutional investors and their capacity. When answering the questions and the follow-up questions, the names of all shareholders who asked us to mention their names were mentioned. Now I'll hand over to Werner Baumann.

Thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann. We had 2 questions -- follow-up questions from Mr. Tungler about the synergies between Pharma and Crop Science and also about the Pharma pipeline products with the greatest potential. Specific synergies between Pharma and Crop Science come about in development. For example, molecular biological technologies, high throughput screening and high chemical substances play an important role in both of these divisions. A mutual exchange of ideas can be of benefit to the researches in both divisions. And in our Pharma research project in the late pipeline for Nubeqa, finerenone and elinzanetant, we believe that we have the greatest economic potential. Now for each of these products, we expect peak sales potential of around EUR 1 billion or more. Now the Coordination against BAYER Dangers asked a question about glyphosate. As I said previously, we have reached a settlement with the plaintiffs so that they continue with their appeal. This is a legitimate means of allowing our defense case to be monitored. I will answer the next question as follows. It's about a link really on the court cases relating to glyphosate and if there's any link. Now according to this, Bayer has not had to make any penalty payments in the U.S. relating to any bribes. No bribes have been paid, and there has been no related issues in the U.S. And I will now hand over to Liam Condon for the next questions.

Thank you very much, Werner. The Coordination against BAYER Dangers said that I said that a glyphosate ban was too expensive. This is not correct. I only pointed out that as things stand, in agriculture, there is no adequate alternative to glyphosate whether in terms of costs, environmental compatibility and effectiveness. The Coordination against BAYER Dangers also asked about the toxicity of Bt. For 50 years now, Bt has been used in ecological farming without any concerns. Any type of Bt proteins becomes amino acid during the digestion process, regardless of whether it comes from plants or whether it is in a different state. The Coordination against BAYER Dangers asked whether Board decisions are pending or if there are any from the past about ceasing Bayer's war munitions production when it comes to the use of Bayer products for war purposes and also about Agent Orange. They also want to know when these decisions were made, in which meetings because Bayer does not produce war munitions. We had no decisions from the Board on this and none are planned either. We expect that the rest of your questions about compensation payments relate to Agent Orange. As I said before, the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam by the U.S. has already been looked at by U.S. courts and a verdict has already been passed based on the documents available. I would also like to refer to what I said on this matter earlier on. I would now like to hand over to Stefan Oelrich.

Thank you very much, Liam. The Coordination against BAYER Dangers has asked whether Bayer when it came to the use of medicines in children's [ homes, ] whether that you will allow [ insight ] into its files. Between 1950 to 1978, we granted an insight -- we granted access to our files in Leverkusen and Berlin. The Coordination against BAYER Dangers has also asked relating to our CureVac cooperation the financial details of the agreement. As I said before, the Bayer -- the cooperation has a commercial value. Now the financial details that we have with Curevac are subject to confidentiality. The support of Curevac requires a substantial expenditure on the part of Bayer and this is being honored by CureVac. Furthermore, in conjunction with the cooperation with Curevac, we were asked why only in 2022, we will be making a contribution. The production of vaccines is not possible without significant investment. You have to retool or build completely new production facilities. You also need new special equipments, and you also have to have the validation of all of the systems before you can commence production. Also, manufacturing process and tests of a complex product like an mRNA vaccine is very -- it takes a lot of time. By the end of 2021, we hope to be able to commence production. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, we have worked with some of our experts in the field to also help with the corona vision -- with the coronavirus test laboratory. Furthermore, we are currently capable with our own employees to support the vaccination campaign in workplaces once this is authorized. We have the requisite people for the job. But we have not yet decided how many people we believe have their duties to be able to do this. I would now like to hand over back to Ariane de Hoog.

Thank you very much, Mr. Oelrich. So we haven't only answered all of the questions filed by our shareholders, but also the follow-up questions that we received. So we have now finished the Q&A session. I would like to say thank you very much for your attention. And I will now hand back to Mr. Winkeljohann.

Thank you very much for the moderation. And also thank you very much to you, Mr. Baumann and to your colleagues on the Board of Management for your comprehensive responses. I now close the Q&A session. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to point out that we will soon be closing the voting process via the company appointed proxies and representatives. I'll come back to this shortly. If you would like to issue instructions or cast your votes, if you would like to change your votes or withdraw your votes, then please do so now. Before we come to the vote, I would now like to tell you how many people are present. The attendance is -- this is what I said before, of our share capital of EUR 2,515,005,694.9 divided into 982,428 no par value shares, 517,073,117 represented with the same number of votes. So this constitutes around 67.2% of share capital. The register can be seen on the shareholders' portal and absentee votes were 7 million, no par value shares have been received. So 525,918,706 no par value shares represented, which is 53.34% of share capital. I can also tell you that at the moment 2,153 people are currently viewing our virtual ASM online. We will soon come to the votes. The company-appointed proxies will cast their votes according to the instructions that have been sent to them. Furthermore, the absentee votes will also be taken into account when calculating the results of the vote. I hereby announce that once again, I will state what the proposals are, and then we will take a brief break. As soon as we resume, we will have a vote and also the issuing of instructions via the shareholder service in the Internet [ portal ] will not be possible anymore. And the vote will take place based on the company-appointed proxies. So now cast your votes, please, or please now issue the instructions to your proxies or the instructions to proxies. I will now go through the items on the agenda as announced. Now the item 1 on the agenda, is proposed the annual financial statements, the approved consolidated financial statements, the combined management report, the report of the Supervisory Board and the proposal by the Supervisory Board and also that a dividend be paid at EUR 2 for each share carrying dividend rights. Just -- let me say this again. Now the reported net income of EUR 1,964,848,164 in the form of a dividend payment of EUR 2 for each share carrying dividend rights. There is one countermotion for profit distribution. As the Chairman, I would like to proceed as we usually do and say that if this proposal does not receive the requisite majority, then I will deal with the countermotion. Now on to item 2 of the agenda, which is ratification of the action of the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board proposes that we do -- that you do ratify the actions of the Board of Management. There was a countermotion to refuse to ratify the actions. You can agree with the countermotion by voting against this, voting no. The members of the Board of Management have been told for their own shares and also for third-party shares they are required to abstain, and this also applies to people who represent stocks held by the Board of Management. Now on to item 3 of the agenda, which is ratification of the members of the Supervisory Board. Supervisory Board proposes that the members of the Supervisory Board in 2020 have their actions ratified. There was a countermotion requesting the members of -- the actions of the members of the Board -- Supervisory Board not be ratified. If you would like to vote for the countermotion, then please select no, when you vote on this item. Supervisory Board members are aware that they must abstain for their own shares and also for third-party shares, and this also applies to people representing shares for the Supervisory Board. Now on to item 4. The Supervisory Board proposes that Dr. Fei Li and Mr. Alberto Weisser be voted on to the Supervisory Board for a period from the end of this year's ASM up to the end of fiscal year 2024. Countermotions have been filed, but this is not supported by 10% of capital. Now as the Chairman of the meeting, I would like to put forward the proposal of the Supervisory Board members. If we do not get the requisite majority, then I will deal with the countermotion. Now on to item 5 of the agenda, which is a resolution about the compensation of Supervisory Board members and the change of the Articles of Incorporation about the compensation of Supervisory Board members. And as such, the Supervisory Board proposes that the amendment be made and that it will take effect, as described -- at this point in time described in the invitation of the annual shareholders' meeting. A countermotion has been filed to reject this proposal. And you can agree with this simply by voting no on this item on the agenda. Now on to Item 6 on the agenda, the election of the final auditor and also an auditor for auditing the half year financial reports and the interim financial reports. The Supervisory Board proposes that Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Munich be the auditor for the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements. And also for the interim management report on the 30th of June 2021 and any shortened versions of the financial statements or interim management report of the 30th of September 2021 and the 31st of March 2022. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to state that 04:05 p.m. the start of the voting will be taking place. Absentee voting and also the issuing of proxies and instructions to company appointed proxies and any changes or revocations are not possible after the break has finished. The transmission of the ASM will briefly be interrupted and will be -- will resumed at 04:05 p.m. Thank you. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now 5 minutes past four. And we're going to continue the votes by absentee ballot and the instructions and authorizations to the proxy holders are no longer possible. I would like to ask the [indiscernible] to take this into account and to be noted by the notary public. Let's begin with the vote. First of all, the company's proxies they will then release the votes in accordance with your instructions on the individual agenda items and then will give me a short sign. I've seen that the votes by the company's proxy holders has taken place. That concludes the vote. So now we can begin counting the votes and the absentee ballots will also be taken into account when the votes are counted. And we're going to -- the time taken will depend on the number of changes or revoked absentee ballots and instructions to the company's proxy holder. Once we have these results, I will announce what the results are. Until then, I'm going to interrupt the Annual Stockholders Meeting and ask you to bear with us. The notary public will be monitoring the counting of the votes. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the results of the vote. And I now call the annual -- resume the annual Shareholders' meeting and will announce the results. The number of valid votes cast as well as the number of votes in favor and against and the abstentions will be shown separately for every agenda item. The detailed results of the vote will also be available on the company's website this evening. That brings me to agenda Item 1, the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements, the combined management report, the report of the Supervisory Board and the proposal by the Board of Management for the use of the distributable profit for fiscal 2020 and the resolution on the use of the distributable profit. I note that with regard to agenda Item 1, we had a total of 512,502,683 shares. And for these validly cast votes, that's 52.17% of the capital stock. 510,900,611 votes in favor, that's 99.69%. And votes against, 1,602,072, 0.31%. We had a total of 12,425,870 abstentions. Agenda Item 1, with regard to the use of the distributable profit as published in the federal gazette on the 12th of March 2021. So this has been adopted with the necessary majority. That brings me to agenda Item 2, the ratification of the Board of Management. I note that the -- we had a total of 504,384,313 shares. We had valid votes cast for these shares, that's 51.34% of the capital stock. 454,351,469 votes in favor, that's 90.08%. Votes against 50,032,844 votes, 9.92%. 20,458,838 (sic) [ 20,458,833 ] abstentions. The Annual Shareholders Meeting has approved the ratification of the actions of the members of the Board of Management as published in the federal gazette on the 12th of March 2020. The necessary majority has been achieved. And I am pleased at the trust placed in the Board of Management. Congratulations to you, Mr. Baumann and to the entire Board of Management for the trust placed in you. That brings us to agenda item 3, ratification of the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board. I note and announce that we had a total of 503,665,304 (sic) [ 503,665,305 ] shares for which ballot votes were cast. This is 51.27% of the capital stock. We had 466,310,005 votes in favor, that's 92.58%, and 37,355,300 votes against, 7.42%, and we had a total of 21,217,425 abstentions. The Annual Stockholders' Meeting has approved the ratification of the actions of the Board of members of the Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal gazette on the 12th of March 2021. The necessary majority has been achieved. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the trust that you have placed in the Supervisory Board. My thanks go on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board. Agenda Item 4, Supervisory Board elections. I note and announce that the election when it comes to Professor Dr. Fei-Fei Li, we have a total of 520,356,670 shares, for which valid votes were cast. That's 52.9% of the capital stock; 517,005,597 votes in favor, 99.36%; 3,351,073 votes against, 0.64%; and we had a total of 4,571,835 abstentions. So when it comes to agenda item 4, the necessary majority was achieved for the election of Professor Dr. Fei-Fei Li as published in the Federal gazette on the 12th of March 2021. The election of Alberto Weisser, we have 520,391,903 shares for which valid votes were cast. This is 52% -- 52.9% -- 52.97% of the capital stock; 517,699,130 votes in favor or 99.48%; and 2,692,773 votes against, 0.52%. We also had 4,536,981 abstentions. The Annual Stockholders' Meeting has approved the resolution as published in the Federal gazette on the 12th of March 2021. The necessary majority was achieved. The resolution is adopted. Dear Fei-Fei Li and Mr. Weisser congratulations to both of you. We look forward to working with you on the Supervisory Board. That brings me to agenda Item 5, resolution on the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board, an amendment to article 12 of the Articles of Incorporation regarding the compensation of the Supervisory Board. We have a total of 515,060,810 (sic) [ 514,060,810 ] shares for which valid votes were cast. That's 52.33% of capital stock. There were 502,869,616 votes in favor or 97.82%, and there were 11,191,194 votes against, 2.18%. We had a total of 10,867,706 abstentions. The Annual Stockholders' Meeting has adopted the resolution on the compensation of the members of the Supervisory Board and the amendment to Article 12 regarding the compensation of the Supervisory Board, that's Article 12. This has been adopted as published in the Federal gazette on the 12th of March 2021. That brings me to the final agenda item, which we voted on. That's 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. We have a total of 522,307,249 shares for which a valid vote was cast. This is 53.17% of the capital stock. 507,244,790 (sic) [ 517,244,791 ] votes in favor, 99.03%; and there were 5,062,458 votes against, 0.97%. We also had a total of 2,618,694 abstentions. So the annual Stockholders' meeting has adopted agenda Item 6, 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, has been adopted as published in the Federal Gazette published on the 12th of March 2021 with the necessary majority. So ladies and gentlemen, congratulations to Deloitte, as you're -- on your election to be our auditors and all of the countermotions are moved as a result. So ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, that brings us to the end of our agenda. And I would like to thank all of you on behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management. Thank you very much for participating in our Annual Stockholders' Meeting, our virtual meeting. Thank you to all the employees who prepared the answers to the questions and follow-up questions and to everyone who is involved in preparing and organizing today's Annual Stockholder Meeting. It was intense work. Thank you for your support also over the weekend. The next regular Annual Shareholders Meeting is scheduled for the 29th of April '22. Hopefully, it will be a face-to-face meeting at the conference center in Bonn. Thank you once again for coming, for your interest in our company in Bayer AG. At this point, I'd like to wish you all the very best, above all, the best of health. Have a lovely evening, and that concludes our Annual Stockholders' Meeting at 4:36 p.m. Thank you very much. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]