Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Bayer AG and as the Chair of today's meeting, I call today's Annual Shareholders Meeting to order. I would like to welcome you, our shareholders, our shareholders' representatives, representatives from the media, as well as all other viewers who are following today's Annual Shareholders Meeting on the Internet. I'd first like to turn our attention to Ukraine. It's been 2 months now since Russia invaded Ukraine, and we're still seeing terrible images every day. Nobody would have thought war would have been possible in Europe just a short time ago. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the people in Ukraine. Bayer is making extensive -- is giving extensive aid to Ukraine in the form of monetary donations and donations in kind as well as antibiotics and seed. I'll go more into that later on today. Now let's turn to today's Annual Shareholders Meeting. When we planned and convened the Annual Shareholders Meeting, we didn't know whether a face-to-face meeting would have been possible with several thousand participants in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and also, we would have also had certain restrictions and risks, had it been in-person. So the Board of Management, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, has decided once again to have a virtual Annual Shareholders' Meeting, without the physical presence of our shareholders and their authorized representatives. This is basically what nearly all of the larger listed companies in Germany have been doing. On the basis of the experience we collected over the last 2 years, we believe that a virtual ASM can also be an interesting and lively exchange between shareholders and management. This year, too, we have also given our possibility to our shareholders to give them additional rights. This was a voluntary measure on our parts to support this exchange. We're going beyond what is required by law. I'll come back to that later on. Now we can see that the interaction is certainly not the end of all these developments. In view of the ongoing pandemic, the number of participants has been limited extensively here in our communication center here in Leverkusen. And we are following a very strict safety and hygiene concept. From the Supervisory Board, in addition to myself, we also have the Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board, Oliver Zuhlke. This year, all members of the Board of Management are here in person so that they can answer your questions later on. I would like to welcome the Chief Executive Officer at Bayer AG, Werner Baumann. I would also like to welcome Sarena Lin, who is responsible for Transformation & Talent. I would also like to welcome our Chief Financial Officer, Wolfgang Nickl. And our members of the Management Board, Stefan Oelrich, who is the Head of the Pharmaceuticals division; Rodrigo Santos, who is the Head of the Crop Science division; and Heiko Schipper, who is the Head of the Consumer Health division. I'm especially happy to be able to welcome Rodrigo Santos here at today's Annual Shareholders Meeting for the first time. As you know, the Supervisory Board appointed Rodrigo Santos as a member of the Board of Management as of the 1st of January, 2022. He is responsible for the Crop Science division. He's going to introduce himself now in person. Go ahead, Rodrigo.

It's a great pleasure to introduce myself to you today. My name is Rodrigo Santos, and I joined the Board of Management on January 1 this year. As President of the Crop Science division, I'm steering our activities in seeds, crop protection and Digital Farming areas. I'm also responsible for the regions Latin America and Africa. I've worked in agriculture for 23 years, holding leadership roles across sales, marketing, strategy and business development in Brazil, United States and Europe. Most recently as Chief Operating Officer of the Crop Science division. I'm very much looking forward to bringing my experience to help bring Bayer's vision, "Health for all, hunger for none." to life. As a leading life science company, Bayer is well-positioned to improve the quality of life of a growing population. With our agriculture technologies and innovations, we can improve health, affordable and safe food for the world while conserving critically important natural resource. I'm excited to bring my dedication and experience to my role on the Bayer Board of Management in a mutual interest of you, our shareholders, our consumers, our employees and society at large. I hope for your trust and support in shaping the future of our company and with it, the future of agriculture. Thank you very much.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much for Rodrigo Santos. I would also like to welcome [ Dr. Mark Hammond ], our public notary. He will be taking the minutes for today's ASM as in previous years. We also have a proxy holder from the company here with us today. The other members of the Supervisory Board have joined us on the Internet, and they can also communicate with me and with the members of the Board of Management. Ladies and gentlemen, for the members of the Supervisory Board following us virtually, I'd especially like to welcome Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser. They were elected at last year's ASM to the Supervisory Board, and they are attending today for the first time as Supervisory Board members. Welcome. Unfortunately, since our last Annual Shareholders Meeting, some Bayer colleagues have left us. And in memory of all of the employees who have passed away in conjunction with COVID infections as well as all other Bayer colleagues who passed away last year, and I'd also like to also remember all of the people who have lost their lives due to the terrible war of aggression in Ukraine. And let's ask for a moment of silence, please. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, this year, our Annual Shareholders Meeting is a virtual meeting, as I said before. We have gone well beyond what is required legally as we did last year. We've given you the possibility to submit statements prior to the Annual Shareholders Meeting in the form of text or as videos with respect to the agenda. And during today's ASM, you will also have the possibility to ask follow-up questions. Based on the legal requirements, you were also allowed to submit countermotions and proposals for the elections. We see that a lot of people have made use of this possibility. We received 3 written statements and 17 videos, as well as 9 countermotions and proposals for elections. All of these have been posted on the company's website for the Annual Shareholders Meeting. We will also be showing you the videos that were received prior to the ASM. You, as I said before, could submit questions up until one day prior to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting. In order to give you the possibility to ask targeted questions, we posted the CEO's speech as well as my speech prior to the ASM on our website. We -- as I said before, we want to give you as much room for dialogue as possible, dialogue between the company and our shareholders. Voting is something that is possible during the Annual Shareholders' Meeting using the investors portal. We'll be explaining the details on that a little bit later. Ladies and gentlemen, at this point in time, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in preparing and executing today's Annual Shareholders Meeting. And now I'd like to come to the formalities. I'd also give you -- like to give you some information on how today's Annual Shareholders meeting will proceed. This year, as usual, we will be offering you simultaneous interpretation from German into English. You can select the language on the Internet page. Today's virtual ASM was convened together with the agenda and proposals from the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board on the resolutions were published in due form and due time in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022. The financial statements, including the proposal from the Board of Management, for the use of the distributable income as well as the consolidated financial reports and the combined management report, as well as report from the Board of Management on acquisition-related information, as well as the report of the Supervisory Board have been available on the company's website since the notice of today's Annual Shareholders Meeting was published. This also applies to Dr. Achleitner, Dr. Bischofberger and Ms. Goggins' CVs. The Supervisory Board is proposing them for reelection to the Supervisory Board. We also have the compensation report, which you are being asked to approve. With regard to the compensation for the members of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, as well as the new version of the Control and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement between our company and Bayer Chemicals GmbH, in addition to all of the publications and documents published on this point. This is the report from the Board of management from the company and the management of Bayer Chemicals GmbH for the Control and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement, the financial statements for the company and Bayer Chemicals GmbH as well as the combined management report for the company and the group for the last 3 fiscal years. Ladies and gentlemen, I note that the notice to today's meeting was in accordance with the law and our articles of incorporation. This year as well, we will be keeping an attendance list, and this will include the proxy holder from the company as well as the shareholders represented here as has been requested. In addition, the shareholders/shareholders' representatives who have follow-up questions will be able to -- these will be included in the list of participants up until the end of the question-and-answer session. Depending on today's authorizations that have been granted or revoked as well as the shareholders/shareholders' representatives who want to ask follow-up questions, this is something that may cause the number of attendees to change. I would now like to give you the current number of participants as we have from the list. This is something that can also be found in the menu in the shareholders' portal at the top right. Before we begin the vote, I will tell you the attendance figures once again, and it is as follows: Of the capital stock amounting to EUR 2,515,005,694.2, this is divided into 982,424,082 shares. We see that 549,361,191 shares with just as many voting rights are represented here today. This is 55.9% of the registered capital share -- capital stock. The list of participants can also be seen in the investors' portal. And in addition, we also can have absentee ballots for 42,325,355 shares. And this is in accordance with 60 point -- sorry, this means 591,700,536 votes, and this is 60.23% of the registered capital. And once again, absentee ballots, 42,352,355 shares. I can show you that this is 285 people who are following our Annual Shareholders Meeting on the Internet. Ladies and gentlemen. After these introductory comments as well as the reports from the CEO and the Supervisory Board, we will then be answering the questions that were submitted by the deadline on the shareholders' portal and also the follow-up questions that will be asked in today's ASM. A lot of people took advantage of this possibility to submit questions. We received 665 questions, and this is -- these are questions that will all be answered. As I said and as noted in the notice to today's meeting, we are giving the shareholders and their representatives to ask follow-up questions during today's ASM. Shareholders and their representatives who submitted questions using the investors' portal prior to the ASM, will also be able to ask follow-up questions on their questions, and the answer received from the Board of Management. Submitting follow-up questions is only possible using the investors' portal. In this portal, you will also have the possibility to add a follow-up question under your question. This possibility will be available once we start answering your questions. This will then be concluded, and I will inform you of that in due time. The follow-up questions as the questions themselves have to be asked in German. And please remember that this possibility for follow-up question is a voluntary offer on our part. It goes beyond what is required by law. The Board of Management will try to answer all follow-up questions. Depending on the number and the scope of follow-up questions, we might have to restrict the time allowed for answering follow-up questions. Following the question and answer session, we will then be turning to the vote on the agenda items which need to be resolved on. Ladies and gentlemen, we also have some information on the vote. Voting at today's meeting is possible by absentee ballot or through the proxy holder in the shareholders' portal up until the beginning of our votes. I will announce to you in due time when we will be stopping the possibility to cast your vote. Up until then, you can also change your vote using the investors' portal. At the given point in time, I will also recall and remind you to cast your votes. But I would like to call upon you now to cast your votes in a timely manner. Information on exercising your voting rights can also be found in the notice to today's meeting as well as on the company's website. The company's proxy holder will then activate the votes that have been saved in the system on the basis of your instructions to the individual agenda items. The absentee ballots that were received by the deadline will also be taken into account when determining the results of the vote. Voting and the counting of the votes will be monitored by the notary public, and he has already reviewed that we meet the technical requirements for this. Objections to the minutes can also be possible with regard to the resolutions taken by the ASM. This is possible electronically using the shareholders' portal. As explained in the notice to today's meeting, this will be possible from the beginning of the ASM until it is concluded. Ladies and gentlemen, following these explanations, we can now turn to the agenda. The agenda with the proposals for resolutions were included in the Federal Gazette in the notice to this meeting. You will also find this in the notice to the ASM on our website. And this website also shows you the documents for our ASM, which have been made available to our shareholders. We received countermotions and election proposals within the deadline, which were also made available on our website. These are considered as posted if the shareholders have been authorized and have registered for the ASM. Now let's turn to agenda item 1. And this is the annual financial statements and reports, as well as the use of distributable profit. I'd also like to call out the remaining agenda items, agenda items 2 to 7. We will be giving you information on individual agenda items. The complete version of the Annual Report 2021, with the report from the Supervisory Board, the consolidated financial statements as well as the combined management report as well as the annual financial statements with the use of the -- proposal for the use of the distributable profit has been available on the company's website and can also be retrieved there. A copy of all these documents is with the notary public as well. The financial statements 2021 were prepared by the Board of Management, approved by the Supervisory Board and is thus adopted. The consolidated financial statements have also been approved by the Supervisory Board. The combined management Board was reviewed by the Supervisory Board and was approved without any objections. The Supervisory Board has also reviewed and approved the Board of Management proposal for the use of the distributable profit. The financial annual statements, the consolidated annual statements and the combined management [ group ] have been reviewed and audited by the external auditor, and they were given an audit -- an unqualified audit opinion, and this was agreed to by the Supervisory Board. The external auditor has also reviewed the compensation report for fiscal 2021 prepared by the Board of Management, the Supervisory Board, and has also given it an unqualified audit opinion. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to hand over to Mr. Baumann. He will be presenting his report for the Board of Management. Mr. Baumann, the floor is yours.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. I would also like to give you a warm welcome to our Annual General Meeting. Not far from my headquarters here in Leverkusen, lies a place we have used for many years to host conferences. I've been there countless times myself. As we speak, that place has become a new home to about 30 Ukrainians. Mothers with their children and also older people are recovering there after fleeing their homeland. They're receiving help. They are able to regain their strength and maybe even a little bit of hope. One of them is [ Natalia ], who fled her home near Kyiv, with a 6-year-old son and a 11th month old daughter. Her husband is one of our Ukrainian colleagues. He is still on the ground waiting to be called up to the war, but [ Natalia ] and the children are now safe. Here, you can see [ Natalia ] on the plane fleeing with her baby. I've been greatly moved by their plight and many other plights these days. And I am very grateful to the numerous colleagues at Bayer for once again helping out and providing support in an emergency situation with tremendous dedication. The images of refugee families also represent a new reality we are now facing. Now Bayer stands with the people of the Ukraine. They are fighting for the values of the freedom, democracy and human dignity that have been so overwhelmingly attacked by Russian leadership. These values are also my and our values. That's why we are supporting aid organizations with money and relief supplies. Our employees alone have donated more than EUR 1 million, the largest donation received by the German Red Cross from a company's workforce in recent years. We are helping refugees in Poland and other countries. We are also supporting the work of journalists in Ukraine. In this situation, the systemic relevance of our products and our expertise has once again become clear. At the request of the Ukrainian government, we have donated both medical and seed products. We have delivered antibiotics for 27,000 patients in Ukraine. And in these days, we are providing more than 1,000 smallholder farmers in Ukraine, with 41,000 bags of corn seed free of charge, which will hopefully contribute around 180,000 metric tons to the corn harvest. Because a lot depends on the fully functional agriculture in the Ukraine. And that's because this war in the breadbasket of Europe, is exacerbating an already tense situation in the global food supply. Normally, Ukraine and Russia account for more than 1/3 of the world's wheat production. Normally, the World Food Program of the United Nations procures from Ukraine about half of the food it distributes to the world's poorest people. It is already clear that this war will also impact countless victims outside the battle zones. Food security is under massive threat in many countries, especially in the Arab world and in large parts of Africa. In many countries, food is becoming much more expensive. We are already seeing that today. But the situation is even worse in countries where people literally can no longer afford their daily bread if prices double. Many people are already spending much of their income simply to survive. David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Program, describes the effects of the war on the global food supply as a catastrophe. He expects a global impact beyond anything we have seen since World War II. Even before the war, 280 million people were already threatened by hunger. This figure could now increase dramatically. As a leading agriculture company worldwide, we bear a special responsibility here that we want to live up to. In the middle of a food supply crisis, our work for farmers worldwide becomes even more important. The planting and protection of crops is of crucial societal importance in these times, and increasing agriculture and productivity has turned into an overarching societal priority. [ We're forced ] to play an important role in securing the short-term supply of food in the affected regions. Around half of Kenya's cereal harvest is secured with Bayer products, to name just one example. Secondly, we focus on maintaining a global agricultural supply chains. And thirdly, we are supporting the extremely critical role that smallholder farmers play in feeding the world. In many developing countries, they accounts for about 80% of all available food products. Since 2019, part of our sustainability strategy is explicitly focused on that customer group. And we now reach 50 million smallholders worldwide. In the long term, we need more innovation in farming to satisfy the significant demand for both productivity and sustainability. After all, it's not a question of either/or, we need both. Crops such as our short stature corn are much better withstanding climate change. They will help to ensure the food supply for millions of people, even under adverse conditions. And the same applies to fertilizer. Today, agriculture requires nitrogen fertilizer. But in the future, things must change. This is an ecological imperative as artificial fertilizer is responsible for around 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And now it is also a geopolitical imperative because global fertilizer production is heavily dependent on Russia. We need biological alternatives to artificial fertilizer. Bayer has already invested in several promising approaches in which natural microbes support plants with nitrogen. We will now accelerate the research and development of these biological processes. This is one reason for the strategic partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks, one of the pioneers in the global biotech sphere that we announced a week ago. What applies to our fertilizer is also true for energy production as a whole. We have to end our dependency on fossil fuels. Bayer has been taking that approach for a long time. Since 2004, we have gradually and resolutely divested ourselves of our energy-intensive chemical businesses and have established leading businesses in the core areas of health and nutrition. Our company's production network is now well on track to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Last year, we concluded agreements to purchase some 600,000 MW hours of electricity produced from renewable energy sources and thus procure about 25% of our renewable energy. We believe the strategic alignment of our company has proven to be the right one. That is also true when it comes to our societal relevance. During the acute health emergency in the past 2 years, we have helped to fight the pandemic. And now as well, people will be able to count on Bayer to support the global food supply. We are guided by our vision, "Health for all, hunger for none.", and we have still been able to successfully manage our business under these difficult conditions as well. Of course, we too have reacted to the war waged by the Russian leadership. We stopped all spending in Russia that was not directly related to our indispensable products. We have stopped advertising. We have stopped investments. At the same time, we feel an ethical obligation to the civilian population. This senseless war has already cost too many lives. Depriving a cancer patient in St. Petersburg of vital medicines would ultimately mean accepting the death of more civilians. And this would not help anyone. Ladies and gentlemen, that is our position in these difficult times. Now especially, we are needed because our products cover the basic health and nutrition needs of millions of people around the world. And you can count on us in tough times. That was also the case last year, which is the period that an annual stockholders' meeting looks back on. I will therefore now reflect on 2021 before we focus on the future together. I would like to talk about a few milestones that we at Bayer have reached since the previous Annual Stockholders Meeting. In doing so, I will take a look at both the specific numbers and the people who made them possible. This is why I'd like to start by saying a particular word of thanks to our employees around the world. They are the ones who achieved and enabled everything I'm about to report, and they always did so with a tremendous passion and motivation that make our Team Bayer what it is. And they did so often in difficult professional and private circumstances over the course of the pandemic. On behalf of the entire Board of Management, and I'm sure on your behalf as well, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to sincerely thank our employees for this. 2021 was a very good year for Bayer. We achieved significant growth. We successfully launched new products in the market. We strengthened our innovation pipeline. We made progress in sustainability. That's why our headline for the past business year reads, "Bayer is on the right track." While our company sales increased by around 9% last year, our greenhouse gas emissions fell by more than 11%. In other words, we decoupled growth from carbon dioxide emissions. Here as well, we are combining productivity and sustainability, and that is a groundbreaking step. We raised our outlook for 2021 twice during the course of the year. And ultimately, we not only met but exceeded the upgraded forecast. That applies in particular to our sales figure of more than EUR 44 billion, but also to our clean EBITDA of more than EUR 11 billion and core earnings per share of EUR 6.51. Together with the Supervisory Board, we are therefore proposing to today's Annual Stockholders' Meeting the payment of a dividend of EUR 2. This means we are maintaining our dividend policy of distributing 30% to 40% of core earnings per share. As was the case last year, we were at the lower end of that corridor. That's because besides allowing our stockholders to share in our company's success, we want to continue consistently investing in growth and reducing our debt. All 3 divisions posted dynamic growth in 2021 that outperformed their respective markets. This testifies to an outstanding performance by our team. I'd now like to take a slightly closer look at what we achieved. In our agriculture business, we posted double-digit sales growth in 2021. In corn and soybean seeds, we registered substantial growth, especially in North and Latin America. Our herbicides business also expanded considerably. Here, we benefited from the positive trends in the agricultural markets, where we more than offset higher costs and negative currency effects of EUR 387 million. EBITDA before special items advanced by more than 3% overall to EUR 4.7 billion. These numbers were made possible by the tireless efforts of our employees to support farmers all over the world. In this connection, we also rely on collaborations with strong partners like Microsoft, and we're systematically investing in research and development. Indeed, about twice as much as our most significant competitors. In 2021, for example, that enabled us to launch the first ever -- the first relevant RNAi-based product for the agricultural market. And this technology was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2006. We are using it to control the so-called "billion dollar bug" what experts called the Western corn rootworm, which causes an estimated $1 billion in harvest losses and other costs each year in the United States alone. Thanks to our new products. corn farmers now have important tools at their disposal to control this insect pest. At the same time, RNAi technology offers tremendous opportunities for sustainable farming. For example, with climate-resistant plants. Our carbon initiative addresses another issue of outstanding importance. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently reiterated how the agriculture sector can help to fight climate change. One of the main factors is sustainable farming practices to capture carbon in the soil. That's exactly what we are doing when we specifically support farmers in operating sustainably. More than 2,600 farmers in 10 countries participate in our program so far, they have captured over 500,000 metric tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere in their soil over a 1.5 year period. This means that during this period, we have achieved a positive climate impact on these farmlands, equivalent to 30 million trees in the same amount of time. We will significantly expand this leading carbon initiative in the coming years. We are also seeing encouraging steps regarding the glyphosate litigation in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court showed interest in the Hardeman case by inviting the solicitor general, representing the U.S. government to file a brief in this case. Moreover, we have won 2 consecutive jury trials in California. We are continuing to execute our 5-point plan, and we are prepared that any outcome at the Supreme Court. Regarding the PCB water litigation, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California recently granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement we announced with the class of municipal entities in June 2020. Additionally, we have also reached agreements to resolve cases with the Attorneys General of several U.S. states. While we have resolved these PCB cases, there are trials scheduled in the upcoming weeks both in personal injury and environmental cases, including one involving the state of Oregon. That brings us to our Pharmaceuticals business. In 2021, we saw the easing of many COVID restrictions for patients which had an impact on areas such as ophthalmology, radiology or women's health care. Overall, our sales rose by a substantial 7.4%. Our blockbuster drug, Eylea, registered tremendous growth, with sales advancing by 19% year-on-year and new market share gains as well. Our best-selling drug product, Xarelto, also posted significant growth of 6%. EBITDA before special items at Pharmaceuticals came in slightly below the prior year level at EUR 5.8 billion. The somewhat lower earnings figure was mainly attributable to expenses for the market launch of new products and significant expenditures for the division's research and development activities. We introduced new pharmaceutical products to the market in 2021 that we believe have peak annual sales potential totaling more than EUR 5 billion. They include Kerendia, the first treatment of its kind for patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. We received approval for this product in the fall of 2021 in the United States and in February 2022 in Europe. Our new cancer drug, Nubeqa, also posted an outstanding performance in 2021. Thanks to the positive results of the ARASENS trial at the beginning of this year, we now believe Nubeqa has peak annual sales potential of more than EUR 3-odd billion. At the same time, we have been systematically implementing the transformation of our innovation of innovation model at Pharmaceuticals. We have concluded more than two dozen external alliances and acquisitions. We've assembled an industry-leading cell and gene therapy platform. We are conducting research into completely novel therapies of several diseases. In the United States and Canada, 2 different Phase I clinical trials are currently underway with Parkinson's patients, all of them involves a completely new cell therapy and the other a completely new gene therapy. We have once again added a key building blocks in the transformation of our Pharmaceuticals business in recent months, including the acquisition of Vividion Therapeutics. In chemical active substance research, this enables us to identify previously unknown compounds in difficult-to-address target proteins. Another crucial building block is a strategic partnership concluded with Mammoth Biosciences at the beginning of this year. This partnership gives us access to novel gene editing technologies. In addition, we can report good recent news from our clinical development. The Phase IIb trial with asundexian, the potential new anticoagulant, has delivered positive results. Depending on the evaluation of the data, the pivotal Phase III trial with asundexian could begin by the end of this year already. And all of this shows that our Pharmaceuticals business is well-positioned for the future. We also saw significant progress in Consumer Health in 2021, and in particular, an outstanding business performance. Sales of that division improved by 6.5% with broad growth across all the regions. The margin increased for the third consecutive year. Consumer Health is thus maintaining its momentum. EBITDA before special items in 2021 was EUR 1.2 billion, up a substantial 6.8% from the prior year. We succeeded in more than offsetting the inflation-driven increase in costs as well as negative currency effects. The success of our colleagues at Consumer Health is related to our well-known global brands and their innovative improvements by the launch of Bepanthen Derma last year. This success is also based on the high relevance of our preventive health care products. Studies showed that around 70% of consumers are focusing more closely on their daily health as a result of the pandemic. This recent trend is also reflected in the performance of our nutritional supplements, such as the One-A-Day and Redoxon brands. This category posted impressive growth of 12% in 2021, building on what were already strong double-digit gains in the year 2020. Digital technologies are another driver to better serve our customers. More and more people are turning to digital solutions to understand and improve their own health. In Germany alone, at least 2/3 of people look to their cell phones as the first source of information about their own health. And this is why we were investing in digital solutions. Through our partnerships with Berlin-based company, Ada Health or with the U.S. company, Care/of, we offer people personalized information and recommendations for their own health. This happens with the help of artificial intelligence and based on medical expertise. The pandemic has shown all of us how important health is. With these new possibilities, we help people take their health into their own hands. So what does all of this mean for Bayer as a whole? And what does it mean in particular for you as our stockholders? We achieved a lot in 2021. As you have seen, there was also good news to report as regards our operational performance, innovation power and sustainability. But it's also clear, however, that we cannot be satisfied with the performance of our share price in 2021. Nonetheless, the situation has improved in recent months. Since the beginning of the year, the price of our shares has increased by more than 30%. That is, by far, the best performance among DAX and EURO STOXX 50 companies during this period. We aim to maintain that trend. We will continue to work, working hard to support the further recovery of our share price with good results and by reliably achieving our targets. Bayer is on the right track. That's not just our opinion. Major analyst firms have raised their price targets for our stock. The vast majority of our analysts recommend buying the share. In March, the CA 100+ investor initiative published a comprehensive study on how the world's largest 166 companies are reducing their CO2 emissions. Bayer received the highest rating in 7 out of 10 categories, more than any other company surveyed. Ladies and gentlemen, we are optimistic about the future, and we are investing in the future. We spent EUR 5.4 billion on research and development in 2021, more than ever before. On top of that, we see the remarkable success of Leaps by Bayer. We founded that unit in 2015 in order to consciously focus on technologies with the potential to make truly fundamental progress in people's lives. Over the past 7 years, Leaps has invested more than EUR 1.3 billion in some 50 biotech firms. In addition to the scientific progress, we have also successfully integrated the first companies into our core business, thus providing new impetus for Bayer's business development. All companies in the Leap portfolio are working on the truly vital issues in health care and agriculture. Now you may be asking yourself, what exactly does this mean? Well, there is a start-up in Cambridge on the U.S. East Coast, for example, that is working on the automatic manufacture of personalized cell therapies. Maybe one day, it may be possible for each patient to receive individualized, customized treatment. Another startup Silicon Valley on the U.S. West Coast is working on microbes for plant seats. Maybe one day, it might be possible in this way to reduce artificial fertilizer use worldwide by up to 30%. That would ease the burden on the climate to the same degree is taking all cars in Germany, France, Italy, England and Spain off the streets. A startup in Tel Aviv, Israel, is working on proteins against food allergies. Maybe one day, it might be possible to produce food in such a way that no one ever has to suffer an allergic reaction to it. Over the next 3 years, the Leaps by Bayer will invest a further EUR 1.3 billion in such a visionary research. That makes Leaps an integral component of our innovation strategy. Now as a life science company, Bayer endeavors to leverage the tremendous opportunities presented by the Bio Revolution, which are made possible by the cutting-edge technologies in the digital age. We are doing this so that we can keep growing and outperforming in the future. Of course, that is also associated with uncertainties and require perseverance. It is our alignment in 3 specific businesses that makes this perseverance possible and the progress is clear to see. At the end of this year, we expect to receive the results of the first Phase I trial for Parkinson's disease. Next year, we plan to launch our short-stature corn in North America. And the first field trials with organic fertilizer will also be possible then, too. We are determined to make our mark on the 2020s, at the technological threshold of a new era. Also for the future, we are clearly committed to Germany as a base of operations. We have agreed on that with the Works Council as part of a new concept for the future. Bayer is at home, all around the world, but we also know where we come from. Thus, over the next 3 years, we will invest about EUR 1 billion in our German Pharmaceuticals production. Here in Leverkusen, we are spending about EUR 300 million to build a new pharmaceutical production plant that will produce, for example, cancer drugs for the global market. This plant is scheduled for completion next year, and will set completely new standards in digitalization and energy efficiency. We are very pleased to inaugurate this new lighthouse project of the pharmaceutical industry in the coming weeks. Heike Hausfeld has already played an important role in the discussions with the new concept for the future. This week, she will take over as Chairwoman of the Central Works Council from Oliver Zuhlke, and she will also succeed him as Vice Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board. Dear Ms. Hausfeld, I wish you every success in your new tasks and I look forward to working with you in your new role. Of course, this also applies to all the newly elected members of the Supervisory Board. Mr. Oliver Zuhlke, I would like to thank you for the many years of trust-based cooperation. We didn't agree on everything, of course, but our discussions were always characterized by a mutual respect and the common goal of achieving the best results for our company. I wish you all the best and the happy and healthy future. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, our stated goal now is to remain on course and to continue to deliver. For the full year, we expect to maintain the good growth in our businesses and the positive performance. We published our guidance at the beginning of March on a currency-adjusted basis to enhance the comparability of operational performance. We predict sales of about EUR 46 billion, and this would correspond to an increase of 5%. We expect the clean EBITDA margin to come in at approximately 26% and the earnings per share to increase to around EUR 7. We'll present the figures for the first quarter on May 10. Therefore, I can't give you any further details yet today. However, it is becoming evident that we've made a very successful start to the year despite all the uncertainties in the world. In the agricultural business, in particular, we have seen a much more positive market environment than in previous years. The economic consequences of war and sanctions are not yet visible in the first quarter. With our consistent focus on health and nutrition, this crisis demands that we contribute to providing people with basic needs. We intend to live up to this responsibility, and even under these circumstances, I am confident of a very successful fiscal year. Despite all the suffering and consequences caused by the Russian war of aggression against the Ukraine, there were also reasons for hope and optimism. We see that the vast majority of states and societies around the world strongly condemn the war. Large parts of the world stands united alongside Ukraine. We also see that the impact of the war on the world's food supply, just like the advancing climate change, is creating a new awareness. The ideological discussions are decreasing. There was a growing conviction that we need sustainable agriculture, that at the same time, produces more on the existing arable land. The spirit of research and innovation will lead the way. This applies to the world of nutrition just as much as to the world of health. Here with the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, we have all recently experienced very tangibly our excellent research, societal progress and personal freedom are linked. Together with science, we have all successfully fought the pandemic. Now, ladies and gentlemen, what an encouraging sign that is. We want to continue to contribute to these positive developments with your company and ours. Bayer is uniquely positioned to seize the scientific, economic and societal opportunities of a new era. Our 100,000 colleagues are working every day to come a little closer to our vision of "Health for all, hunger for none." and to enable as many people as possible to live a better and sustainable life. We will continue to do our utmost to achieve this in the coming year. Bayer will remain Bayer. Thank you for your attention.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Baumann -- Werner Baumann has given you a comprehensive overview of fiscal 2021 and the outlook for the company. Thank you, Mr. Baumann, for your detailed and compelling remarks. Stockholders, ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to move on to the report from the Supervisory Board, which is part of item 1 on the agenda for today's AGM. You will find the report of the Supervisory Board on Pages 13 to 20 of the annual report. Now before I address the substantive focal points of the work of the Supervisory Board, I would like to emphasize 2 aspects which I, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, believe had a major and special impact on the work of our Supervisory Board last year. First of all, I've maintain very close contact with our investors in 2021 and in the first few months of this year, too. At a corporate governance roadshow last November and December, I held discussions with investors, representing some 40% of our stockholder base. I have also engaged in further conversations as warranted and in the run-up to this AGM. This regular contact has proven very effective and helps the Supervisory Board better understand which issues are particularly important to our stockholders. In addition to this direct contact, an investor study was conducted on behalf of the Supervisory Board to ascertain the opinions of our key investors as regards the issues of environmental protection, social needs and governance. The results of this study supplement the range of opinions I've garnered from my conversations with our stockholders. Secondly, the work of the Supervisory Board was impacted once again last year by the personnel changes that have taken place on the stockholder side. In recent years, 7 of our 10 stockholder representatives have served on the Supervisory Board for 5 years or fewer. An intensive turnover within the Supervisory Board is very important to inject fresh ideas and perspectives into the work of our Supervisory Board. But on the other hand, the new Supervisory Board members also have to become acquainted with their new roles. This was most recently the case with Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Alberto Weisser, whom you elected to the Supervisory Board at last year's AGM. The replacement of Supervisory Board members also always results in the loss of knowledge and experience relating to Bayer. Several changes will take place this year on the employee representative side. Five employee representatives, some of them long-serving members will step down from the Supervisory Board as of the end of today's AGM, and another one will leave within the coming months. To ensure the necessary degree of continuity in the work of the Supervisory Board after these changes, the Supervisory Board has proposed to today's AGM the reelection of 3 currently serving Supervisory Board members, and I'll address these proposals in greater detail later on. Ladies and gentlemen, in terms of substance, the work of the Supervisory Board focused last year on the themes I outlined at last year's AGM. And these focal points were: increasing value through the accelerated implementation of Bayer's strategy, supporting change processes, strengthening growth, resolving the glyphosate issues, disciplined allocation of capital and debt reduction, targeted innovation and digitization, and thoroughly addressing Bayer's ESG target. I'd like to add further details on some of these points as follows. Let me begin with the issues that accounted for an especially broad portion of the Supervisory Board's work last year. And after that, I'll explain the proposals for the agenda item, Supervisory Board elections. Ladies and gentlemen, the Supervisory Board convened for 9 meetings and 1 additional discussion last year. The work of the Supervisory Board focused on monitoring operational activities, matters regarding the composition and compensation of the Board of Management and the review of financial statements. The Supervisory Board also dealt with individual corporate acquisitions and divestments, the glyphosate litigation and the additional significant PCB and dicamba litigation. As regards corporate acquisitions and divestments. One focus of the Supervisory Board's work was individual corporate acquisitions and the sale of corporate stakes or shareholdings. The Supervisory Board dealt intensively with the acquisition of the Vividion Therapeutics, a company activity -- a company active in biopharmaceutical drug discovery to strengthen the Pharmaceuticals business. The Supervisory Board also dealt with the divestment of Bayer's Environmental Science professional business. The transaction agreement was concluded this March. Furthermore, the Supervisory Board approved the divestment of the company's stake in Century Therapeutics and further smaller individual sales transactions. And with these transactions, Bayer continues to consistently implement its life science strategy and is adding to a series of portfolio adjustments undertaken in the previous years, including the acquisitions of Care/of, KaNDy Therapeutics and AskBio, as has already been reported here. Now let's move on to the glyphosate litigation. Supervisory Board and several of its committees once again dealt intensively with the glyphosate litigation in 2021. As you know, contrary to Bayer's expectations, the previously negotiated settlement with the plaintiffs' counsel that would have largely concluded the glyphosate litigation did not receive the necessary court approval. After extensive deliberation at several meetings at the Supervisory Board, the company, therefore, presented a 5-point plan at the end of last May to resolve the glyphosate issues ourselves. The Supervisory Board dealt with this plan in detail and a discussion convened on short notice at a formal meeting and in a written resolution. The Supervisory Board's independent legal counsel, John Beisner, also attended the discussion and the meeting. The entire Supervisory Board and the special committee for the glyphosate litigation also dealt extensively with the court proceedings in all this litigation, including the proceedings before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this connection, the Supervisory Board and the Audit Committee also intensively addressed the financing framework needed to manage the glyphosate matter and the establishment of provisions for the event of a negative decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. With the resolution of the 5-point plan, the process has reached a stage at which future activities will focus primarily on implementation of the measures to manage the glyphosate issue. As of the end of 2021, therefore, the Supervisory Board dissolved the special committee for glyphosate litigations that had been established in 2019. Should it be necessary for the Supervisory Board to deal with further development, this will be done within the full Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board's independent counsel, John Beisner, will remain available to the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to these 2 focal areas that I've emphasized, the strategy of the divisions and the group as a whole was a particular focus of the work of the Supervisory Board. This issue was initially discussed within the scope of the established strategy process. Last September, the Supervisory Board convened for a 2-day meeting to deal very intensively with the strategy and unanimously confirmed the strategy of the Board of Management for the divisions and the group as a whole after a detailed discussion. In the deliberations on and discussion of the strategy, Supervisory Board also took into account the feedback that the Board of Management received in its investor conversations and that I received through the communication that I mentioned with our investors. In addition, the Supervisory Board commissioned the previously mentioned external investor study, so as to attain further input. In connection with the assessment of the strategy developed by the Board of Management, furthermore, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management jointly commissioned an independent study on the various levers that we have to increase Bayer's enterprise value. And this study, ladies and gentlemen, concluded that the reduction in the value of Bayer's shares compared to their intrinsic value is not attributable to the structure of Bayer's portfolio. To reduce or close the value gap, the studies authored -- the study's authors instead recommended specific improvements, particularly as regards the positioning of the Pharmaceuticals division's existing product pipeline and the communication of further issues of relevance to investors at divisional and full group levels. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board have already begun an in-depth examination and assessment of these suggestions -- and as soon as we have specific results, we will begin implementing the specific measures. Ladies and gentlemen, besides the strategic focal point issues, the Supervisory Board dealt intensively with changes to the composition of the Board of Management and with the short and medium-term succession planning for the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board in 2021, undertook the following changes to the composition of the Board of Management. In January, the Supervisory Board appointed Sarena Lin to the Board of Management. Lin is responsible for transformation at HR at Bayer. In February, the Supervisory Board extended the Board of Management contract of Stefan Oelrich, who heads up the Pharmaceuticals division. And then at an extraordinary meeting in October 2021, the Supervisory Board dealt with the departure ahead of schedule of the former head of the Crop Science division, Liam Condon. Mr. Condon had requested that his contract be terminated with effect from the end of 2021. And as a result, no severance payments needed to be made to Liam Condon for the early termination of this contact (sic) [contract]. In accordance with statutory requirements, he is only receiving compensation for the post-contractual noncompetition agreement imposed on him. The Supervisory Board would like to thank Liam Condon for his service, and it wishes him all the best. With effect from January 1, 2022, the Supervisory Board appointed Rodrigo Santos, to succeed Mr. Condon as a member of the Board of Management and Head of the Crop Science division. I introduced Rodrigo Santos to you already at the beginning of the AGM. Rodrigo Santos is a recognized expert with more than 25 years of international experience in the agricultural sector. The management of the Crop Science division is in very good hands with him. With the previously mentioned appointments to the Board of Management and the contract extensions, the Supervisory Board has taken important decisions as regards to the company's management for the future. And last but not least, the internal organization of the work of the Supervisory Board was an important matter. And I'd like to mention just 2 points here. With external assistance, the Supervisory Board did a self-assessment examining the -- largely very positive results and then discussing the measures identified through the self-assessment process to further improve its work. These measures include, for example, conducting what is called an executive session at the beginning and end of each ordinary Supervisory Board meeting. In other words, consultation without the participation of the Board of Management. And ladies gentlemen, additional executive sessions are scheduled to as required. Another consequence of the self-assessment is the organization of intensive training events on digitization issues for the Supervisory Board over the course of the year. In addition to that, the Supervisory Board also made changes to its committees. I already mentioned that the special committee for glyphosate litigation was dissolved as of the end of 2021. At the same time, however, the Supervisory Board established a new ESG Committee with effect from the beginning of this year. The committee's duties relate to sustainable corporate governance and Bayer's business activities in the field of environmental protection, social issues and corporate governance. The committee is chaired by Ertharin Cousin who can contribute extensive experience in these fields, thanks to her previous role as Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes my remarks about the key areas of the Supervisory Board's work last year. Now allow me to talk about Board remuneration. No major changes were undertaken in 2021 to the system for compensation of Board of Management members. The compensation of the Board of Management continued to be conferred according to the compensation system approved by you, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders at the 2020 AGM, with a majority of 94%. Nevertheless, the Supervisory Board did resolve a change to one detail that took effect in 2022, this year. The target for the short-term variable compensation component was reduced. The target for the long-term variable compensation component was increased by the same measure. Specifically, the target for the STI short-term incentive now makes up only 90% rather than 100%, as was the case previously. And by contrast, the target for the multiyear stock-based compensation component was increased from 150% to 160% of fixed compensation beginning in 2022, therefore, a greater share of the target total compensation to the Board of Management will be determined by the absolute and relative performance of Bayer's stock and further components such as our success in implementing our sustainability targets. Ladies and gentlemen, as regards the targeted incentivization of operational success in the short-term variable cash compensation or STI, neither significant positive nor negative special effects will be taken into account in the relevant performance indicators in accordance with the compensation system resolved at the Annual Stockholders Meeting 2020, that I'd like to emphasize. With respect to the compensation for 2021, I'd like to note that the Supervisory Board did not retroactively change the variable compensation targets, for example, as regards the impacts of the business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. So you can see that the compensation of members of the Board of Management for 2021 can be found in the extensive compensation report that's included in the annual report and was published together with the documents for the AGM. The compensation report was also completely revised to comply with the new statutory requirements and describes, in great deal, both the system for compensating Board of Management members and the compensation of members of the Board of Management in 2021. And the system for compensating Supervisory Board and compensation of Supervisory Board members in 2021 are also described in detail. The compensation report was examined by the external auditor as regards not just the completeness of the required information, but also its content and therefore, more extensively than required by law. I'd also like to explain the development of the short- and long-term variable cash compensation. Short-term variable cash compensation for 2021 was determined by the overachievement of annual targets for core earnings per share, core EPS, by free cash flow and by the performance of the divisions. The average payout from short-term variable cash compensation for 2021, therefore, amounted to 175% of the target. At the same time, the weak absolute and relative performance of Bayer's stock during the 4-year period beginning in 2018 and concluding at the end of 2021 was reflected in the total compensation of the members of the Board of Management. The payout from long-term variable cash compensation, therefore, averaged just 32% of the target amount in 2021. The payments to the members of the Board of management amounted to 92% of total cash compensation, which was below the target amount. As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, the compensation system you have supported is very strongly performance-related. Short-term developments and to an even greater extent, long-term development are accounted for in the system and thus reflect stockholder interests very well. Extraordinary influences of both the positive and the negative nature are not taken into account. Ladies and gentlemen, the Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board extensively discussed and examined the annual financial statements of Bayer AG, the consolidated financial statements for the group, the combined management report and the audit reports by the external auditor. There are 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 of the company. And this also applies to the proposed dividend. The Supervisory Board has ascended to the proposal by the Board of Management for the use of distributable profit, which provides for a payment of a dividend of EUR 2 per share. Shareholders, as explained by Mr. Baumann your company, Bayer AG, has presented very encouraging business data for 2021 and made substantial progress in other major areas such as the Pharmaceuticals pipeline. And this is reflected in the equally encouraging performance of Bayer stocks at the beginning of 2022. Both in turn, reflect the full focus of the Board of Management and Bayer's roughly 100,000 employees worldwide on the company's operational outperformance and strategic priorities. 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 dedication and hard work. I would also like to explicitly express my gratitude for their tremendous commitment in the face of traditions made even more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic and the current war between Russia and Ukraine. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the report from the Supervisory Board. Allow me now to talk about the upcoming elections to the Supervisory Board today. Bayer has a very balanced group of shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board with a wide variety of experience and special capabilities, 40% of members representing shareholders are female. And Supervisory Board is also very international. 60% of representatives of shareholders are non-German citizens. All representatives of shareholders have many years of international business experience. This diverse and balanced composition of the shareholder representatives group must be maintained. As of today's AGM, the terms of Dr. Paul Achleitner, Dr. Norbert Bischofberger; and Colleen Goggins will come to end. On the shareholder side of the Supervisory Board, there have been substantial changes in the past few years, with the objective of evolving and developing the expertise that I just described. In addition to that, if you look at the employee side of the Supervisory Board, 5 members of the Supervisory Board will be leaving the Supervisory Board as of the end of this AGM. And another representative of labor will presumably be leaving in just a few weeks. Therefore, against this backdrop, the Supervisory Board has proposed that we secure the necessary continuity by reelecting the following members to the Supervisor Board, Mr. Achleitner, Mr. Bischofberger and Ms. Goggins, whose terms will end at the end of this AGM. All 3 of them have made major contributions to the work of the Supervisory Board. You're familiar with these candidates, ladies and gentlemen, you've been familiar with them for a number of years, and you presumably can well understand their special importance for the Supervisory Board of Bayer. Let me point out the CVs that have been made accessible to you when we sent the invitation to today's AGM, Ms. Goggins and Mr. Achleitner and Mr. Bischofberger, will be introducing themselves to you once again in just a minute. And now we have these videos that we have recorded for you. First of all, Dr. Paul Achleitner will introduce himself.

[Interpreted] Good morning, shareholders of Bayer AG. My name is Paul Achleitner, and I'd like to say hello to you from Munich. I've been on the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG since 2002. And many of you might be wondering, why should I be elected again. To be honest, I was wondering that myself. But our Bayer AG will, in the next few years, be facing a number of opportunities, but also challenges. And people responsible at Bayer and I do have come to the conclusion and believe that I, with my experience, in particular, in the area of German Corporate Governance, can continue to make a contribution to the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG in this context. I therefore hope that you will support this and give me your trust for one final term on the Supervisory Board of our Bayer AG. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Paul Achleitner. And now I'd like to ask for the video from Dr. Norbert Bischofberger.

Hello and dear shareholders of Bayer, I am Norbert Bischofberger, currently President and CEO of Kronos Bio a small biotech company located here in California and San Mateo and the West Coast. And we also have research facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the East Coast. I'm a Ph.D. chemist with extensive experience, 36 years to be exact, in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. And what attracted me to Bayer 5 years ago is their own mission statement, science for a better life. And this is very much -- this very much fits with my own beliefs. I'm also thrilled to be part of the innovation committee focused primarily on innovation, strategy, management and the various R&D projects, which are ongoing at Bayer. And I feel like with my extensive background, I'm in a great position to contribute to the success. I would like to serve on the Bayer Board for another 5-year term. And I hope be thankful if you could vote today to extend my mandate. Thank you very much.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Norbert Bischofberger. And finally, I'd like to see the introduction of our colleague, Colleen Goggins.

[Audio Gap] And although I'm a resident of Princeton, New Jersey, I'm speaking today from California. I'm a food chemist by education, and I have as well a graduate degree in business with specializations and marketing and finance. I have broad experience in the health care industry, particularly in Consumer Health care and Pharmaceuticals. And I also have broad international experience, including some years when I lived and/or worked in Dusseldorf and Munich. I have been a member of the Supervisory Board of Bayer for 5 years, and I would be very honored to extend this mandate. I'm a member of the Supervisory Board's Nominating Committee and of the new Environmental, Social and Governance Committee or the ESG Committee. Integrating sustainability into business strategy is very important for all companies, especially and including Bayer. And I'm pleased that those of us on the ESG Committee can support Bayer's efforts in these areas. In my mind, Bayer is a very important company, engaged in innovation and activities to meet the challenges of our changing world and ultimately, to promote the health and well-being of people and communities everywhere. I, therefore, hope that you will place your trust in me today, so I can use my expertise and experience, particularly in the field of health care, to help bring out the best in Bayer now and in the future. Thank you very much.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Ms. Goggins. Ladies and gentlemen, I think that therefore, you have been given a good impression of the outstanding candidates that the Supervisory Board is proposing for reelection and how great a contribution they can make to the future of Bayer with expertise in many years of experience. Now I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the 5 members of the Supervisory Board that are leading the Supervisory Broad now. And at the end of this AGM, we will be saying goodbye to Dr. Thomas Elsner. Thomas Elsner has belonged to the Supervisory Board since April 2017. He's a representative of management employees, and he's a member of the Audit Committee. Previous to that, he was a member of the Committee for glyphosate litigation. He joined Bayer in 1988. And most recently, he was Chairman of the Managerial Employees Committee and Chairman of the Bayer Group Managerial employees. Robert Gundlach. Robert Gundlach has been a member of the Supervisory Board since December 2019, and he's a member of the Innovation Committee. He joined Schering AG in 1977. Most recently, he was Deputy Chairman of the Works Council at the Berlin site and member of the General Works Council of Bayer AG. Petra Reinbold-Knape. Petra Reinbold-Knape has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2012 and is a member of the [ Presidio ] Committee of the Supervisory Board and the Innovation Committee. In addition to that, she was a member of the glyphosate litigation committee, and she is on the Supervisory Board as a representative of the trade union and was member of the Board of ICB -- IGBCE Trade Union. Michael Schmidt-Kiessling. He's been the member of the Supervisory Board since April 2012, and he joined Bayer AG in '76. He was most recently Chairman of the Works Council at the Elberfeld site and a member of the General Works Council. And Oliver Zuhlke. And I will say a little bit more separately about Mr. Zuhlke. In addition to that, Reiner Hoffmann has told me that he is planning on leaving the Supervisory Board in the next few weeks. Reiner Hoffmann has been a member of the Bayer Supervisory Board since October 2006. And for many years, was a member of the Audit Committee. Reiner Hoffmann is a union representative on the Supervisory Board. And as you know, he is Chairman of the German Federation of Trade Unions, DGB. And even though Mr. Hoffmann is going to stay on the Supervisory Board for a little while longer, this will be his last Bayer AGM as a member of the Supervisory Board. So therefore, I'd like to thank Dr. Thomas Elsner, Robert Gundlach, Petra Reinbold-Knape, Michael Schmidt-Kiessling and also Reiner Hoffmann for their activities on the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG and in the committees of the Supervisory Board. And I'd like to hank them very warmly. Each of them have made contributions to the work of the Supervisory Board and to the success of Bayer. All of them were always very dedicated and committed and worked for the best interest of Bayer. So I would like to thank all of them on my behalf, and I think on your behalf, to shareholders. I'd like to thank them for their activities on the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG. And I wish you all the best for the future. Please continue your commitment to Bayer AG. Ladies and gentlemen, in particular, I would now like to thank Oliver Zuhlke. Oliver Zuhlke has been a member of the Bayer's supervisory Board since April 2007. And since July 2015, he's been Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board. In addition to that, belonged -- or belongs to many committees of the Supervisory Board, the [ Presidio ] Committee, the HR Committee, the Audit Committee, the Innovation Committee and the glyphosate litigation committee and the ESG committee. Oliver Zuhlke joined Bayer AG in 1985. Most recently, he was Chairman of the Bayer General or Central Works Council. Now these few biographical pieces of information do not do justice to his performance for the Supervisory Board of Bayer and for the company as a whole. Dear Mr. Zuhlke, in the 2 years I've been Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I have seen very clearly the major role you play for the constructive cooperation between shareholders and employee representatives on the Supervisory Board. You always did an outstanding job in defining the position of the employee representatives on the board and making them clear. You alone, were always very passionate in representing the interest of your -- the people who elected you. You always did that very effectively, but never forgot that it was about the interest of the company. On the contrary, you have a very clear understanding of how you should represent your interests and how they should be taken into account by the Supervisory Board. You're always very pragmatic, and I was always very thankful that you are also very entrepreneurial in the way you dealt with things. You were always very reliable too. And therefore, it was a very personal pleasure for me to work with you, in particular because of your good sense of humor. I wouldn't go too far to talk about all of the merit you've earned for the company and all the initiatives you've taken. But I would like to mention one in particular. This is the concept for the future in Germany that you, as a member of the Works Council, helped define for the company in March of this year. And this is there to create jobs in Germany that have potential for the future and give the home sites in Germany a sustainable prospect for the future. So Mr. Zuhlke, on my behalf and on behalf of you, ladies and gentlemen, I believe, too. I would like to thank you, Mr. Zuhlke for your outstanding work for the Supervisory Board and for Bayer AG and for the Bayer Group. And I wish you all the very best for the future. Ladies and gentlemen, now I would like to introduce to you, the new labor representatives, the successors to the 5 people who will be leading the Supervisory Board as of the end of this AGM. That's, first of all, Dr. Barbara Gansewendt, then Francesco Grioli and Ms. Claudia Schade, Mr. Heinz Georg Webers and Mr. Michael Westmeier. I'd like to congratulate you on your election. And I'm looking forward to working with you in the future. The election to the Deputy Chairman as a successor for Oliver Zuhlke has not been held. Afterward, during our constitute meeting of the Supervisory Board, it will be carried out. The designated Deputy Chairwoman is Heike Hausfeld who is the Future Chairperson of the Bayer General Works Council. I can't congratulate you yet, Ms. Hausfeld for that successful election, but I can say that I'm really looking forward to working with you in the future. Stockholders, ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to conclude my remarks with a summary of what the work of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG will focus on in the coming 12 months. The Supervisory Board will focus, in particular, on the following 5 points: number one, helping the Board of Management increase the value of the company; number two, overseeing the work of the Board of Management as regards Bayer's ongoing transformation into an integrated life science company; number three, further intensive oversight of the glyphosate litigation; number four, reviewing the Board of Management compensation system, while taking into account the stockholders' statements as regards the compensation report; and number five, strengthening the Supervisory Board's digital expertise as regards the intensive oversight of the company's further digitization. I am firmly convinced that these priority areas are well suited for targeted support of Bayer's further transformation. The Supervisory Board and I personally will closely oversee and accompany this. Shareholders, we are looking forward to a continued dialogue with you. Ladies and gentlemen, now I'd like to hand over to Oliver Zuhlke, who has asked for an opportunity to address a couple of statements to us. Mr. Zuhlke, the floor is yours.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, this might unusual to some of you, a Works Council representative and a union member addressing you at the Annual Stockholders Meeting. Is he going to give you a piece of his mind one last time? No. Instead, it is the resume of a person who has overseen and helped shape the company's development over a nearly 40-year career as an employee's representative here at Bayer through all the ups and downs. When I began my vocational training as a chemical laboratory assistant in 1985, capitalism was ubiquitous in our society and unbridled globalization was embarking on its victory march. Both have since lost much of their luster. Who wants to publicly be a capitalist hero nowadays or face down the storm of global solidarity unleashed worldwide by organizations such as Fridays For Future? After initial hesitation, the former protagonists have learned to listen to generation greater. Their views and notions about our common future have arrived in the halls of power. Money is no object has given way to shaping the future. Today, we look soberly at what counts and at what the times demand. Bayer itself is keenly focused on protecting with tremendous effort and determination, not just capital, but also our planet and the people who live on it. "Health for all, hunger for none." is a vision that helps us to find answers to burning questions. Particularly in these difficult times, it has also directed our attention as it did during the pandemic to the basic needs of society that right now are sorely lacking to many people in Ukraine. Food on the table, medicine in the cabinet, basic medical care health and secure food chains, things we have long taken for granted in Europe and for which we are now gaining a new appreciation. The urgent desire to help people in need and make our vision a reality is bringing us a bit closer together at the moment. Bayer and all its employees are working each day to achieve this aim. After all, for most of us, it's more than just a job. We feel a connection to this company, our task and our objectives. Of course, we also know that without capital, be it self-earned, borrowed or invested by you, our stockholders, there can be no innovation progress or growth. We owe the tremendous scientific prospects we are able to offer as an integrated company with Pharmaceuticals, Crop Science and Consumer Health to your trust as stockholders. On behalf of Bayer's entire workforce, I would like to express my appreciation to you for that. As an engine of innovation, Germany plays an outstanding role for us. With the future concept for Bayer in Germany, we are once again focusing more closely on our domestic base and have shown that we are committed to the future of our company here in this country. The number of employees in Germany has declined substantially due to the transformation programs of recent years. And significant changes continue to be communicated and implemented. Thus, it is all the more important for the German sites to carry significant weight in the future as well. After the period of adjustment, we have a common will to provide the employees in Germany with orientation and offer them a new long-term perspective. The concept for the future strengthens not just our long-term competitiveness and innovation capability, but also our position as an attractive employer in Germany. In this connection, we are benefiting in key areas from the diversity of Bayer's 3 integrated pillars, in other words, our One Bayer concept. In the exchange of knowledge in workforce management, for access to markets through cost synergies, in financing opportunities, in digitalization strategies and talent acquisition and last but not least, through the use of our strong Bayer brand. Today, I would like to explicitly thank our management for this sense of entrepreneurial responsibility. You're all aware that once capital is available, it takes good ideas and even better people to ensure entrepreneurial success. It's not about individual ideas, managers, our investors, it's about how they work together. Therein lies our strength. Bayer is more than that. We are One Bayer, an integrated company that makes us unique and strong. Over the course of my nearly 4 decades at this company, I have learned that people here live up to their word. Despite all the critical disputes and the struggle to find the best path, I can say without any regrets that whenever changes needed to be made, they were implemented in the proper Bayer way. Fairness, transparency and fresh prospectives play a crucial role in this process. For that, I would like to thank the current management team represented today by you, Mr. Baumann and our Supervisory Board Chairman, Mr. Winkeljohann. And thank you for the kind words you addressed about me. It's not just crucial funding that represents valuable capital for Bayer, but also the values you embody and the way they are implemented. As long as the company strategy supports this and management lives up to it, we will find a joint solution for every challenge and advance the company together. I am certain that this will remain the case even without me. I'm sure of that. On that note, departures also represent new beginnings. For my successor, Heike Hausfeld, who will take over for me, and for myself as well. I may lose much, but I will also gain a lot. I wish you all health and happiness. Stay true to Bayer.

[Interpreted] Mr. Zuhlke you very much for these very impressive words. Now ladies and gentlemen, before we begin answering your questions, I would like Mr. Nickl to please provide us with an explanation of item on the agenda #6 as required by law, which is the approval of the control and profit and loss agreement between Biochemicals and Bayer. Mr. Nickl, the floor is yours.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, under Item 6 of today's agenda, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board proposed that the ASM vote in favor of the control and profit and loss agreement between Bayer AG and Biochemicals AG, of which Bayer AG is the sole owner. The Stock Corporation Act stipulates that the Board of Management provide a verbal explanation of the control and profit and loss agreement to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting. There was an existing control and profit and loss agreement between Bayer AG and Biochemicals GmBH. Fiscal unity is the primary reason and commercial justification for the existence of this agreement. And following the change in legal status of Biochemicals from a stock corporation to a GmBH, tax law requires for the transfer of losses to Bayer AG in connection with the control and profit and loss transfer agreement and explicit reference be made to paragraph 302 of the latest version of the Stock Corporation Act. We have used this required amendment as an opportunity to revise entire control and profit and loss agreement -- trust transfer agreements. This revision encompasses the application of the latest versions of the requirements of stock corporation law. Moreover, the amendments made largely of an editorial nature, and no material changes have been made to the existing agreements. The control and profit and loss agreement requires the consent of the ASM of Bayer AG and the shareholders assembly of Biochemicals GmBH and also requires the Biochemicals GmBH be added to the commercial register. Consent was given by the shareholder assembly of Biochemicals AG on the 1st of March 2022. The revised agreement replaces the agreement currently in force with the exception of the right of direction respectively -- retrospectively with effect from the start of the 2022 financial year. It shall be valid for a minimum duration of 5 years starting from its entry into force. The right to terminate the agreement for an important reason should apply in particular, in the event of a material change to the shareholder structure or a merger, spin-off or liquidation of one of the parties. The new version of the control and profit and loss agreement furthermore, allows for tax optimized accounting of the profit and losses of Biochemicals GmBH within the framework of the corporation and trade tax agreements. Joint taxation of Biochemicals GmBH and Bayer AG that allows for the offsetting of profits and losses for tax purposes shall thus be possible. This means that only Bayer AG will be eligible for corporation and trade tax. For information on the details and structure of Biochemicals GmBH, I refer you to the wording of the control and profit and loss transfer agreement and the explanations provided in the joint report it by the Board of Management of Bayer AG and the management of Biochemicals GmbH. These documents have been accessible on the website of Bayer since the invitation for the ASM was published. Here, you can also found the annual financial statements for the past 3 financial years of both companies as well as the management reports of Bayer AG and the Bayer Group.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much Mr. Nickl for your comments. Ladies and gentlemen, the members of the Board of Management will now begin answering the questions that were submitted on time prior to the ASM.

[Interpreted] So the questions that were -- by the Supervisory Board will be answered by me. And any answers which -- any questings which need to be answered by the Board of Management could also be answered by me as well. This has been agreed on with the Board of Management. Now the possibility to submit questions via the portal is available now. The ASM provides us with the opportunity to group the topics of the different questions together. For the Board of Management and Supervisory Board, we believe that this format is in the best interest of the shareholders in order to try and increase the amount of information available to you. I will now give the floor to Kristina Hentschel. Ms. Hentschel will coordinate the answering of the questions and also be the moderator.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann. Good day ladies and gentlemen, my name is Kristina Hentschel. I work at Bayer, and I am pleased to refer -- to present the answering of your questions by the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. [Audio Gap] our shareholders. Until midnight on Wednesday, the questions could be submitted to our portal. These will now be answered by all 6 members of the Board of Management and by Mr. Winkeljohann for the Supervisory Board. Many shareholders have asked us to mention their name. And this is something that we're happy to go along with. I want to answer these questions by subject matter. So whenever possible, we may -- we'll group the questions together so that we can add to these areas as well as possible and to avoid repetition. Since most of the 665 questions that have been submitted were not received until just before midnight on Wednesday evening, these will then be taken together later. And that means that all of the questions from our shareholders will be answered. Another important point, if you shareholders want to ask a follow-up question to the answer received to your questions, you do have the possibility to ask such follow-up questions. Please remember that you will only be able to ask follow-up questions on the questions that you yourselves asked beforehand and on the answers you receive to these questions. Please bear with us. This is a live ASM. We cannot deal with any new questions. We will then answer the follow-ups questions from our shareholders at the end of the question-and-answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, our shareholders had the possibility, once again, to submit written statements or short videos indicating their opinion of Bayer. We received a total of 17 videos, which we will be showing to you over the course of today's meeting. You will find all of these videos and the written statements on our website. I would now also like to give you one formality in some of the videos, questions have been asked to the Board of Management and Supervisory Board. Questions that were only asked in this way cannot be taken into account at today's meeting. We mentioned that in the notice to our meeting, but I did want to repeat that once again for all of our viewers. And that brings us to the answers to the questions from our shareholders. We will begin with the first subject matter, organization and course of today's annual stockholders' meeting. Here, we received questions from Hendrik Schmidt from the DWS, [ Joachim Crabel ] from the Capital Investors Association, Hans-Martin Buhlmann from the Association for Institutional Private Investors. [ Peter Arkestan, Detrick Eberhard-Hoorst ] and other shareholders. And now I would like to hand over to Werner Baumann to answer the first questions.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Ms. Hentschel. We've received different questions about the format of our AGM, including why this year we're not having a face-to-face AGM, how the dialogue with our shareholders at the virtual AGM can be insured. And whether next year, there's going to be a face-to-face AGM again? During the opening statements to today's AGM, Mr. Winkeljohann mentioned that in planning our AGM, we were looking at the COVID-19 pandemic, and it wasn't certain as to whether, and if so, under what conditions a face-to-face AGM would be possible today with several thousand participants. And therefore, the Board of Management, with the support of the Supervisory Board, decided to have a virtual AGM. Taking this decision as is mentioned in German law and is demanded by German law, we took into account the specific pandemic development and above all, the experience from our last face-to-face meeting considering the high number of participants to be expected. Now like us, almost all big listed stock companies in Germany have opted like us for a virtual AGM. With regard to the dialogue with our shareholders and amongst shareholders, for today's AGM, as Mr. Winkeljohann mentioned, this year, once again, we've gone far beyond what is required by German law. With regard to the format for the 2023 AGM that is face-to-face or virtual, we still haven't made a decision. This is not even possible yet. The pandemic-based special rules for virtual AGMs will end on the 31st of August 2022. Whether or not and if so, how virtual AGMs will be possible in Germany after that will be based on a law that's just now being discussed. And this decision will be taken into consideration for the format of the 2023 AGM. And we will then make a decision on that on the basis of the laws at the time. In addition, it was asked whether or not virtual participation of the AGM will be possible. We do support the work by German lawmakers to make virtual AGMs possible over the long term. If the conditions are right, we, in the future, could imagine that Bayer might also have virtual AGMs. That would make it possible for as many shareholders as possible to avoid travel and still participate in the AGM. And costs for the company and for shareholders would be reduced, and we would also be doing a good deed for the environment. Before we make a decision on next year's AGM and virtual participation possibilities, we will have to wait and see what the law will show. We heard a question as to why in the shareholders' portal, there's not a possibility for shareholders to vote. But this is not correct. We make it possible to vote on countermeasures. And in the registration format on our home page for the AGM, we pointed out that there were countermotions, and we also pointed out how the voting process is done. Countermotions that just reject a proposal by management can be supported by voting no for the management proposals. Countermotions can go beyond just rejecting what management has proposed, have a capital letter. And you can use the capital letter to go in via the registration form or you can go via the shareholders' portal to vote yes, no or abstention for each of the countermotions. There was another question as to why the AGM isn't being conducted in January and why we didn't coordinate with other companies with regard to the date. I must say that planning for an AGM depends on the end of the fiscal year and the completion of financial statements for the year. For a number of companies from Germany's DAX 40, the fiscal year doesn't end at the end of the calendar year. It ends on the 30th of September, and therefore, an AGM in January or February is possible. For Bayer AG, the fiscal year is the same as the calendar year-end. Therefore, convening an is only possible later after publication of the annual financial statements, which was done on the 1st of March 2022 this year. We plan our AGM dates a long time ahead of time. And usually, at the end of one AGM we announced when the next AGM will be. Coordination with all the other companies from the DAX index is scarcely possible because every company has different interests, and there are many different circumstances. Then there was a question about reasons for membership of Bayer in the German Share Institute -- Stock Company Institute. This is not possible. The Institute represents the interest of a functioning capital market. That's of essential interest for the competitiveness of Germany as a site for companies in global competition. It is important for politicians and supervisory authorities and companies to work together to take all interest into account and this applies with regard to the current discussion on the proposed law on virtual AGMs. Development and modernization of AGM law, we believe, is necessary due to our experience with the corona pandemic in the past few years. The objective must be to have a balanced concept for long-term anchoring of virtual AGMs in law so that the rights of shareholders and the interest of the company for practically conducting virtual AGMs are harmonized. Incidentally, other countries with leading shareholder and stock corporation cultures are much further than Germany is here. Then finally, we heard a question as to our estimation of ISS. Regarding ISS and Glass Lewis and Engine No. 1. Now with regard to -- if we understand the business model of Engine No. 1, we think it's an American impacting -- impact investing fund, which was founded with the name vote. Engine No. 1 has a special focus on sustainability and attempts to influence companies that are not making any change in this area. Unlike this, though, we have a growth strategy for creating additional value that takes sustainability into account as an integral component of our activities with a very -- with very clear and measurable targets. So our strategy must be in line with that of Engine No. 1. And on that, I'll hand back to Kristina Hentschel. Thank you.

[Interpreted] As you can imagine, we also received questions about the war in the Ukraine, in particular, with regard to measures that we have taken as a result of that and possible repercussions for our business. In his speech, Mr. Baumann already looked at this in detail. Thank you for that. In addition to that, we received other questions about this subject that we'll be pleased to answer. These were from Marc Tüngler from the DSW Small Shareholders' Association, Henrik Schmidt from DWS, [ Joachim Crabel ] from the SG Small Shareholders Association, Hans-Martin Buhlmann from the Association of Institutional Private investors, [Mori Schnittskit, Crystal Sawejeski ], and further shareholders. And for -- to answer these questions, I will now hand over to Mr. Baumann.

[Interpreted] So first of all, there was a question about our responsibility for what we see is our responsibility in the war in Ukraine, we're continuing to prioritize the security and safety of our 700 employees in Ukraine. And we're going to continue to support them and their families financially. We'll provide them with accommodations and evacuation help, if necessary. As has been mentioned, in Ukraine, Bayer is providing lots of humanitarian help. So far, a total of EUR 5.4 million have been donated. This includes setting up a disaster assistance fund for EUR 3 million and numerous products that have been donated worth EUR 2.4 million. This includes providing health care products such as antibiotics, health and products and medicines such as antibiotics for 30,000 Ukrainian patients. In addition to that, we've donated more than 40,000 bags of seeds for growing crops on nearly 30,000 hectares. This will provide support for [ 1,150 ] small farmers in Ukraine who are having trouble getting seeds this year. In addition to that, our employees have already donated more than EUR 1 million within the framework of a campaign by the German Red Cross, and the company will double that amount in addition to that. In reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have stopped all our expenditures in Russia and Belarus that do not involve providing indispensable products for health and farming. This includes all of our expenses for advertising and marketing and an investment freeze for undetermined period of time. And in addition to that we're not going into any additional business activities in Russia. [Audio Gap] received a question on the amount assets in Russia and in Ukraine, according to the impairments and if there's a need for an impairment, the assets in Russia and Ukraine amounted to EUR 0.5 billion on the 31st of December 2021. We do not see any poor payment situation in Ukraine or Russia. So we don't see any need for impairment now. As far as fixed assets are considered, we don't see any need for an impairment because up to now, we don't see any damage from the war to our facilities. And due to the uncertainty, we will continue to follow the situation carefully. We're also asked to what extent assets in Russia and Ukraine were covered by guarantees or insurance policies as well as the revenue in both countries. Damage to assets and raw materials, goods and end products are not included in insurance coverage. The amounts in Russia and Ukraine also have excess of loss policies. In addition, in Russia, we also have bank guarantees for receivables of Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health. In fiscal '21, we had a profit of EUR 906 billion in Russia. In Ukraine, our sales figure was EUR 352 million. In addition, we were also asked how we can support our employees there in Ukraine. Salaries for employees were guaranteed for 6 months. And we also have to consider the planning for 2023. We assume that there will be an extension to this guarantee. All Bayer employees in Ukraine have received a one-off payment since the beginning of the war so that they can buy groceries or for transport and housing when fleeing their country. Employees who remained in Ukraine will also receive additional payments from April through June. Any other necessities will be determined and reviewed at a later point in time, and we may extend these payments. Employees who left Ukraine will also receive country-specific payments in addition to their salary. These payments will be guaranteed at least until the end of May, we were talking about further way ahead. All employees and direct family members who have left Ukraine will receive health insurance for being abroad. Also, housing for colleagues have been provided, as I said in my speech. In the west of Ukraine and in Poland, hotel rooms for Bayer employees have been rented for them and their family. Bayer employees also organized a shelter initiative, which covers a large share of European countries and offers Ukrainian Bayer refugees housing with local employees. We also see that the -- this has been referred to as border angels, and they take employees and receive them at the border and bring them to their accommodation or to help them find their way to their further transport in other target countries by train. We also offer them small groups or individual psychological support and employees are also offered webinars on how to deal with stress and management in times of crisis. We also received further questions from the impacts of the war on our business and the total amount of impact here as well as a loss of harvests due to more intensive farming and other countries. Sales in Ukraine and Russia amounted to about 3% of our revenue, 1% in Ukraine and 2% in Russia. The share of agricultural business in both countries was 1.2% in each country. So this is a limited impact. We're doing everything we can to guarantee care for the civil population, this means supply medication, agricultural projects in order to ensure the food supply. Follow-ups from the war, for example, problems with supply chains and energy are things that we cannot determine right now. The amount of intense farming in other countries, what contribution made is something we cannot forecast. In the short term, intensification alone will not suffice in order to relieve the situation. We will need quick and close cooperation between politicians, business and other organizations. All countries should make their wheat reserves available as soon as possible. In the medium and long term, we will have to manage to produce more food on less arable areas, in other words, to produce more food. This is something that we consider as possible with agriculture and innovation and more focus on small holder farmers. We also received questions on how we would be affected by gas and oil shortages, financial impacts and if risk for precautions had been taken, risk provisions had been set up. In last year, we developed our company into a life science company and energy costs are not as important as they were in the past. Our energy costs last year were only about 2% of all of our costs for manufacture. However, we need reliable and affordable access to different sources of energy so that patients and farmers can be provided with medication and production means for their harvest. We're working intensely on securing the supply of our [ source ]. At the same time, our dependence on fossil energy is being reduced because we have ambitious sustainability goals. And by 2030, we want to be climate neutral. And last year, the share of renewable energy in our energy mix was increased to about 25%. By 2030, we want the amount of purchased electricity to be 100% renewable energy. At the same time, we see that it's very difficult to determine the specific impact of different scenarios. There are all sorts of uncertain variables. And many contradictory and dependencies in the whole supply chain, and we are now analyzing these effects with top priority, and we are working on solutions. Against this background, the financial impact of various scenarios, cannot be -- we cannot put a figure on this. Forming a provision and according with IFRS is not allowable for this specific situation. A question on the impact of the potential -- of a potential embargo for Russian gas with regard to our providers and suppliers in agriculture. Here, we see an allocation decision from the network agency. They cannot make any serious statement here. But we can assume that if there are allocation-related production bottlenecks in the supplier industry or in our different sites where we are active that this will have negative impact, not only in the field of agriculture. We also were asked a question about any measures that Bayer can take. We are in constant dialogue with our suppliers on this and are working on mitigating measures at a corporate level. But we're also working on analyses for the decision-makers in the regulatory area and in the political area. We also received a question as to what Bayer is doing right now in order to become less dependent on politically instable (sic) [unstable] countries in Eastern Europe when it comes to supply and chain questions. We see that we have survivable supply chain, and we're trying to reduce the number of critical materials in order to reduce our risks and dependencies. We have strategic suppliers, we can work with reliably. Our dependencies on suppliers from Russia and Ukraine are limited. Another question was asked about the impact of energy rationing. Is this something that was considered by the Federal Network Agency? And what impact rationing of minus 25% would have on Bayer? Up until now, there has been a standardized question on energy requirements for power plants or -- for power plants. And other questions for those who consume gas will probably be sent out in mid-May. As we said, this is a very difficult situation. It's hard to give you specific impacts of various scenarios. There are all sorts of unknowns and also different dependencies along the entire supply chain. And we are now trying to work out and analyze the impact in more detail so that we can come up with the necessary solutions. Another question deal on the geopolitical uncertainties. And if we have to rethink our production strategies. And if we are planning on moving parts of our production from Germany and Europe to other regions? Indeed, the geopolitical situation needs has led to a review of our strategy with regard to our geographic presence. Unfortunately, we have to assume that the implicit basic assumption of free world trade, which would allow for optimization is something that [ does ] not apply completely. Regulation protects our business in health and nutrition, but health and nutrition are also core aspects of national security. In the corona crisis, we began to increase our resilience by qualifying additional suppliers for import and substances to a broader geographic basis. And in order to strengthen our logistics warehousing and distribution functions. On the other hand, we can see that we are committed to Germany as a manufacturing site, and you heard what we have in terms of investment plans for Germany. 6% of our revenue is invested in Germany, and 23% of our employees work here. Also, because we have high qualified, dedicated employees. We have good infrastructure and good site conditions. These are benefits for us, producing important raw materials in drug production as also in chemical plant protection is something that will continue to take place in Germany. We were also asked about our facilities in China and what assets and risks we were to have there if a war in -- were to result in Asia. Asia is a large continent, and Bayer is present in nearly all Asian countries. It's very difficult to answer this question. It depends on the specific aspects of war in Asia. And I really certainly do not want to speculate on these points. Irrespective of this, we are working, of course, on our production networks, and we want to make them more resilient and also to react to any of the changes in the law. The other question was asked about whether it will be an auction and for the Board of Management to drive with a Golf for 12 months rather than with an S-Class Mercedes. And in order to provide the money saved to victims of the Ukraine crisis. Now this gives the impression that the Board sort of -- members of the Board of Management always drive with top-segment vehicles, but this isn't correct. The majority of the members of the Board, including the CEO, the years now has not had their own company car anymore, but and uses a driver service is not with the top-class segment, but with the medium segment. We provide support to people in the Ukraine with drugs and also with donations. We also donate money to the Red Cross and help refugees in a number of different ways, as is has already outlined. I could go into numerous other examples, but here, I would like to refer you to the information which is available on our website on the Internet. Regardless of these corporate activities, I know that the members of the Board of Management and also the Supervisory Board have also provided private donations to victims of the war in the Ukraine. I will now hand back to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Baumann. Now before we begin by answering the next few questions, we would like to show you the first 2 video questions, which were submitted by Marc Tungler and [ Thomas Anton Schuster ].

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Marc Tungler. And I am the head of the DSW. We're based in Düsseldorf. And where every year, we are present at this ASM, we have various questions that we submitted in writing, but also with this video statement. And we hope that the answers to our questions will clearly tell us where Bayer is currently positioned and in which environment the company is operating. Ladies and gentlemen, as we have heard, the share price is still not where it belongs. That said, over the last few years, we -- the last few month, we have indeed seen a much better performance. It has outperformed the market, which is optimistic that we are maybe regaining confidence in the share. And in this difficult environment with the Ukraine war, as such, Bayer can perhaps share with its Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Agricultural divisions that the company is well positioned as a unit and for this reason, there is no reason to split the company as has sometimes been requested. DSW believes that the company in its current format and structure is correct. The question is what happens going forward? Now of course, Roundup, the glyphosates topic in the U.S.A. and the lawsuits have been a major topic and a topic which has been hanging over us like the Sword of Damcoles for a long time. But we also know that the Supreme Court is not yet looked at the case in detail but is gathering information about it. But hopefully, we will finally be able to have a verdict on the whole issue. We hope that there will be no further charges related to glyphosate. And this is what our questions have been submitted about. Now Mr. Baumann without necessity, with acquiring Monsanto, you have put the company at risk. We've had billions in write-downs, provisions and payments have been the results and also the reputational damage, which has been inflicted. And also the problem -- these are problems which the employees have had to suffer from. But there has been some light at the end of the tunnel recently. If the Supreme Court starts to deal with the glyphosate issue, then it's possible that we might finally be able to draw a line underneath this topic, which would be a huge progress. Finally, you would be able to concentrate your entire focus on the future. In the pharmaceutical sector as well, there are problems as well, big blockbuster drugs are losing their patent protection. And now you have to find substitutes for these patent protected drugs. When it comes to Xarelto, it looks like there is a substitute in the pipeline, and I do indeed hope that this will be successful. The results have been better. The sales have risen, earnings are back in positive territory slightly. Cash flow has increased and the dividend has remained stable. So I would say that overall, things are looking better. I really hope that this positive development will continue. And I also hope that the acquisition of Monsanto will end up having a positive impact for the company. So on this note for you and for us, I wish us the best of success.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. We will now move on to the topic strategy. Again, here, we have received questions from various shareholders. Marc Tungler from the DSW, Janne Werning from Union Investments, Ingo Speich from Deka Investments, Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investments. [ Joachim Crabel ] from the Association for Capital Investors, [ Aerburden Astor, Victoria Combine, Dietrich E.R. Koonz, Heinz Heinrich ] and [ Coustau Gilica Muller, Mori Schnittskite ] and other shareholders as well. The questions will be answered by Mr. Baumann, Wolfgang Nickl, Sarena Lin and Heiko Schipper. I will now give the floor to Mr. Baumann.

[Interpreted] So thank you very much. I said that in 2021, the share price was not reflect the go value of the company. I was asked what enterprise would reflect the value of the company. Our long-term strategy planning comprises a detail financial for over a period of 10 years. According to the theory, the value of the company should correspond to the value of future cash flows. Historical share prices only play a minor role because there are several businesses, which generated cash flow, including Animal Health, for example, that have been divested. Now if you look at external analyst expectations, you can see the capital market believes that the share price has a lot of potential because a lot of the forecasts have been -- a lot of the core, sort of, predictions have been increased. Now with the strong operative performance, strong development in our pipeline and also overcoming the lawsuits that we face, we believe that this recovery will continue. The question was asked about what the value -- about how we wanted to close the value gap between our company and another company over the next 3 to 5 years? With our leading life science business, we are focusing on 4 strategic focal points in order to offer attractive yields and returns for our shareholders and also to make a positive contribution to society and to the environment. Essentially, we need to provide limited productive products and solutions, strong operative performance, more sustainability and the achievements, all the success when it comes to expanding our leading market position. As I said earlier, we are not so satisfied with the performance of the share in 2021 due to the development in the pipeline, performance and also our litigations, we have made significant progress. The strong performance of the Bayer share in recent months shows that we are on the right track. The question was asked about how we want to overcome the crisis of confidence that the capital market has with our share? For an long time now, we have been in an implementation phase. The run of the outperformance of our share over the last few months compared with the index is certainly a consequence of our systematic implementation of the strategy. The achievement of our target last year, the outlook for 2022 and the positive news from our pharma business have made a contribution as has the positive macroeconomic environment in the agricultural sector to achieving these goals. Our goals are ambitious. And we believe that by achieving these goals, we will restore confidence in our shares, enabling the share price to stabilize. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, a question was asked about whether we believe that adjustments are needed to our strategy or whether we believe that we are still on the right path. As during the coronavirus crisis and also in this terrible war against the Ukraine with all of the negative effects that it has, we've shown how relevant and how robust our portfolio is. And with our alignment to watch human basic needs, which are health care and food, we are certainly on the right track. We believe that our strategic direction has been confirmed to be the right one. We were also ask and our shareholder structure and whether long-term shareholders will gradually return to the stock. When analyzing our shareholder structure in recent years, as part of our regular evaluation, we believe we have a very stable composition within the top 50 to top 100 investors. The institutions listed here have been accompanying our company for a long period of time already. Their position has changed in recent times, but not to the extent as the share price might lead you to believe. Now the recent strong share price performance has meant that generally, we have observed an increased amount of interest in our shares. One such example is the achievement of our goals for 2021 and also the outlook of 2022, which have been met with a positive reception by the market. Furthermore, we had a more positive macroeconomic environment in the agricultural sector and more positive news from our Pharmaceuticals business, which have led to a significant improvement in sentiment. Now this combination usually leads to a greater degree of interest for long-term shareholders who look for shares with long-term value potential. A question was asked to what extent the margin objectives? Our margin targets can be maintained given the rise in commodity energy and HR prices and whether we will be able to quickly pass on the cost increases to our customers. Even though we do expect a significant increase in commodity energy and HR costs for our businesses, we currently believe that we will be able to achieve our margin targets due to active price and cost management. Now a specific serious estimate for 2022, however, cannot be issued at the moment. We will have to wait until later in the year. But 1 positive factor for us is that, as I already mentioned, we had a very successful start to the new fiscal year. When it comes to passing on the costs to customers or the adaptation of our cost structure, it varies from division to division. And it also depends very heavily on the business and the market. In Pharmaceuticals, for example, we have a fixed -- and we have fixed prices that can be reimbursed, fixed reimbursable prices. Further questions are asked about the current group structure when it comes to value and improvement aspects and whether we believe that our structure is optimal at the moment and whether we plan future spin-offs. What I'd like to say to begin with is that Bayer regularly and systematically examines its portfolio. think about LANXESS, Covestro, Animal Health, Currenta and the recently concluded a successful sale of the Environmental Science business. And we also had the 3 key acquisitions of today's divisions. We had the acquisition of Schering, Merck Consumer Health and Monsanto. All of these steps have shown our alignment towards leading businesses in the Life Sciences sector, which fits in with our vision, "Health for all, hunger for none." Value enhancement for us means profitable growth. Profitable growth in these businesses by continuing to systematically implement our strategy. Our long-term strategy, our medium-term targets are now currently operatively very strong and significant capital adequacy reflect all of this. The spin-off of any divisions or the entire spin-off of the group increases the -- does not increase the intrinsic value of our businesses. And on the contrary, will lead to dys-synergies, which at the end of the day, which was actually confirmed by an external report, which was commissioned by the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management, as mentioned by Mr. Winkeljohann, which is why our focus is on the implementation of our current strategy. Another question was asked about long-term trends? And whether they show that Pharmaceuticals and Crop Science should be put together. Now when you look at long-term trends, I'm thinking all the mega trends here, the ones that we'll observe over the next few years will have an aging population, the necessary supply of medicine for the population also avoiding further hunger. These are topics which apply to all of our -- all of the parts of our company. We believe the combination of this business [ almost ] as a long-term advantage with the convergence of biology chemistry digitalization and will open up potential over the next few decades for innovation. Furthermore, we were asked to what extent the economic expectations for our divisions as were published in the financial report for 2021 that had to be corrected. What I can say on this is at this current point in time, we maintain our guidance for our different divisions. As you can understand, due to the current geopolitical situation, the development of the commercial environment for the year 2022 is very, very difficult to forecast. We were asked what innovative trends must not be missed and where investments are necessary for this. I'd like to point out in this context that we have our breakthrough innovation forum, and we had it on the 1st of April. There, we discussed in detail innovative trends and how we at Bayer tap into these trends. And if you wish, you can see a webcast recording of this. Basically, what it's about is this taking advantage of the convergence of chemistry biology and increasing digitization in order to accelerate further innovation. This is already something that's more than just a theoretical scientific concept. Now the good news is that our record level of more than EUR 5 billion of R&D investments in the group offer us ample opportunity to exploit this technological potential. This is the foundation for our long-term and profitable growth. We were asked a question whether or not Bayer over the long term, will have to strengthen the company with acquisitions, takeovers. We do not that there is a need for major acquisitions for the foreseeable future. And our focus, therefore, is mainly on organic growth and having complementary partnerships as well as small- and medium-sized acquisitions, but also the divestment of noncore activities. Against the backdrop of the share price development and legal risk, we were asked about the rationale for the acquisition of Monsanto. Strategically speaking, the acquisition of Monsanto was and is the right step in the growing agricultural area, we have become a market leader and major -- provided a major strength to our innovative capabilities. And therefore, we can make a major contribution to securing food for a growing world population within the limits of this planet. Over the long term, we want to achieve profitability that is above market levels. Entrepreneurial decisions, of course, are always something that entails risks and uncertainties with regard to the acquisition of Monsanto, identifiable legal risks occurred, and we are now addressing these appropriately with our 5-point plan in particular, as has been confirm many times in the past few years internally and externally, the risks within the framework of the acquisition were prudently assessed even today, estimating the safety of glyphosate has not changed by any of the necessary regulatory authorities. Let me say that the current food crisis as a consequence of the war in Ukraine has underscored the significance of our agricultural business. We will make our contribution to minimize the consequences for global food supplies. All in all, after many years, the macroeconomic environment in this area has developed positively. And this is one reason in the last 12 months, our share has achieved major outperformance of 25% over and above the German DAX index. We received a question whether or not the Chairman of the Board of Management should be able to have -- do transactions at the expense of employees and shareholders. With regard to the responsibilities of the Board of Management in Supervisor Board, let me point out appropriate sections in the annual report. With regard to the acquisition of Monsanto, all of the key decisions were made unanimously by the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. In addition to that, I would like to state that all of our entrepreneurial activities are done in the service of all stakeholders equally that is our owners, our shareholders. In other words, our customers, our employees and also society as a whole. By securing the success of the company over the loan, we think that this meets the most important prerequisite for further acquisition, integration of Monsanto. And this is an important step. Then there was a question about capital for the Monsanto acquisition and the litigation and how that can be concluded then about the Supreme Court case and whether or not we'll just focus on the Supreme Court result. Now we have a 5-point plan that we announced last year and the additional provisioning we made in 2021. And therefore, we believe that for the foreseeable future, we are secure in our provisioning so far for the foreseeable future. In addition to that, we provide provisioning even for a case that the Supreme Court does not accept our case. Now if the Supreme Court of the U.S. does accept our case and agree with our arguments, this would mean there would be a possibility of withdrawing some of these provisions. In any case, we are well prepared because our 5-point plan also includes other measures that will help us conclude all of these matters in the time allotted. We were asked about the early warning system for recognizing transactional risk for M&A acquisitions since the Monsanto takeover and how that's been adapted. Since rather, we did have a well-functioning risk management system at the time of the Monsanto transaction, and that has been evolved and standardized. Since then, any transaction risks were and are carried out, taking into account updated and standardized risk matrix. These risks are identified, analyzed. And if there's a transaction value of more than EUR 50 million, they are assessed and passed on independently of the risk management function. The assessment process includes legal risks, business and reputation risks and all other identifiable possible product-specific and function-specific risks. We were asked about how the takeover of Monsanto is having an effect on group sales and what repercussions the Board of Management would expect in the years to come with regard to litigation and in particular with regard to expected profit. We've become a global leader in agriculture, and we are continuously achieving innovation and growth, and we have a global responsibility for society to help feed the world. Now we do not show the individual part of our group sales. It's part of our Agricultural business. And in 2021, we achieved double-digit sales growth, and we achieved EBITDA before special items of EUR 4.7 billion. For 2022, we believe there will be sales growth of about 7% with an EBITDA margin prior to special items of 25% to 26%. Potential litigation can never be ruled out for companies, as you know. We were asked how the company would like to transform into an agile organization. We are creating an agile organization, for instance, by flattening out hierarchies, by taking advantage of feedback from employees, by creating new concepts for our offices, introducing new work methods and many, many more things. And I will hand over now to Mr. Wolfgang to answer the other questions in this group of questions.

[Interpreted] Yes. Thanks, Werner. We got a question about the original amortization write-off period and the internal interest rate for Monsanto acquisition and this we were asked what the additional costs have been incurred since the end of the takeover and what your amortization period is and your internal interest rate? Within the framework of the acquisition, a return on capital employed of 7.6% was the assumption with a nominal amortization period of some 15 years. Now with regard to the additional costs, mainly we have our legal costs for glyphosate, PCB and dicamba, up until the 31st of December 2021, the expenses that were taken from provisioning for this were EUR 18 billion -- or USD 18 billion. Then establishing the amortization period for the business, which has now been completely integrated the Bayer Group cannot be assessed separately because synergy potentials can no longer be broken down correctly. A post-merger controlling for a separate unit of Monsanto is no longer possible and doesn't make sense after integration has been successfully completed. We were asked about the extent to which, during the Monsanto takeover the plans for revenues and results for 2017 to 2021 were actually achieved. We took over Monsanto in 2018. And as a result, in answering this question, we're looking at our combined business. At the point in time of the takeover, we assumed for the time period up to 2022, that sales would grow by just above 4%, and we believe that there will be a constant increase of the margin heading towards 30%. Now as you can see in our reporting on the crop size business in the last year, in this cyclical and volatile market environment, we did defend our leading position amongst the competition. In the transformation years of 2019 and 2020, our currency adjusted and portfolio adjusted growth was 1.4% and 1.3% respectively. For 2021, we achieved 11.1% growth. And for 2022, we believe there will be a higher level of single-digit growth. With regard to the profitability, our margin target was 25% to 26% for 2022. That was a correction to that level. For 2024, our target still is a much higher margin level. All in all, economies of scale and efficiency effects were achieved later than originally planned. In addition to that, our currency assumptions during the past year changed substantially. For instance, we had plans for Brazil, and they called for an exchange rate of BRL 4 per euro, but actual reality shows that the real is more than BRL 5 to the euro. So when we look at clean EBITDA in the past 2 years, 2020 and 2021 and as a result of the high volatility in the markets, we had negative currency effects of EUR 537 million and EUR 387 million respectively, which had a negative impact on our margin in the Crop Science business totaling 220 basis points. Currency development, therefore, has had a major impact on how we are able to achieve our target margin for 2022 that we had originally. We were also asked about our cost savings programs in order to push the share price up. The efficiency programs, which are there to release means for future growth as well as to further strengthen our leadership position and our long-term competition or competitivity. And I'd like to hand over now to Sarena Lin.

[Interpreted] We had a question for a specific example for the transformation processes. The dynamism of our business and our market environment require ongoing adjustment. New business models, new working methods and the development of our workforce. These are all very important for our transformation as well as the further development of our leadership culture. That is why in our company, we have specific transformation programs at various levels. An example for change is the HR function. At the end of the fiscal year, I gave the HR department, new, leaner structure with a clear mandate. So we are effectively supporting transformation of the company as a whole. And now I'd like to hand over to Mr. Schipper.

[Interpreted] We were asked about the value of our Consumer Health business and how we measure it. And how we want to make the potential of this businesses more visible. We're pleased that you see the importance of Consumer Health as being important, just like we do for the group as a whole. In fiscal 2021, Consumer Health had a 12% share of sales and 11% of the core EBITDA within the company. In our opinion, Consumer Health is also communicated as such externally and is seen in positive terms. Analysts believe in their analysis that the possible medium-term enterprise value to be between EUR 15 billion to EUR 20 billion. This is before debt and other liabilities. This order of magnitude is in line with the assessment multiples of comparable companies with a comparable product portfolio. And now I'd like to hand over to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Schipper. The next group of questions will deal with issues relating to the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. These questions were asked by Janne Werning from Union Investment, Ingo Speich from Deka Investment, Hendrik Schmidt from DWS, [Joachim Crabel ] from the Association for Capital Investors, [ Heinz Heinrich ] and [ Coustau Gilica Muller, Crystal Sawejeski ] and other shareholders. These questions will be answered by Norbert Winkeljohann.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Kristina Hentschel. We received with regard to the targets for the composition of the Supervisory Board, especially with regard to the areas of expertise, digitization, agriculture, nutrition, R&D and sustainability. In these areas, we want to strengthen our expertise. This can be done at the next elections to the Supervisory Board as well as an expansion of the expertise of the existing members. So for this year, we are planning intense training sessions on digitization and also the ESG Committee. This means it will be possible for members of the Supervisory Board to expand their expertise. Even though this is not noticed as a focal point right now. We were also asked about the Nomination Committee with regard to the Supervisory Board elections for 2023 and 2024, when it comes to the expansion of the expertise on the Supervisory Board. The Nomination Committee bases its work not only on the legal requirements for the composition of the Supervisory Board, but also with regard to the targets set by the Supervisory Board when it comes to the questions of diversity and also identified expertise. In other words, not only with new members, on the Supervisory Board, but also by further development of existing Supervisory Board members. We were also asked if we plan to have more than the required number of women on the Supervisory Board and at management level. We now have 35% on the Supervisory Board. That's more than required by law, that is 30%. And when it comes to the reelection of Ms. Goggins and also considering the elections for the employee representatives, which are reported already, we see that the share of women after the Annual Shareholders Meeting will be 40%. So that means with Sarena Lin since the 1st of September 2020, we have 1 member of the Board of Management. As of the 1st of August, there will be -- it is a Board of Management of more than 3 individuals, which requires then at least 1 female and 1 male members. So this requirement is met today. When it comes to appointments to the Board of Management for the expertise and personal suitability, the Supervisory Board will also try to include female candidates in their selection. We also received a number of questions with regard to the mandates, Mr. Bischofberger and other companies and his reelection to the Supervisory Board at Bayer. Mr. Bischofberger's mandate at the Morphic Holding, Inc is a mandate as a nonexecutive member on the Board of Directors at a start-up company in the U.S. and the time required for this is not very much. They have a couple of Board meetings per year and a couple of meetings of the Compensation Committee, and there will be no additional travel time required. Business relationships that would call his independence and the question do not exist neither between Bayer AG and Morphic Holding, Inc. nor between Bayer AG and Kronos Bio Inc., where Mr. Bischofberger is the President and CEO. Mr. Bischofberger does not plan to reduce his mandates in the next 12 months. Although the Supervisory Board is convinced that Mr. Bischofberger will have sufficient time to do his work on the Supervisory Board and also to include his excellent experience in the Pharmaceuticals industry as well as in R&D at Bayer. This is something that Mr. Bischofberger has proven over the last 5 years. We were also asked about the prerequisites for Mr. Löllgen if he would not be willing to remain for the full year -- 4 years of his term. He will be elected -- he's being -- running for a 4-year term, any decision for him to leave earlier than after 4 years or any criteria, which would lead to an earlier termination of a mandate is something that do not exist at this point in time. We were asked whether the Board and the view the Supervisory Board is has the correct members and how the Supervisory Board can help the Board to overcome any concerns on the part of investors now in the view of the Supervisory Board, we have a very good management Board composition. There was a recent -- I spoke about the most recent changes in my speech. Thus, this does not mean that we do not have to supervise the Board of Management. We take this duty very seriously. I already spoke about the focal points for the work of the Supervisory Board at the end of my speech. Received several questions about succession planning for the CEO, the definition for a requirement profile and also the responsibility of the Supervisory Board in this context. As you know, one of the duties of the Supervisory Board is to think ahead of time about the succession for the Board of Management. And of course, we have been thinking about succession planning for the CEO. Mr. Baumann remains here until the third -- 30th of April 2024, which is another 2 years, which means there is no reason in this period of time to think a specific successor to them. As soon as the Supervisory Board gets into the more specific stage of its planning for succession, then it will be fine a requirements profile. Then the Supervisory Board will think -- will select the most suitable, a male or female candidates. And it doesn't matter whether it's an external or internal candidate and whether they are male or female. We were asked whether the departure of Liam Condon was connected to the succession situation for the CEO position. Now Mr. Condon said to me that he wanted to leave the Board of Management before his term ended in order to take on new challenges. This was his muni -- motivation, and this is how we expressed it to me. There was a question about why the ratification of the actions of the Board of Management is not -- cannot be conducted as individual ratification. Now for both the Board of Supervisory and the Board of Management, we have a vote on the ratification of the actions of all of the members. After the successful financial year 2021, which the Board of Management achieved due to teamwork, we do not believe that there is any reason to have ratification of each individual Board members. The only thing -- criteria in which we look at for the ratification is the performance of the Board of Management as a whole in fiscal 2021. If a company deems it necessary to ratify the actions of individual ones, then this can be done at a virtual ASM. But we could -- but a proposal for this to be done is not admissible under the law of the COVID-19 as for conducting virtual ASMs. Individual companies do decide to have individual ratification. But the vast majority of the Debt-Sorting Committee is more than 70%, in fact, and have collective ratification. In the many discussions that we've had with investors about corporate governance since the AGM last year, then the vast majority of investors have not expressed any preference for individual ratification at Board level. At the corporate governance road show, we will deal with this topic before the AGM in 2023. And based on the feedback we get, we may reexamine it. We received a question about how about what our approach is, if there is no ratification of the action of the Board of Management. The Supervisory report has no reason to speculate about this, as Mr. Baumann's said in his speech, and as you will also have seen in the annual report for fiscal 2021, Bayer has had a very successful year. The share price has performed very well recently, and the company is on a very good strategic footing. Received several questions about Board compensation. One of them was a question about the individual components about short-term incentives for Board of Management compensation and also the percentage target for each individual component for fiscal 2021. Short-term variable cash compensation is -- corresponds to the earnings of a fiscal year. There are 4 KPIs, sales growth, EBITDA margin before special items, adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow. A thorough description of the individual components as well as their various percentages for each individual component can be found in detail in our compensation report. Furthermore, a question was asked about the difference between the target achievement compared to the prior year. The system has a strong focus on pay for performance in fiscal 2020 due to the difficulty related to the pandemic, the compensation payments were lower for fiscal 2021, in which the performance was significantly better then this is reflected in the higher degree of target achievement. In the overall earnings figure, on average, across all different members of the Board, we had payments of around 175%. In the year where the peak of the pandemic was, we had only around 60%. We were also asked about total shareholder return, formally known as a TSR, which is the dividend and value growth of the share can -- in comparison to the money for Board payment in 2017 to 2021. For each calendar year, we were asked to provide a percentage to compare it with the previous year. When showing total return, we took the exact performance of the respective also taking into account the reinvestment of the dividends paid in the given fiscal year, HGB spending for Board compensation takes the an entire payments are granted according to HGB for the active Board members. For the year 2017, TSR was increased by 18% and HGB expenses was down by 14% over 2016. For the year 2018 CSR was down by 46% whereas, HGB spending was down by 1% over 2017 for the year 2019. TSR was up by 66% then HGB spending was up 7% compared with 2018. For the year 2020, TSR was down by 58% and HGB spending was down by 34% versus 2019. For year 2021, TSR came in at plus 30% and HGB spending came in at plus 69% versus 2020. However, the connection between total shareholder return on HGB spending for Board and Management compensation compared with the prior year does not provide a good comparison. One thing you need to bear in mind is HGB spending for overall payments and comprises the multiyear variable compensation, which is LTI. And as such, the share price performance is not reflected in the total spending on HGB. Furthermore, the compensation system for the Board is linked to generating long-term value for our shareholders, but other compensation relevant KPIs were also based on sales growth, profitability, liquidity sustainability depending on the compensation system. So when making comparison, there are several compensation relevant by a KPI, which are not taken into account. Furthermore, share-based compensation according to HGB is based on the target values and on target achievement. Furthermore, the compensation system in this individual components have changed between the period of 2017 and 2021. So for example, there was also a new system introduced for savings payments from starting with 2020. But also the accounting standards, which are applied play a role here, too. Another question our Board compensation with the compensation of the owners, so total shareholder return and how variable compensation above 0, given that the share price performance since the Monsanto takeover can be justified. Variable as performance-based compensation is STI as well as LTI. The purpose of these 2 variable elements need to be looked at differently. Now short-term variable compensation depends on the commercial success of a given fiscal year. As such, the short-term variable compensation reflects the achievement of the annual targets for the previous year, which is 2021 and was very successful. This will be reflected in the higher degree of goals achieved. Long-term variable compensation is geared towards the development of the share price, return on capital and also achieving ESG targets and accounts for the lion's share of all compensation elements for Board compensation. The performance of the Bayer share, quite correctly, is reflected in the 4-year variable compensation components. Now looking at the tranches, which began between 2015 and 2017. There were only payments between 38% and 0%, respectively. In January 2022, from this program, only just under 32% was paid out for the 2018 tranche. One thing that needs to be taken into account here is that assessing performance for both payments was based on the earlier system that was in place at the time. Other guiding principles for the compensation system, can be found in the compensation report. We received several questions as to why settlement payments for legal disputes were not taken into account for STI and as such, it allowed the -- it allowed suppressing the targets when it came to free cash flow and also about the adjustments. As you can see in our detailed compensation report, we provide incentives to our Board of Management to -- we have -- to improve free cash flow, excluding ex one-off events such as payments connected to settlements. One thing I'd like to say is that there is no discretionary adjustment or adjustment made on the part of the Supervisory Board. The target setting at the beginning and also the assessment of whether the targets were achieved at the end of the fiscal year is always very consistent without taking into account any litigations. Now by free cash flow, we provide an incentive to improve the capital flow, which also leads to a higher dividend payment and also deleveraging as well as for acquisitions and it secures thus the liquidity of the Bayer Group, which means that free cash flow is of great significance. Now because we take free cash flow into account as a KPI for STI then in our view, this certainly makes sense because the large majority of 94%, the Annual Shareholders Meeting the 28th of April 2020 approved the updated version of the compensation report. In order to guarantee the control character of free cash flow in a short-term compensation then unplanned one-off cash in and cash outflows have to be adjusted because otherwise, in our view, the Board of Management could have an influence all of these one-off effects. By shifting outflows and the later higher payments this could lead to higher bonus payments. Now on the view of the Supervisory Board, we do not believe that this is the interest to shareholders. Our unscheduled and one-off material effects, which are not considered to be relevant for performance in a given fiscal year by the Supervisory Board, are thus precluded from being part of the free cash flow target to which bonuses are linked. This guarantees that management has an adequate incentive to focus on those factors, which they can actually affect. Other adjustment topics include tax audits, mergers and acquisitions are also in payments and inflows and for previous events. This affects both positive and negative effects. The reasons for not taking into account the litigations have just been outlined by myself. I also explained that the approach between its target setting, which means a normal litigation and also assessing performance, also not including litigation is very consistent. As such, the Supervisory Board cannot have any discretionary or adjusting influence when it comes to litigation risks and how it's connected with compensation. Thus, so as I said before, we cannot play any -- it did not play any role here. Now ladies and gentlemen, this corresponds to our very clearly defined guiding principles, which you can find in the compensation report. You won't say what we want to -- if you would, you could put it this way by saying what we want to avoid is discretionary special bonuses. Free cash flow with the targets was exceeded in 2021, but it wasn't due to failing to take into account litigations. Now on to the amount of this. For the incentive relevant free cash flow, we had EUR 5.6 billion versus a target of EUR 5 billion both -- neither of this included one-off capital inflows. Now the cost payments were not in the [ management's ] favor implemented management in the fiscal year. We had compensation payments paid of EUR 4.2 billion. Now we're asked how high STI would have been if sales had been adjusted for inflation and how the Supervisory Board plans to tackle the current situation, given high inflation. We only look at real and nominal rises in asset prices. Our pricing depends on specific business and market circumstances. Part of this pricing is due to inflation, but there are also other factors which play an important role, which includes innovation and also the availability of active ingredients. Our planning anticipates normal market inflation levels and we believe that it will also be used for assessing currency and portfolio adjusted growth. The markets where you had hyperinflation such as in Argentina, we kept the target achievements, which means that currency and portfolio adjusted sales growth in Argentina is adjusted by 0.1 percentage points, a division of the Crop Science division, 0.1 percentage points of Pharmaceuticals and negative 0.8% for Consumer Health. In our planning for 2020, we anticipate rising inflation and also a corresponding increase in salaries. However, as the performance of the market is what is key and not the inflation when it comes to determining salary increases. Furthermore, in the divisions component of the STI systems, we deliberately take the EBITDA margin, and which does take into account the sales and cost side of inflation. There was a question about weather with regard to the Monsanto business case, legal measures were planned against Mr. Baumann. This is not the case. As is proved by the independent study commissioned by the Supervisory Board, the Board of Management always acted within the framework of its responsibilities and within the framework of its duty of diligence. There was another question about the reasons for dissolving the Special Committee of the Supervisory Board on the glyphosate litigation. I can repeat what I said previously in my speech, and it's been published on the Internet, too. Specifically, when the 5-point plan was passed, it included a glyphosate legal area. And this means that we have taken all the things with regard to this issue into account. Supervisory Board had its -- in 2019, it founded the special committee, and it achieved all of the things it was supposed to do up until the end of 2021. So if any more issues in this context come up, it will be taken care of by the overall Supervisory Board and the independent adviser, John Beisner, is still available for the Supervisory Board. There was a question as to whether the members of the special committee were given additional compensation for the work on the special committee. That was the case, and with regard to the details, I have a look at the articles of association of Bayer AG and the remuneration or compensation report. We were asked also whether the super -- or how the Supervisor Board judges the work of the special committee on glyphosate litigation. Since it was founded, the special committee was an effective body for monitoring and advising the Board of Management within the framework of overcoming glyphosate legal issues. In addition to that, with regard to Page 15 of the annual report, there was a question as to what critical feedback we had received from investors with regard to corporate governance, management and litigation. And what consequences the Supervisory Board took in September 2021. In the spring of 2021, we had the help of an external consultant to carry out a perception study that we did with a host of major shareholders of the company. We take advantage of this opportunity to get feedback from our shareholders to analyze that and reflect on it. And if they are relevant to help create value. And if it's doable, we take this into account in the development of the company. But I hope you understand that bilateral communication with our individual investors, investors is confident and should remain confident. Finally, we were asked how the Supervisory Board could accept supporting the purchase of Monsanto. At the time, the risks were assessed in detail. They were taken into account in overall judgment. The strategic rationale is and was correct that the current performance of the combined business underscores this very clearly. Ladies and gentlemen, on that note, I'd like to hand back to Ms. Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann. Next group of questions is about financial affairs and the balance sheet and accounting. We received the following questions or we received questions from the following investors, Marc Tungler from the German DWS Small Shareholders Association, Hendrik Schmidt from DWS. [ Joachim Crabel ] from the Small Shareholders Association of [Foreign Language], [ Dorssten Gaina, Mr. Katz, Mori Schnittskit ] and other shareholders. Mr. Nickl you have the floor.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Ms. Hentschel. First of all, we received the question as to whether we or how we have prepared for things in investment inflationary environment and whether there's data and experience about how our business model react to increasing inflation. Let me say that there are major differences because we have inflation, there are changes in the regulatory environment, there's regional market differences, customer and brand loyalty, intensity of competition cost structures and so on. So therefore, we have no fundamental single statement on this. With the products of in health and food, we are well positioned with innovative products and a strong Bayer brand, a high level of brand loyalty and strong customer loyalty. We are able to compensate for cost increases by increasing our prices. Sometimes we're even able to increase our margins. In the year under report, we had volume growth of 6.8% and price growth of 2.1%. Then there was a question as to whether our ROCE figure still says much if inflation goes up. If we look at ROCE, you see that it's about operating earnings after tax compared to the average capital employed in the business year and the fiscal year. Now ROCE is compared to the weighted average cost of capital. Neither ROCE, nor the cost of capital rate was adjusted for inflation effects. And therefore, you do have comparability. The calculation of ROCE numbers is done on the base of the book value. In addition to that, I could state that the ROCE figure is a strategic indicator for assessment -- assessing value creation of the company. And therefore, deliberately it's not adjusted neither in the denominator nor in the nominator (sic) [numerator]. And therefore, we are basing all of this on IFRS. With this calculation, we can say that this strategic KPI does tell us a great deal. In addition, there was a question about when we will take in our cost of capital. We expect that we will take in our cost of capital this year for the years to come. We believe that there will be a constant increase in our return on capital employed. We received a question on the number of profit revisions between 2017 and '21 as well as the share, Bayer's share and profit. Core EPS improved in 2021 by 1.9% to EUR 6.51. Analysts and investors were also considering the risks with regard to glyphosate litigation, the share remained at a low level. And this results from the fact that we had a core ratio of 7.2% at the end of the year. We also adapted our guidance for the core EPS between '17 and 2021, 8x for technical and operational reasons. Technical effects were the deconsolidation of Covestro in the third quarter of 2017, also Animal Health and Currenta as discontinued operations in the third quarter of 2019. And the adjustment of our guidance after completion of Monsanto acquisition in the second quarter of 2018 because we also had to sell businesses as part of the antitrust proceedings. Adjustments of an operational nature were the drop in the core EPS guidance in the second quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2020 as well as an increase in the guidance in the first quarter of 2017, the second quarter of 2021 and in the third quarter of 2021. We also received a question on current debt and the rating. Current financial liabilities went down more in 2021 than did the -- then an increase in long-term financial liabilities. We had a total of EUR 900 million decline of financial liabilities. Our goal is to have a long rating in the A category. A number of rating categories take into account a number of qualitative and quantitative factors when assessing credit worthiness. Another question was with regard to the theoretical repayment of debts of less than 3 if we use the noncore EBITDA, we are continuously trying to optimize our finance situation, and we assume that we will improve our debt repayment duration in the next few years. As part of our Environmental Science professional business, which has been sold, this ratio from net debt and reported EBITDA should also be somewhere in the next few years. And we also see that the current net interest environment will also have an impact on our net debt. And in 2021, the net debt increased due to payments for the -- for legal litigation. The share of our financial debt is fixed interest rate. So any possible interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve or the European Central Bank would only have a moderate impact on our interest result. We plan to pay bonds that will mature in order to further reduce our debt in the coming years from operational cash flow. Another question was the impact of higher interest rates on the Bayer Group. We plan to have a substantial amount of the bonds maturing in '22 and '23 from existing cash and operational cash flow so that we can reduce our financial debt rather than refinancing it. We also see that a significant share of our financial debt has fixed interest rates, so that a possible interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve or the ECB would only have a moderate impact on our interest results. We also received a question as to the expected development of the net interest payments in 2022 and 2023? Since the net interest payments in 2021 were about EUR 1.2 billion, they went down to that amount. We expect that in '22 and '23, there will be a further improvement in this area of between EUR 1.0 billion and EUR 1.1 billion. This assessment is due to the large share of papers in the United States and due primarily from the development of the euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate, and the current expectation is based on an exchange rate of approximately USD 1.11 per euro. Another topic were the requirements for correcting the current ratings. The different rating agencies take into account a number of both qualitative and quantitative factors when assessing creditworthiness. When these factors change, it can also lead to an adjustment of the rating. Please bear with us. We cannot go into detail on the analysis of various rating agencies. Individual rating agencies have published corresponding material on this point. We also received a number of questions on the dividend and dividend policy. One question was why will there be a low dividend in 2020? Why is there no compensation or correction for this? And when will we have a dividend of EUR 2.8 to EUR 3 per share, and we also were asked about the future dividend policy. This year, we are maintaining our dividend policy. Every year, 30% to 40% of the core EPS is paid out to the shareholders. In September 2020, we announced that the payout in the following years would be at the lower end of the quarter and not at the upper end as in previous years. The proposed dividend amounting to EUR 2 per share corresponds to about 31% of our core EPS amounting to EUR 6.51 for fiscal 2021. So this is within the target corridor for our dividend policy. On the basis of the share price at the end of 2021, this amounts to a dividend yield of 4.3%. As a matter of principle, a stable dividend policy with active yields is what our goal is. We were also asked which factors determine the establishment of the payout ratio. As I said, we target a payout ratio of between 30% and 40% of adjusted earnings per share. We also try to offer an attractive dividend for our shareholders. And at the same time, what we are doing is looking for opportunities for our company to continue to invest in innovation and thus generate profitable, sustainable growth. And we were asked whether based on the outlook for the coming year was published in the report, we believe that we can anticipate a dividend of EUR 2.10 and what dividend level shareholders can rely on in the future. Now please understand that at this current point in time, we cannot make any specific statements about what the future dividend proposal will be. Now the current guidance is 30% to 40% of adjusted earnings per share, but this is simply a point of reference for the payment interval depending on overall earnings that we expect to achieve over the next few fiscal years. Now the final question we received here was whether in the budget process, we apply agile methods such as agile portfolio management. Now generally speaking, we use our buzz word, the new ways of working. And this applies to new agile working methods in our hybrid setup. And this was reinforced during the coronavirus crisis. When it comes to the budget process in several areas, we implemented financial controlling without a budget under this word beyond the budgeting, and we will evaluate our experience from this. So I will now hand back to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Nickl. We will now continue with and questions relating to the activities of our divisions. So in Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Crop Science. Questions were asked on these topics from Marc Tungler from the DSW; Janne Werning from Union Investment; Ingo Speich for Deka Investment; Hendrik Schmidt from DWS; [ Joachim Crabel ] from the Association of Capital Investors; [ Torsten Gainaer, Mori Schnittskit ] and other shareholders too. Stefan Oelrich, Heiko Schipper, Rodrigo Santos and Werner Baumann will answer these questions. Mr. Santos will over answer his questions in English, and they will be interpreted simultaneously into German. Mr. Oelrich, the floor is yours.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Ms. Hentschel. We received several questions asking the -- asking about the extent to which pharmaceutical products will be based on biotechnology and Artificial Intelligence. The combination of biology and chemicals and data opens a new opportunity for us to understand the illnesses and also to treat them. Our technologies, based on groundbreaking innovations allow us not only to treat symptoms but also potentially to stop the advance of an illness, the progression of an illness or even reverse the course of an illness. In almost each project in research and development from Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence now play a role. They are used in order to improve efficiency and precision and also to allow us to optimize the leading structures. Artificial Intelligence allows us to understand with greater precision why certain patients or patient groups respond better to a medicine than others do or why some of them suffer from specific side effects. This allows us to provide the correct treatment to the correct patient at the correct point in time and it allowed us to do this more efficiently and quicker than we can today. Bayer is a targeted focus on innovative digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence in order to offer a greater benefit to patients. Examples of this include our cooperation with the health tech company, Hua, as well as with our partners at Schering under recursion. Now in radiology, in particular, Bayer enjoys a strong position on the fast-growing market for Artificial Intelligence. In this area, we combine our years of experience in radiology. So here we combine our years of experience in radiology with a deep-rooted understanding for the needs of patients as well as doctors across a broad spectrum of different illnesses. It ranges from oncology and over to cardiovascular illnesses. And this allows us to offer expert knowledge and solutions from diagnosis all the way through to treatment. And when looking for new active ingredients, artificial ingredients, Artificial Intelligence can assistance in identifying points of attack when characterizing and optimizing molecules, which will accelerate in research and development. A very effective example of this is our new entity thromboses development candidate, Asundexian, which is a factor XIa inhibitor, which employs Machine Learning and a physics-based approach for early-stage active ingredient research and optimization. Another question was asked about how many of our blockbuster products from our own research came from -- how many of our blockbuster products are from our research and development, how many from external companies? Currently, Bayer has two products that have a blockbuster status. Rivaroxaban was invented by Bayer and developed in collaboration with Janssen. Aflibercept comes from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. And for global development, Bayer has worked, and we still do work closely with Regeneron. As part of our Pharmaceutical strategy, we are strengthening our internal research and development activities by cooperating with leading universities, public research institutions and as well as companies in the private sector in which we also invest if necessary. This allows us only access to innovative approaches for the development of innovative treatment options. These are generally investments in innovation in early stage of development. We were asked a question asking about how -- about our research and development budget, how much you spent on us and how much is spent on third parties, and this for the period over the past 5 years. Furthermore, we were asked about the success of the developments from our own company compared to those from third parties when it comes to blockbusters over the past 5 years. In the year 2021, research and development spending had a 50-50 breakdown for the Pharmaceuticals division. This accounts for -- this corresponds to a 10 percentage point increase for the past 5 years. But the products with blockbuster status Xarelto, Eylea and the Mirena product, formerly, Accelerator, Mirena proprietary developments and Eylea comes from a third party. And when you look at the blockbuster sales over the last few years, our own inventions account for 65% to 75%. Another question asked whether our large investments in companies in the Pharmaceutical sector are necessary. A core component of our research and development strategy includes combining our expertise with promising external innovations. Access to novel knowledge at our illnesses and new groundbreaking discoveries and technologies allows us to accelerate and improve the productivity and flexibility of our own organization. One such example with our investments, we have had an increased look at new biomedical innovations, including, in particular, in the field of cell in a gene-based therapies. Over the last 3 years, more than EUR 2.5 billion has been spent on the development of the cell in a gene therapy platform. And this includes the acquisitions of BlueRock Therapeutics and Asklepios BioPharmaceutical. Furthermore, we invest in close collaboration with strategic partners, including Mammoth Biosciences with the objective of advancing our innovation capabilities. Even today, we already have a significant preclinical and clinical portfolio in the field of cell and gene therapies. At the moment, we have 8 projects in various stages of clinical development in these groundbreaking fields. These are targeted towards therapy areas where there is a significant uncovered demand including leading programs for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, Morbus Pompe or also heart insufficiency. Overall, our development portfolio in our Pharmaceutical division includes around 50 projects, which are currently in the clinical Phases I to III. Furthermore, our active ingredient research has been significantly reinforced through the acquisition of the Vividion Therapeutics. Vividion is a biopharmaceutical company that uses novel research technologies in order to develop high-value, non-addressable target proteins with precision treatments. Bayer venture capital unit, Leaps by Bayer in recent years, more than EUR 1.3 billion have been invested in the portfolio consisting of 50 companies, including many companies in the health care sector. Overall, investment for research and development in its 2021 adjusted for special items came in at EUR 5.3 billion. Over the next few years via Leaps by Bayer, we will be investing more than EUR 1.3 billion. And as such, we want to continue to invest in cooperation. And in doing so, we will be focusing on oncology, cardiovascular diseases, new modalities, such as cell and gene-based therapies, digital health care solutions as well as eye therapy and gynecological therapies, hemophilia radiology and other new innovative areas. Now, the goal that we have set ourselves is to provide the correct treatment at the correct point in time for the correct patient and to do so more efficiently and quicker than we can today. This is why we continue to seek strong partnerships in the field of data science and also digital technology. We received several questions regarding our planning for replacing successful pharmaceutical products in the market via new medications, in particular, Xarelto. First of all, we have to state that patent protection for Xarelto for the very important dosage patent of single daily dose was confirmed by the European patent office up until January 2026. Our Pharmaceuticals business has an annual revenue of about EUR 18 billion, and it's developed very well. And this is based on products which provide great help to patients with a high number of different diseases for the current year. Therefore, our Pharmaceuticals business is expecting growth of 3% to 4%. The extended patent protection for Xarelto in Europe will, in the future, have positive effects. All in all, our R&D pipeline is continuing to develop. Currently, as I said, we have about 50 clinical development projects that are ongoing for different potential therapeutic modalities and indications. The focal points are oncology, cardiovascular disease and women's health. We focus on our existing expertise such as expertise regarding lower molecular compounds and at the same time, we have new activities in the field of modalities, including cell and genetic therapy. And there are some development projects in a late stadiums (sic) [stages] such as the most recent and the most recently newly licensed product. And these include potential blockbuster products that together could account in EUR 5 billion in revenue per year. We believe that this dynamic development of medication will help us well. We have a new prostate cancer drug, Nubeqa, which we believe can achieve up to EUR 3 billion at the peak revenue per year. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer on the world. Clinical studies with Nubeqa have demonstrated that a combination with chemotherapy, the survival of chances for patients increased by an additional 30% and they can extend life for a number of years. Nubeqa works for patients that have just been diagnosed and also for patients with metastases in prostate cancer. Since it was launched, Nubeqa has generated revenue of EUR 250 million. And for a new product, this is an outstanding figure. Then we have KERENDIA against kidney disease for diabetes patients. We believe that it can have a peak revenue of about EUR 1 billion -- more than EUR 1 billion, and the same applies to Verquvo against cardiovascular disease. In addition to that, development of a drug for women going through menopause is quite -- has achieved a lot of progress. We think it can do a lot for us. And we have Asundexian, which is currently going through Phase II clinical development. And according to one of our Phase II studies, it has a much lower risk of hemorrhaging than a comparable anticoagulant if a similar class. We were also asked about additional revenue based on new medications in the 2021 business year in the division the Pharmaceutical division and what we're expecting in 2022. In fiscal 2021, in the Pharmaceuticals division, new medications achieved a revenue of about EUR 0.6 billion. I hope you understand that for 2022, the ongoing year, we cannot explain to you what our expected revenue is for our current products. We were asked whether or not Bayer has the necessary financial means to license Asundexian and take full advantage of the market potential. Currently, the details of the clinical Phase II program on Asundexian are being analyzed. Our financial plans call for conducting a Phase III study program. In addition to that, there was a question about how in Pharmaceuticals business, our adjusted EBITDA margin could achieve 30% in 2024 in a phase in which, on the one hand, some patents are expiring. And on the other hand, there's going to be a need for a high level of sales and marketing expenditures. Within the framework of our Capital Market Day last year, we mentioned our medium-term goals for 2024, including adjusted EBITDA margin of 30% for the Pharmaceuticals division. From today's point of view, we can confirm these target values. At the same time, you've seen that within the framework of our ongoing investments in research and development, and the offering of new products and potential blockbusters. We've made great progress. And from today's point of view, I can confirm our expectation that in the years after 2024, our Pharmaceuticals business ought to continue to grow. Finally, we received the question of whether or not for Bayer, it would make sense against the backdrop of the future need to fight the coronavirus, whether it makes sense to take over CureVac. In cooperating with CureVac, it was about providing acute support to fight the pandemic. It wasn't so much about expanding a vaccine manufacturing activity as a new business area. Now when CureVac announced that it would take its candidate for the COVID vaccine out of the potential licensing, the -- we ended our activities together with CureVac on this. And now I will hand over to my colleague, Heiko Schipper.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Stefan. We were asked about the measures the Consumer Health division is going to take to achieve market leadership and how it can be prevented that the planned acquisitions might not achieve the desired success. The Consumer Health division has a very clear strategy, which in the past 3 years has led to sustained growth. With this growth, we are above the levels of our competitors. And at the same time, we've been able to increase our profitability. In the coming years, too, we would like to continue with this successful strategy. We are introducing new and innovative products to the market, which focus particularly on the needs of our customers, such as Bepanthen Derma. In addition to that, we develop our own brands and are continuing to do so. And these are brands which are highly trusted by consumers. This includes those brands, which we have acquired within the framework of the Merck OTC acquisition. In addition to that, we even invested in attractive category segments and markets. This includes, among other things, complementary acquisitions if they make strategic sense. When we do this, we focus on growth opportunities in markets, sales channels and product categories, which promised to provide growth rates above market growth rates. And this was done in the past few years very successfully, for instance, in Asia, where we established our Consumer Health division with direct sales in India. In addition to that, we have strengthened our e-commerce presence in different markets. Our global business with and food and food supplements has been expanded and with Rx-to-OTC switches that is the transition of products which used to require a prescription to the OTC status, we were also able to achieve some success here, too. One particular example worth mentioning is Astepro in the United States. In doing these activities, we focus on our strategic focal points and a cautious allocation of capital whose objective it is to achieve long-term increases in the value of the company. In addition to that, we have knowledge that we've garnered in previous acquisitions. There was one more question with regards to cooperation with influencers in the product marketing. We use innovative and creative marketing approaches for our Consumer Health brands. And this includes fundamentally cooperation with influencers. We evaluate partnerships with third parties. And in particular, we focus on legal and regulatory requirements, which reglement (sic) [regulate] the scope and the type of cooperation. And finally, we received a question on blockchain technologies in the Consumer Health division. We constantly evaluate new technologies in order to improve our performance potential for consumers and the quality of our business in all divisions. We stick to the highest possible quality standards for our products and are interested in using technologies such as blockchain in order to pursue quality assurance and traceability of our products and continually improve this. In doing this, we focus on regulatory requirements in each of the different markets we're active in. As of today, our OTC and supplements business have been serialized in order to improve their traceability. Furthermore, we have different projects which utilize blockchain technology in order to optimize data transfer along our entire supply chain. With the support of regulatory authorities, we have at our production sites and with our most important contractual manufacturers, we've implemented what are called track and trace systems. Our objective is to be able to manage the entire supply chain along the entire value chain and blockchain plays a major role in this. And now I would like to hand over to my colleague, Rodrigo Santos.

Thank you, Heiko. We received the first question about our Crop Science R&D pipeline and recent advancements. Our annual EUR 2 billion investment in Crop Science provides us with a competitive R&D scale in seeds and traits, crop protection and digital. We serve as the technology provider to the industry and are the partner of choice in more than 100 open innovations collaborations. In 2021, we saw meaningful progress with 8 total advancements of new crop protection activity ingredients, new seeds and traits and digital models. In addition, we refresh our seed portfolio with approximately 500 new corn, soybean, cotton and vegetable hybrids and varieties, boosted by our leading germplasm library. We also upgraded our Crop Protection portfolio with 8 new formulations launched and more than 300 new registrations. This work continues to put forward a pipeline value up to EUR 30 billion in peak sales potential over the next 2 decades with half of this amount estimated to be incremental value to our annual sales. Another question was asked about our ability to pass on higher input costs. In general, we try to pass on inflation and usually successfully adapt. However, inflation is just one piece of how we set price. We also look at performance, commodity price and consider competitive dynamics. In addition, there is a time lag between cost increases and our ability to price. Our seeds and traits products are only priced once per year, and we can adjust prices in our Crop Protection products more than once a year. As communicated in our outlook, 2022, we expect pricing to be the primary contributor to the sales growth of the year given the value that our high-performance next-generation products generate. It also was asked what is the impact of high price level of commodities has on our successful of our Crop Science business and whether this is an environment we can show our full potential. As higher commodity prices for key crop like corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton translate on higher value for crops for farmers, this contributes to greater value for us as a provider of key inputs as well. With that, I mean, seeds, crop protection and digital tools that allow growers to enhance their yields and optimize their returns. This is reflected in higher prices, improved mix and higher demand for our products. As communicated in our outlook for 2022 in February, we expect pricing to be the primary contributor to our sales growth for the year, given the value of high-performance next-generation products generate. We shared that in 2022, we expect 6% to 7% increases in price for corn, fungicides and insecticides, especially and even higher for glyphosate. We would expect to be about half of the expected sales growth for 2022. In addition, we anticipate higher demand for Crop Protection, especially for fungicides as growers seek to protect their higher value yield on farm. Finally, we typically see in times in stronger commodities that growers will trade up more aggressively to higher-value premium seed like our DEKALB, Asgrow and Deltapine brands and this contributes to an improved sales mix at a higher average price. In addition, we received a question about how grain supply shortages in Russia and Ukraine affect global agriculture and agrochemicals market and how we expect the situation to play out in the long term. The Russia-Ukraine war contributed to the recent sharp increase in commodity and fertilizers prices, given concerns on farmers' ability to plant corn in Ukraine and to move those crops to ports for export following harvest. However, it's difficult to predict how long these higher prices will persist in such a volatile environment. Commodity prices are directly influenced by global supply and demand, which are influenced by various other factors, including trade, weather conditions, the buildup of safety stocks by governments or disease outbreaks affecting demand like the African swine fever outbreak in China. In general, higher commodity prices translates to higher value for crops for farmers and higher demand for crop protection as they seek to protect their yield on farm. Farmers also tend to trade up more aggressively to higher-value, higher-performing seeds to drive higher yields in the times of higher commodity price. However, as a result of higher fertilizer price, some farmers might switch to crops that require fewer new trends or to plan to cultivate less acreage. This could diminish the yield of new crops and lead to food security issues. Our focus is being to be a reliable supplier of choice for this much needed inputs while continually innovating to bring farmers high-performing seat crop protection and digital solutions to sustainably enhance their yields and returns regardless what -- where they will farm, well-aligned to our vision of "Health for all, hunger for none." And with this, I hand over to Werner Baumann to further questions.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much Rodrigo. We have another question on supply chain problems with this restricted production of plant protection products, we depend on raw materials, intermediates and packaging materials. And these are bought from other companies. If we have -- if our partners have problems, then of course, this would have an impact on our ability to produce and deliver. We also had a question on our commitment and our approach in order to maintain diversity, biodiversity, for example, support of gene banks at a local international level. We are involved in a number of projects and programs because it's our responsibility to expand the yield and effect of our various breeding resources. This includes continuous support for public genetic banks who maintain plant and genetic resources, access and improvement to biodiversity also need this for the plant breeders, so that the challenges of more sustainable, higher yields and healthier crops. We spend -- we are involved in a lot of cooperation agreements as well as public partner private ships (sic) [relationships] and also make use of knowledge and resources together. The modern breeding project as an example of a core agreement with The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. It gives plant breeders know-how in the field of technological progress so that breeding progress can also be increased for local crops in countries such as Mali and Nigeria. We are also -- we were also asked what Bayer does in order to counter impact on biodiversity by the growing demand for monocultures, such as corn and soybeans. Maintaining biodiversity is a very important goal in society, and we need to maintain biodiversity and two things need to happen. First of all, we need to have arable areas to be used as productively as possible with our innovative plant protection products as well as our improved seeds and digital services, we contribute to sustainably increasing agricultural productivity. Together with the arable land, we also have the appropriate habitat structures that are either maintained or allowed to develop, and these are to support biodiversity. We have a network of 26 model farms, which is called the Bayer Forward Farming, which we will be expanding to include 6 new farms this year. We also heard if we were asked if we're planning to expand our Crop Science business in Mongolia. Here this is -- there is soil without very many nutrients and it is dry climate. So we see that this is typical to have animals in this area. There aren't very many areas for them to roam and we don't see any very large potential there for our Crop Science business. We were also asked about our strategy with respect to quality control of seed by means of blockchain technology. Blockchain technologies help Bayer to follow our seeds during the entire production cycle. Traders and growers and processes have real-time access to the information. And this way we can determine any problems with quality more quickly. And blockchain supports cooperation for things such as credits for CO2 compensation. Bayer will also continue to invest in projects and partnerships in order to make more progress in introducing these transformational technologies. And now I'd like to hand over again to Ms. Henchel to introduce the next subject matter.

[Interpreted] That brings us to the next subject matter. And this is questions on various legal issues. Most of them relate to the current status of the glyphosate liability cases in the United States. Questions were submitted by Marc Tungler from the German Association for Securities; Ingo Speich for Deka Investment; Andrew Schmidt from DWS; [Joachim Crabel ] from the Association of Capital Investors as well as other shareholders. I would now like to hand over to Werner Baumann.

[Interpreted] Thank you. We received a number of questions on product liability cases regarding glyphosate in the United States and the current status and the outcome and the chances of success at the U.S. Supreme Court for the Hardeman case as well as the possible duration of bringing all of these to a conclusion, we were also asked if the legal risk would -- could be contained with the 5-point plan. In the summer of 2021, we communicated our 5-point plan where we wanted to settle the litigation to glyphosate in the United States. And our base scenario did not assume that it would have a positive exception or decision on the part of the Supreme Court. With regard to this space scenario, this is a positive development. The fact that the Supreme Court is interested in the Hardeman case. By in December 2021, they asked the Solicitor General to draw up a statement on the part of the U.S. government. The statement from the Solicitor General has not yet been received, but we assume that following that, the court will decide whether or not to take on this appeal. Such a decision is something that we expect in the coming weeks. Neither this decision nor a possible decision by the court, if they do accept the case, these do not have a deadline. That is why it could take a longer period of time. Since the request was placed with the Supreme Court, we have been following selectively and for strategic regions (sic) [reasons], other of the settlement negotiations. How long litigation on glyphosyte will continue to last is not only in our hands. That's why we certainly do not want to speculate on that. If or when the court decides or if the court decides to take on the Hardeman case, then the next period could be the period for a decision. This will begin in October of 2022 and will last into the end of June 2023. Another question was whether a positive vote by the U.S. Supreme Court could lead to clawback decree. The activation of clawback clause is a positive vote by the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to the case of Mr. Hardeman. So it would not relate to any of the relative agreements. There was also a question as to whether with the -- and EUR 3.8 billion provision, were there any future product liability and cases have also covered or whether you would have to increase these provisions. Now the provision corresponds to our current estimate as to what it would cost to settle future claims by an independent professionally managed program for compensation payments. The underlying average sums are comparable with the previous settlement agreements that have been reached. One thing that needs to be taken into account is that due to the -- our own planned compensation program, no fees will be paid for claimant's lawyers. At the moment, there is no new nor relevant information about any change to the level of provisions that will need to be made. Another question was asked about the level of provisions for settlement payments or product liability cases related to classified dicamba, PCB and Essure. We're also asked whether we expected an increase in provisions over the course of the year. Provisions for settlement payments relating to glyphosate, dicamba, PCB and Essure as of the 31st of December 2021 totaled EUR 7.8 billion. The legal provisions, which you can find as an annex to the annual report, a share of EUR 3.4 billion is designed on a short-term basis, which is expected to be paid out within the period of a year. The assessment as at the 31st of December 2021 include all of the available information at this time and also comprises all possible cash outflows. The provisions are consistently examined depending on the stage of the legal process and depend on a large number of other parameters, too. We were also asked about the number of lawsuits and the development over the past -- over the last few months. We have 138,000 lawsuits as of the 1st of February 2022 compared to 105,000 that we had in June 2022. The number is also growing at quite a slow rate. The 107,000 of the current lawsuits according to the annual report we had the -- well, sorry, the other settled or we did not did not meet the settlement in the case of 107,000 cases. A further question was asked about whether Bayer would continue the lawsuits up to the end. When it came to glyphosate, we successfully did this by winning the Clark and Stephens cases in the first instance. So the more further products, we maintain the defense, and we will continue to do this where this is necessary. And regardless of this, we will -- we have to bear in mind that in the U.S.A. over the short to medium term, there is no realistic prospects or any change in product liability law. And the final question we received on this matter. It was why Bayer paid USD 400 million for product liability lawsuits for Xarelto although it had won all of the lawsuits to date. Now it's true all of the lawsuit in the U.S.A. the verdicts were in Bayer's favor. So Bayer is still convinced that there is no ground to the lawsuits. In 2019, we had the announcement of a settlement. But the settlement did allow us to get rid of distraction for the company and to avoid high costs, which would have incurred if the lawsuits in the U.S.A. had continued. Now Bayer's share is covered to a certain degree by the product liability insurance that we have. Now back to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Baumann. This brings us to your questions on the topics of sustainability, HR, IT and other corporate activities. On these topics, we've received questions for the following shareholders. Marc Tungler from the DSW; Janne Werning from Union Investments; Ingo Speich from Deka Investments; Hendrik Schmidt from DWS; [ Joachim Crabel ] from the Association of Capital Investors; [ Azmas Bruman ] from the Association of Institutional Private Investors; [ Peter Augustin, Dieter Weinand-Koonz Mori Schnittskit ] and other shareholders, too. These questions will be answered by Werner Baumann, Rodrigo Santos, Sarena Lin, Wolfgang Nickl and Heiko Schipper. And Mr. Baumann will begin.

[Interpreted] We're asked about how seriously Bayer sees the topic of sustainability. And also, what the new strategy for sustainability means for the divisions acquired in 2018 by Bayer. In year 2019, we adopted some group objectives and we made it part of the group strategy and which means that we dedicated a high level of commitment to this. And it also explicitly includes all of the different divisions of the company. Now we as the Board of Management as well as our employees will be judged on how these on whether these targets are achieved. For this reason, we made them a part of the variable compensation. Achieving these targets will also mean that we adapt our priorities accordingly and make investment in smallholder farming. Overall, we are well on track in achieving these targets, we were asked why the ASM has not put up a climate transformation plan further and whether the sustainability strategy implemented by Bayer whether it will be voted on the ASM as part of a say on climate initiative. As I said before, we do not believe that sustainability is an additional activity, but we believe that it forms a core component of our strategic alignment. And this goes far beyond the coexistence of the financial and sustainability strategy. When it comes to the net sustainability strategy of the company, you have to deal -- we -- in German law, we do not have any legal provision for the sustainability strategy being put up -- promoted in ASM. But we have been observing the developments, and we will not rule out that in future, we might actually put up a vote on this topic for the ASM. But regardless of this, we are in ongoing discussions with our investors regarding our sustainability and climate action plans, which have been fully integrated into our corporate strategies. We received a question about assessing -- about the assessment of Bayer by ESG rating agencies. The Bayer sustainability performance has been rated by all different ESG rating agencies in recent years. And these ratings are usually updated every year. All ESG rating agencies have assigned Bayer over-average transparency and a strong performance of ESG topics. MSCI ESG Research has rated Bayer with a BB ESG rating, and the agency Sustainalytics has given by a medium risk status. ISS ESG considers Bayer achieves rating of C+ and it's one of the -- and is thus in the top 10%. So Moody's ESG is given Bayer 53 points, which puts Bayer in a 7th place compared with all of the companies for the field of Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. As one of the few companies in Germany for 3 years now, Bayer has been included in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index as well as in the Workforce Disclosure Index. In the evaluation of a Climate Action 100+, Bayer has fully fulfilled 7 of 10 indicators, as I said earlier this morning. which is more than all of the other 166 companies that are assessed by this initiative. We also got a question about our strategy with regard to the UN Global Compact. Bayer has, since the founding of the UN Global Compact, committed to upholding these principles. We are amongst the lead companies and our sustainability report is considered to be a progress report to the Global Compact. For many years, different ESG rating agencies have been doing an analysis of listed companies, comparing them against the principles of the UN Global Compact, according to their own methods. The allegation that Bayer is supposedly violating the UN Global Compact has been made by one single ESG rating agency, not by the UN Global Compact itself. This ESG rating agency refers to general considerations with regard to genetically engineered seeds and its influence on biodiversity and the emotional discussion and concluded litigation that goes back to up to 10 years. We are in regular exchanges of thoughts with the ESG rating agency and are trying to have an objective dialogue on the basis of current and evolved scientific data. We cannot make any statement on this as to how long this ESG rating agency will maintain their assessment of Bayer. There was then a question about possible portfolio changes in the context of achieving our sustainability targets. In addition to that, we got a question about EU taxonomy. Due to the increasing significance of sustainability for investors, we have, for many years, been looking at investments against the backdrop of our ESG targets. So this gives us important stimulus for our ongoing business and for potential complementary acquisitions. As I mentioned, sustainability is an integral component of our corporate and strategy and business strategy. We believe that the increasing significance of these aspects, in particular, in Crop Science, will have more and more impacts in the next few years. We already have many stainability parameters as decision-making criteria in our R&D processes and in our investment decision. The EU taxonomy is, in our opinion, a further factor in our development. But it, itself, is at the very beginning in its infancy of definition and development. And a lot of our business activities aren't even covered via use of further environmental targets 3 to 6, according to the EU taxonomy for our business. This is currently being checked. We also got a question about the impact of the expansion of EU taxonomy on our business activities in the next 12 months. Below share of investments that are EU taxonomy capable is due mainly to the limitation of the current definition of the EU and their lack of applicability to the majority of our investments based on the draft of the EU for expanding the taxonomy to our environmental targets 3 to 6, we expect that parts of Crop Science Pharmaceuticals, include tumor health will be included in reporting regarding the target of avoiding and decreasing pollution. We got a question about what measures there that would be taken in 2023 by Bayer according to the EU taxonomy. Bayer has a cross-functional project team looking at the conformity of our reporting on the basis of the EU taxonomy. Our project teams are on EU taxonomy and the EU Green Deal coordinate closely so that we can properly take into account the strategic connections and further applications. Since the requirements with regard to EU taxonomy are evolving, we can't give a final judgment as to what measures will be necessary specifically in 2023 so that we will then be able to meet the requirements in that year. In addition to that, we were asked about the steps that Bayer AG is taking to achieve the 1.5-degree target and what the company is doing for biodiversity. Bayer supports the Paris Climate Agreement and the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial level. We're going to be cutting our own emissions, Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by the end -- from now to 2029 by 42% compared to 2019. This target of achieving the 1.5 degree maximum was checked, validated and recognized by the science-based target initiative. In 2021 alone, we reduced our own emissions by more than 11%. This was achieved because of an accelerated switch over to renewable power and efficiency measures and no compensation measures were used for that. All in all, compared to our base year of 2019, we've already reduced our own emissions by 15.7%. We work in many ways for maintaining biodiversity within the framework of sustainable farming and we want to reduce the environmental impact of our pesticides by 2030 by using digital precision application, the reduction, we hope, will be 30%. We also cooperate with the Zurich University Technical University in Switzerland and the international food policy, and the objective there is to come up with specific and practical solutions for farmers to increase biodiversity in the fields that they farm. Some of these approaches are visible at our Bayer Forward Farms. In close cooperation the owners of these farms, we show there -- the measures that can be taken to protect the soil and waters and also to enhance the ecology and maintain biodiversity. There was a question as to when Bayer will achieve the climate targets of the Paris Agreement and what concrete steps were planned by 2024. As I mentioned, Bayer supports the Paris Climate Agreement. We have committed to ensuring that by 2050, we would have net zero emissions along our entire value chain. By 2024, we plan to reduce our own emissions in line with the requirements of the science-based target initiative by 20%. The most important measures between now and 2024 are to continue to transition to renewable power and to continue to enhance efficiency. There was another question about what processes for CO2 reduction could be optimized? And what potential has been identified there. By 2029, we intend to switch our secondary energy requirement purchased power to 100% renewable. As a result, we will save about 1.2 million tons of CO2 per year. That is some 32% of our emissions on a 2019 basis, which was the base year for our CO2 reduction target. The remaining 10% reduction for achieving that target will be achieved by means of a host of smaller measures for increasing efficiency and transitioning to other sources of energy. We also got the question as to whether the CO2 reductions that have been made so far, 590,000 tons are in line with the milestones that were set and what the order of magnitude was for reductions for '22 and '23. Now in reducing our CO2 emissions, we orient our activities to the information from the science-based target initiative that is following a linear reduction path. This means that we focus on reductions of about 4% per year with a reduction of 15.7% since 2019, we are so far -- we have been so far faster than planned. By 2024, we also want to continue to achieve a reduction of at least 20% compared to the base year. And on a prorated basis, we'll expect to have improvements in 2022 and 2023. And finally, we've been sent a question whether ambitious CO2 targets are being set. And would they be set to be even more ambitious if we achieve our targets faster than plan. Our reduction targets are checked every year. And by 2024, at the latest, we will have a revalidation by the science-based target initiative. And this might mean that we would have more ambitious targets that would be established ahead of time. In addition to that, we were asked which production processes were the most CO2-intensive and create the most CO2. Well, what's particularly CO2 intensive is our raw material production for our Crop Science pesticides. In the division -- Crop Science division in 2021, about 84% of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from the Bayer group occurred there. Then there was question dealt with a question of investments in decarbonization. In 2030, we're expecting investments amounting to EUR 500 million and make use of an internal CO2 price of EUR 100 per ton. In addition to reducing our emissions and near to review, we compensated for 300,000 tons of our greenhouse gas emissions. We were also asked about the indirect effects, for example, the investment portfolio of the Bayer Pension Fund, how much is this taken into account in the CO2 footprint and in the decarbonization strategy? Reporting on the ESG criteria in the pension fund, is something that has increased continuously in past years. For example, the bodies of the pension fund are informed on a regular basis with the results of the ESG stress test. The Bayer Pension Fund has defined the behavior that will be expected when it comes to the consideration of ethical, social and ecological matters when it comes to capital investments. Strategy papers were passed for all of the most important pension vehicles. A specific and isolated decarbonization strategy is, however, not being followed. We were also asked about additional savings potential in water consumption in the years to come. Each of our sites has guidelines to reduce water consumption. Our sites cover the entire spectrum between large production sites for chemical and pharmaceutical substance and small office areas as well as sites for seed production with fields. So we are very, very different. We decided, therefore, that the water savings measures cannot be defined in absolute terms, but on the basis of the site and risk-related, on the basis of a water management system. In this way, water consumption at the pharmaceutical site in Mexico was reduced by about 3 million cubic meters per year. We were also asked about the efficiency of the use of our used water. We want to make it possible to use water on a number of occasions, especially in production. At 22 sites which are responsible 46% of our total water consumption, we see that water is recycled using different methods, for example, with closed cooling water circuits or the reuse of cleaned wastewater or returning steam condensate back to processed water. The amount of water that is reused amounts to more than 376 million cubic meters. This is more than 6x the use of the original amount used, which was 55 million cubic -- squared cubic meters. One question related to support for small holder farmers in Africa. The number of cooperation agreements and public-private partners has allowed us to support small holder farmers in Africa, especially in Nigeria and Mali. We were able to improve the diversity of the plants due to the climate challenges. It's something that is extremely important, especially for small holder farmers. We also were asked about our specific targets for soil health and biodiversity. I would like to stress that biodiversity is very important to us, maintaining healthy soil is a prerequisite for agriculture and the center of our efforts includes our innovative products and services, but also passing on agricultural practices and farming techniques with less and less impact on the environment. In specific terms, our target is to reduce the impact on the environment by 2030 to 30%. And this is for the first time where we are assessing using models developed externally and certified externally in order to determine the potential global environmental impact of our crop protection portfolio. This is something that was developed by the Technical University in Denmark, and it is the most progressive environmental model to characterize potential environmental impacts, which can be used in different countries and in different crops. Now I would like to hand over to Rodrigo Santos to deal with further questions on the topic of sustainability. Rodrigo, over to you.

We've received a question about Bayer's commitment to protecting forests and how many factors we had reforested in the past financial year. Forest protection is a key element of Bayer's climate action plan. We're already collaborating with Civil Society and other private and public sector entities to put forward solutions that will protect biodiversity and forests. Furthermore, we recently certified 0 illegal deforestation in the production of our soybean seeds in Brazil, and we will next certify our corn seed production as well. In 2021, we offset 300,000 tons of our greenhouse gas emissions by financing reforestation and forest protection projects in Indonesia, Nicaragua, Peru and Uganda, just as an example. We were asked as well a question about CO2 emission savings through the use of glyphosate. So let me take a step back and emphasize the importance of farming for food security and economic prosperity. For farmers to succeed, they need to produce enough health, safe and sustainable food to feed the world. One important too is glyphosate. For decades, farmers have relied on glyphosate as a safe an efficient tool. It helps to control weeds as well to contribute towards sustainabilities. The responsible use of glyphosate helps to increase yield, protect biodiversity and reduce soil erosion. In addition, using glyphosate reduces [ stealing ] and consequently, the use of fuel. The glyphosate renew group did start this year on the socioeconomic importance of glyphosate. The study showed that not only using glyphosate leads to an increase in fuel use of 15 to 44 liters per hectare. If you multiply that across Europe, the potential impact would be an increase in greenhouse gas emissions of between 1.4 million and 3.8 million tons of CO2 per year. So with that, I'll pass over to Sarena to HR questions.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Rodrigo. We were asked about training beginners with a look to the change in the working world. Our training for this is in accordance with the training regulations. We make certain use of the possibility for mobile training so that our trainees can go through the content irrespective of where they are. You also asked about the pandemic situation and whether critical paths were being organized by having people work. And here, we're talking about any of the incidences or if people were infecting any others. And if this has led to some lack of work. In our business continuity plans, every company describes appropriate measures in orders to have working and production capabilities. Critical paths and critical personnel are looked at in these cases. An example would be to set priorities for product lines should there be a shortage of personnel. And also personnel can be used from other departments. And in some cases, personnel were additionally qualified for additional activities. So if need be, they can be used there. This does not lead to a lack of possibility to work. As a matter of principle, our extensive hygiene concepts have act preventively so that infections in -- at work could be avoided. We were also asked whether Bayer has an officer for equality for women, men, diverse are only in the category, women, and this as provided for in the federal law. The federal equality law is not applied in Bayer AG. The law applies for companies in private economy where the federal government is involved directly or indirectly and only then if, in accordance with the articles of incorporation of the company, provides for this to be the case. The articles of incorporation at Bayer AG do not include such a regulation. Irrespective of the legal requirements, our target is to have gender parity by 2030 throughout the group in management. In addition, we have also defined targets in other dimensions of diversity, including the age structure, nationality, experience, LGBTQ+ and individuals with disabilities. A number of bodies, [ IND ] responsible individuals and employee networks give us internal support in order to achieve these ambitious goals. We were also asked why we believe that young talent with inclusion and diversity issues can be held to our company without, at the same time, offering them attractive and competitive contracts. As a global company, Bayer sees to it that we have attractive compensation packages, which means that employees are paid fairly and in accordance with their performance. We also consider it important for our compensation conditions to be competitive, and we review these on an ongoing basis on the basis of benchmarks and market data. In addition to attractive compensation packages, if we want to bind our employees on the long-term basis, it's the purpose and the vision of our company with positive contributions to society. I'd just like to refer to our vision: "Health for all, hunger for none." This is a strong corporate culture as well as attractive possibilities for personal and professional further development. These are all important, and this is all offered by Bayer. We were also asked whether Bayer assesses the world better provided by employees or from agencies and consultancies. We only give tasks to external service providers, which we were unable to conduct ourselves. It may be, for example, why we do not have a specific field of expertise available in-house. Against this backdrop, the performance of our own employees and those of external service providers are not comparable with one another. We were also asked why shortly before retirement -- sorry, why we keep people employed just before their retirement rather than giving young people a lot of potential and prospects. Bayer pursues an integrated approach when it comes to talent management to ensure that we do justice to inclusion and diversity across all of our employee groups and also across all of our age groups. This ensures that Bayer can benefit from a diverse and inclusive workforce. For the answering of other questions relating to the topic HR, I will hand back to Werner Baumann.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. We were asked what we do in order to be attractive to potential employees from Generation Z and to prevent people being picked off by other employees. We want to be an attractive employer. We offer individual services by means of direct and timely offering of variable payments. We also allow people to telework, and our employee surveys confirm that our vision, "Health for all, hunger for none.", is particularly appealing to young talent. Moreover, the various fields of business in which we operate offers a large range -- a wide range of attractive career opportunities. We were also asked how we ensure that young employees have the same opportunities of achieving managerial positions as all the colleagues do. In addition to occupational and academic qualifications, experience is important in order to be able to successfully conduct tasks. And we develop employees regardless of their age through a number of HR-related programs, and this also includes some managerial positions. We were also asked why the large share of [ dual ] students and apprentices, after 3 years of investment not provided with an attractive offer to be taken on permanently at the company. But these offers are geared towards our needs by the divisions and the functions of Bayer AG. Now the take-on ratio, so the trainees who end up getting employed by Bayer AG is consistently at around 90%, which is in line with that of the chemical industry at large. Another question we had is whether [ dual ] students and apprentices get a work phone? And if not, why not? They are provided with a standard IT equipment, which includes a laptop. This allows them to process e-mails and also to participate in meetings. Work phones are not required for apprenticeship purposes. We were also asked whether in order to check learning progress. Just like other large German groups, we use management control methods such as an attendance requirements or limited teleworking opportunities, thus not allowing them to work flexibly. With a great degree of digitalization, Bayer also gives more flexibility to students when allowing them to choose from where they work. We also offer mobile apprenticeships. Checking or monitoring and learning success is conducted using recognized tools, teaching tools as well as seminars, exams and coursework. We were also asked whether Bayer in future will cooperate with the HWR. We do cooperate with partner universities. We continue to work with HWR in Berlin because it fully fulfills our requirements. We were also asked with -- why master degrees are considered extremely important when innovative companies such as Tesla do not consider them that important? When it comes to phoning people for jobs, the requirement profile, the specific jobs what is relevant. A master's degree is a possible, but not always a necessary requirement in order to take on a managerial position, just to give one example. A question was asked about internal competition. Job offers are published on our global internal job board so that any interested employees can apply. A decision is made on the qualifications required for the position. And if we do not find an internal appointment with the recognized -- with required requisite profile, then we also offer the job offer externally. Furthermore, we were asked how the number of burnout cases of Bayer employees has developed in the last 10 years? And what measures were taken against this? As employers, we have to adhere to legal restrictions. So we do not know at all why our people are ill, and we do not know, therefore, the number of specific burnout cases. The health and well-being of our employees, however, are very important to us, a key matter. And therefore, for many years, we have been promoting healthy living concepts and healthy behavior via different health measures that we take for private and for company spheres. This includes, for instance, free psychosocial counseling for our employees and their family members and different training courses on stress reduction, resiliency, leadership and health. There was another question about our turnover rate. In the year under report, the total staffing turnover rate was 12.1%. And in Germany, it was about 6.1%. We were sent a question about where and to what extent Bayer takes advantage of Agile technology as a scrum or a Tornado technology as part of its Agile transformation? Agile technologies are a fixed component of the way we work and therefore, are used in the entire group. More than 3,000 registered users use these technologies actively. All divisions and our enabling functions, too, use Agile methods at Bayer such as scrum or a kanban, in particular, in radiology, product and customer-centric applications and in the R&D division. The use of Tornado technology, on the other hand, is something we're not aware of. In addition to that, we were asked what the Board of Management does in order to be as close as possible to employees? As a Board of Management, we focus and prioritize direct exchange of ideas with our employees. So each and every member of the Board of Management has regular contact and dialogue with all of our employees in different formats, personally and on-site. And we're there to have a dialogue and answer questions. We were asked about the success of the Works Council of Bayer AG in the past few years and the extent to which Bayer AG has been sued by the Works Council. The Works Council reports on their work at regular town hall meetings and the success that they achieved from their point of view. And in the year-end report, the company, Bayer AG was not sued by the Works Council. As you heard from Mr. Zuhlke, we are very cooperative in our activities with the Works Council, despite the fact that we have very different objectives. We always do it for the benefit of the company. Then we were sent a question about the countries in which Bayer has production sites where national regulations apply rather than EU or German regulations. For instance, the EU chemicals regulation reach in the field of health, safety, security, environment protection, Bayer has defined HSEQ requirements, which were developed as a base of European or comparable standards. The HSEQ requirements apply to all sites around the world. Even if national law makes weaker demands for investment plans amounting to more than EUR 10 million. We, in addition to that, do a voluntary environmental assessment. This assessment is oriented toward applicable European standards if the local requirements are not already above the European standards. With regard to assessing the handling of chemicals, we voluntarily use comparable standards everywhere in the world, regardless of the country requirements. For all materials handled in an amount of more than 1 ton that are not subjected to the REACH regulation, we have made a commitment to provide successive comparable minimum data records on ecotoxicology and toxicology. And this data serves to assess the hazard potential of all of the substances we use in an amount of more than 1 ton per year. In 2021, we had already assessed some 95% of these substances. And finally, we were asked about the reasons for 2 fatal accidents at work in 2021. And then we were asked what measures were taken specifically as a result of these accidents? At Isando in South Africa, unfortunately, one of our employees died in a traffic accident. With regard to traffic safety, our package of measures includes, for example, continuous training for defensive driving and increasing the safety of vehicles. In Kansas City in the United States, unfortunately, one of our employees died after COVID-19. And it can't be ruled out that the infection perhaps occurred during working time. With regard to limiting the infection with COVID-19 on our factory grounds at our sites, we've taken very effective measures. This includes access restrictions; masks are mandatory; social distancing; hygiene rules; airing and ventilation, hybrid working and vaccination offers. And on that note, I'd like to hand over to Wolfgang Nickl, who will be answering questions about IT. Wolfgang, the floor is yours.

[Interpreted] Thank you. We received a question about whether all employees at Bayer have state-of-the-art and the best possible IT in order to allow them to do their work in the best possible way? We can confirm that Bayer employees do have the IT that they required to successfully do their work. In addition to that, we got the question as to whether we can confirm that Bayer, unlike other major German companies, is not going to farm out IT. We are not planning to farm out all of our IT, but much of our IT services do come from external partners. There was a question about the effects of less traveling with regard to compliance and the increasing complexity of IT and networks on data and program security. With regard to less travel and compliance, we cannot say that there is a clear trend. However, we do have a very good functioning internal control system that has been adapted to increasing digital processes. With regard to IT security, I can say that as digitizing progresses, they are becoming very important at Bayer. With regard to the protective measures, responsible use by our employees of information plays a key role. In group-wide campaigns, security knowledge amongst our employees is constantly promoted and the secure treatment of sensitive information is fostered. We were also asked why our insurance, Pallas, it was kept with a Bayer subsidiary, although it's not part of our core business. Pallas is an insurance unit which is used for the Bayer group for company insurance for all their companies. Here, we can see that global expertise with regard to procurement and insurance coverage is all covered there. This fulfills a very important task for our company. And then we were asked about the development of our office space. We review our office space and that portfolio on an ongoing basis. And at our next normal office concept, we will see if it is technically and economically sensible to see a reduction in office space by about 30% to 50%. We've begun implementing this concept. And now I'd like to hand over to my call to Heiko Schipper.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. We were asked why our company is not present on the social media channels, TikTok and Twitch? We communicate and give information on a whole series of social media channels, including TikTok. And with new providers and channels, we take a very careful look to see if these are appropriate for our communication or not. This is also done in the cases that were mentioned. We were also asked if we have mean communication tactics? Is it part of our policy to answer critical questions with regard to saying where is their coffee? No. Then, of course, coffee was the correct answer to a critical question. We were then asked for information on donations from Bayer to political parties in the United States last year. At the state level in the United States, Bayer donated a total of $20,500 in 2021 to political parties. At the federal level, it is not allowed to make -- for companies to make donations to political candidates or parties in the United States. Since the beginning of 2022, we have a new regulation within the Bayer Group according to which the company does not make any political donations to companies. And the exception for donations in the United States has now been lifted and done away with this new group regulation. In addition, employees at a company in the United States can make private donations to support candidates for parliamentary offices through so-called Political Action Committees. This is exclusively a question of private donations and not corporate donations. In 2021, a total of $159,498 were donated to political candidates. We were also asked how much Bayer spends annually on marketing and consulting companies? And if this is a return on investment, which would justify this expenditure? Or would it be possible to optimize these expenditures through Agile prioritization? Costs for marketing agencies, overall, and consulting companies are -- when it comes to all of the divisions and corporate functions come to a triple-digit million amount, cost for consultancy is in the low triple-digit million amount. The return on investment for marketing is continuously measured and optimized on the basis of the respective targets. Consultancy is subject to strict internal prioritization approval and release processes through the management in the divisions. Agile methods for planning and executing projects are and remain a fixed component of our working methods. And then we were asked what measures are planned to improve waste and recycling quotas? With systematic waste management, we want to keep the use of material and waste amounts at the lowest possible level. According to our group regulations, all production sites are required to avoid, reduce, recycle waste and to dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner. At Consumer Health, for example, we're working on having all packages be recyclable or reusable by 2030. And now I would like to hand over to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much for answering all of those questions. Now we would like to say that a few hours before the portal was closed, Wednesday night, we received about 450 questions from [ Matthias Cabler ] from Stuttgart, who is -- these relate to the Coordination against Bayer risks and related persons. These will be answered by Norbert Winkeljohann, Werner Baumann, Wolfgang Nickl and Stefan Oelrich. But first of all, I'd like to show you 5 additional videos. The remaining submissions will then be shown over the course of the next session. These come from [ David Sidema, Paulie Pyan, Thayman Wike ] and 2 videos from Axel Köhler-Schnura.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, as a shareholder at Bayer AG, I would be very much interested in hearing about your policy with regard to business within Russian Federation, of course, after the beginning of the war aggression by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. It would be nice if you could tell me something above that? And to what extent you have imposed and support sanctions against Russia? And how this is reflected in your future plans?

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Axel Köhler-Schnura, I am an individual shareholder, and I also represent the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers as well as the number of small shareholders who have given me their vote, I see that a total of more than EUR 3 million. Mr. Baumann, your major investments are served round the clock and in-person. Democratic and public debate with small shareholders is something that you do everything you can to avoid. For the third time, in a row, you have avoided democratic meeting by giving the -- by having a virtual AGM. You are undermining democracy and you're avoiding a direct discussion with your shareholders. You are not even allowing us to have live presentations. You have to present them -- your statements ahead of time in writing. You can take them out of context and then you sort of sum them up in an undefinable way. This allows us a total time of 2 minutes on stream. So I can't really express any thoughts in a reasonable way. That's why, why are you doing this? And I'd also like to know whether in 2023, we will have a face-to-face ASM again. And I'd like to request that all shareholders should not be driven by money and dividends, vote no on all of the agenda points. Do not ratify Mr. Baumann nor the members of the Board of Management or the Supervisory Board, the ratification of their [ ads ]. Contact me, I can take on your vote, and you can write to me, [email protected]. And remember that my name in the middle is spelled K-O-E-O-E-H (sic) [K-O-E-H-L-E-R]. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, those of you following this on the screen at the ASM 2022, hello for the second time. My name is Axel Köhler-Schnura, and I would like to submit some countermotions. I am representing the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers, the Crtical Actioneers Association (sic) [Kritische Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre] And a number of small shareholders who will not be able to be mentioned all by name. We would like to request that the dividend be reduced to EUR 0.10 per share. And this should be used to stop all products and production facilities that endanger the environment, to maintain jobs, to pay good wages, for a fund to offset damage that results as a result of business activities in the environment as well as ecological and social reorganization of the company without double standards as well as payment of compensation for crimes committed during the Nazi era. We also would like to request, first of all, that the Board of management not be ratified and that the actions of the Supervisory Board not be ratified. And thirdly, when it comes to the elections that you elect the candidates we have proposed. We would like to say that both bodies, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management have not lived up to their responsibility in the past fiscal year. And as a result, we, shareholders and the public at large have been misled. And to conclude, I would like to request that all shareholders don't be driven by money and dividends. Vote with us, vote against all of the resolutions, do not ratify the acts of the Board of Management or the Supervisory Board. And for -- in the future, please contact me. My email is [email protected]. And remember that my name, Koehler is spelled K-O-E-H (sic) [K-O-E-H-L-E-R].

[Interpreted] I would like to introduce myself. My name is [ Pauline Payan ]. I belong to the [ Collective Dioxin in Vietnam ]. This was founded in France. We are fighting for official recognition of damage caused by Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and we're calling for compensation. As a shareholder of Monsanto Bayer, you must know that Agent Orange is a very strong defoliation agent, which was used in by the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Your company produced it and decided with knowledge of its danger, and that you would give an overdose of dioxin in the defoliation agent. And this had a major impact on the environment and on the population with 20 million liters of this herbicide that was sprayed, and you have destroyed 20% of the forests in South Vietnam. You polluted 400,000 hectares of arable land, and you also caused the extinction of many animals. This crime committed by Agent Orange was the first eco sin and has been recognized as such. Based on a report, up to 4.8 million people were directly exposed to the defoliation agent, which led to many deaths, deformities and miscarriages. Many people are still suffering the damage from this. The manager of Agent Orange, Derek Siemont (sic) [V.K. Rowe] said, I knew how dangerous this was for human health and for the environment. It is in your responsibility as a shareholder, do not close your eyes to this tragedy. You have a possibility after more than 60 years of a lack of judges, too that's why I would like to say with this, we should vote with the Coordination Against Bayer.

[Interpreted] My name is [ Linda Lok ]. I come from the Incorta Network. In 2019, I spoke to you with our research on the double standards of your herbicide business. Since then, Incorta has worked with other organizations in civil society and has had support from others. We've worked actively to ban an export of the herbicides that are banned here in Europe. And these double-standards should end -- and finally be done away with. And the new government has now announced that this export ban is going to be implemented. At Bayer, however, nothing has happened. You have seen Captafol as something that has been withdrawn for the market. But this is -- if you take a look at the Brazilian database, at the Ministry of Agriculture, you say that Bayer still has highly dangerous pesticides that are banned in Europe. This, according to the U.S. EPO, the carcinogenic substance, [ Probanin and DOKOD ]. And another thing that maybe not all of the shareholders and investors know you don't even abide by your own self commitment because we -- you promised according to the World Health Organization, they said that the products were especially dangerous and you would say that this is something that is anything is used in Class A Ia and Ib. And this is something that you said that you would be taking them out of your product portfolio, but the highly [ time of Beta-cyfluthrin ] is still being used in some products in Brazil. That's why I would like to say to you, there's been a delay for many years in implementing yourselves self-commitment in selling these highly toxic pesticides. When are you going to take these off the market in countries such as Brazil and African countries? And what impact would this have if you were to stop exports? What impact would the 7 agricultural business at Bayer? Please vote together with the CBD against ratification of the acts of the Board of Management.

[Interpreted] Mr. Winkeljohann will now be making an announcement and will continue answering the questions.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. The -- we've now been here for more than 4.5 hours, and we still have more than 300 questions and follow-up questions. And it's going to take some time to answer these questions. So now I'd like to announce that the possibility to ask follow-up questions will be closed in 10 minutes so that we can conclude our ASM at a reasonable time. If you want to submit follow-up questions, then you will have to do that now within the next few minutes. And now I will announce this once again when we will be concluding the possibility to submit follow-up questions. Okay. And now I would like to continue answering questions. We were asked if all members of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board are present at the virtual ASM. All members of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board are here either here in the room where you can see them or they are following us virtually. Another question related to the correlation between the compensation for the Supervisory Board and their commitment. Members of the Supervisory Board have a high degree of commitment and this can also be seen with a high attendance rate at meetings of the Supervisory Board. And I assume that the members of the Supervisory Board are not driven here to be here because of their compensation. Of course, compensation has to be appropriate. The current compensation is something that was decided upon at a majority of nearly 98%. You also asked for information as to why the amount of the compensation at the Supervisory Board is not the same as that at Merck. The amount of Supervisory Board pay at Merck is something that I cannot comment on. The Supervisory Board believes that the current compensation level is appropriate. And as I said, this was approved at the last AGM with a majority of nearly 98%. We received several questions relating to the new rules for financial administration for the [ VAT ] treatment of a Supervisory Board compensation. Now before the new rules that were implemented, all SP member compensation ever had an [ AUC ]. Now with a view to the new rules, that we entered into force with the letter from the Finance Ministry of the 8th of July 2021 where you provided information to the Supervisory Board members. As you can see in the explanations about the Supervisory Board compensation in the report, the variable share of compensation for fiscal 2021, it did not exceed the 10% limit, which is material for VAT treatment. Now Bayer AG is eligible to deduct input tax. And when it comes to the reduction of input tax and according to the letter from the Finance Ministry the 8th of July 2021, there was no change to the current legal situation. Also asked whether the compensation for 30 pages is not too long. The lawmakers require a large number of data, a large portion of detailed information about compensation for the Board, the Management and Supervisory Board and there were also additional requirements from institutional investors. And with our reporting method, we ensure that we fulfill all of these requirements. We're asked whether any shareholder actually reads the 30-page compensation report and actually understands the content of it. I assume that this is the case. Another question was how much time and what was the cost for the auditor for the compensation report? I can tell you that for the auditing of the compensation report, around 400 hours were required, and the fee that was paid for the process amounted to EUR 71,000. They were asked, and who sets the individual objectives for Board of management compensation? And what the process is like for establishing this? W were also asked about who sets whether the goals have been achieved and also whether any external parties are consulted for this and how much this costs. Individual and the team objectives are anchored in a short-term variable compensation under agreed by the Supervisory Board. Before this is decided by the Supervisory Board they coordinate with the Board of Management, if necessary, then changes are made by the Supervisory Board. And the Supervisory Board assesses at the end of the fiscal year, whether the targets have been achieved. We don't have any external parties, which is why we have no additional costs that are incurred as a result. And we're also asked, and who actually calculates the compensation core bonus for the individual Board members and also verifies them, whether this is done in-house or using external specialists. We were also asked whether the Board of Management and Supervisory Board are able to recalculate the compensation that they receive. The calculation is performed using our HR specialists. Of course, we adhere to our duties to providing the assessment criteria and whether the targets have been achieved by the external auditors. The calculation is very transparent as provided in the compensation report. So it's not only for the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board members, but also for shareholders and their investors if they would like to read it in detail. We also [ were ] ask questions asking how -- to what degree you have an equity coverage for each individual share? Liquidity at the 31st of December 2021 was EUR 34 per share, and the share of liabilities was around EUR 89 per share. We were asked who the -- who selected the new candidates for the Supervisory Board. And whether any HR consultants were used for this. The female that all of the candidates are currently the Supervisory Board members I spoke about the individuals behind the appointments at length in my speech. The proposal for the reelection of the Supervisory Board members was presented to the ASM by the Supervisory Board based on the proposal of the Nomination Committee. No HR consultants were used for this purpose. We also were asked whether I had any preliminary discussions with the candidates for election? The 3 candidates have been members of the Supervisory Board for a long time, so we didn't need to have any preliminary discussions with them about this. We received a question about the criteria for selecting the candidates to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board defined the targets for its composition, which are expressed in a declaration on corporate governance in the 2021 annual report. These criteria were defined by the Supervisory Board when it made the proposals for the new elections. It was asked what the Supervisory Board wants to do much better in '22 than in '21? The targets for the Supervisory Board work were mentioned in the speech, I just held. I'd like to point to that now. And before I hand over to Mr. Bauman, I would now like after about 10 minutes, more than 10 minutes to talk about the possibility of asking follow-up questions. And in that, any questions that haven't been answered yet, any submission of follow-up questions is now no longer possible, and I'd like to hand over to Mr. Baumann to continue with the answering of the questions.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann. We've got a question about the cost of the virtual AGM and how that could be broken down? According to the main items, because of the virtual AGM are total of EUR 1.5 million. The biggest items are the event transmission, back-office technology as well as HR technologies and mailing costs for the documents. Then we had a question about the number of questions received. This year, we received 665 questions from a total of 26 different shareholders and representatives. Then we were asked about the consequences of last year's AGM, we got a lot of positive feedback from our shareholders about the question to add follow-up questions. It goes beyond legal requirements in Germany. This step was done by just a low number of companies in 2021. And we are offering our shareholders many other possibilities for a dialogue. Two, for instance, it is possible to submit videos or text ahead of time. Many people did take advantage of this and praised that, and that's what made us decide to offer these features again this year. Then we got a question about the main challenges for 2022 apart from Corona and Ukraine? The main challenges, and we're quite confident here, will be in achieving our financial and nonfinancial targets for the year. There are many questions asked about why today's AGM is being conducted as a virtual AGM. I already explained the reasons for this. I'd just like to add now that, yes, in our thoughts about conducting today's AGM, we did consider the possibility of a face-to-face event for shareholders. Why the Deutsche Telekom had their AGM as a face-to-face AGM, is a question you have to ask of Deutsche Telekom. What's crucial for our decision is whether the individual circumstances of each company and above all, the number of participants are appropriate for face-to-face AGM. And then we got a question about the number of participants at the last face-to-face AGM, that was 2019, the maximum number of people we had there, 3,340 in the attendance area. Then there was a question about the role that the Russia plays for the company in the medium-to-long term for 2021, the share attributable Russia is 2%. Since the Russian market has had sanctions imposed against it, we believe that our business activities there will go down, but we cannot estimate yet how much. There was a question. about the share of revenue and results from Russia in fiscal '21. We do not publish results ever on individual countries. We asked how much information we got in our whistleblower system and whether this is internal or external and what the major impact and consequences were from any indications. In 2021, 299 reports came in through the compliance hotline. Bayer employees and external service providers, suppliers, customers and business partners can report violations on the hotline. We also see that these were taken by service providers, and they can also remain anonymous and are passed on to the Bayer compliance department for further processing. Bayer takes appropriate measures if the misconduct is confirmed. We also get the indications or analysis on a regular basis and training has also been introduced. At the beginning of this year, 2022, we saw together with the HR department that there was a new online training on fairness and respect at work. This was a rolled out. And we also wanted to look about the emergency plan if deliveries from Russia were not to be delivered and what economic impact this would have on the company. We're working very hard on securing the supply of our -- for our sites. We also have contingency plans that have been developed, all procurement areas, including the materials were also reviewed with regard to the Ukraine crisis as well as the economic challenges, and we assess the value, and we also gave possible alternatives. Bayer is well prepared. At the same time, we saw that this is very difficult to determine the specific impact of various scenarios. There are all sorts of unknowns and a lot of various dependencies along the entire supply chain, and we are now analyzing the details of their impact. We were also asked how much of the products are used in order to -- and here, we can see that this is used for savings potential. And we want to see what savings potential we have, depending on production we have with the maintaining warehouse goods and how long this would be possible for natural gas. We do not have any delivery contract for specific Russian products for heating or energy. The raw materials are used for producing the products themselves. So here, we don't see any savings potential. The effect of various scenarios on supply chain problems for different raw materials is something that is extremely difficult. We have a number of variables and a number of unknowns and all sorts of dependencies along the entire value chain. The impact is now being analyzed in detail, and we're working on various approaches, and we do not have any warehousing storage facilities for natural gas. We were asked what products have -- we're having problems with delivery or long delivery periods? And if there are going to be any penalties as a result? It's correct, the supply situation is very tense in many areas of Bayer Crop Science. These are due primarily to a change in need or production adaptations due to different weather conditions or a shortfall in production. Today, a total of significant impairments of global transport was the driving factors for unplanned deviations. Up until now, we were in the position with our plans and product distribution to avoid any penalties. Another question was about the number of new products, which will be -- which we launched 2021 in Germany. A total of 55 new products were launched in Germany in 2021. We were also asked how many products were withdrawn because there was not enough demand for them and not enough margin. Neither the demand nor the weak margin would be the sole reason for outpacing products. This is a question that I cannot answer, therefore. We also received a question on the largest challenge in the year under review. The major challenge, as I said already was achieving our financial and nonfinancial goals and also considering the pandemic in the year under review. We were also asked if the draft for the ASM dealt with the future, and we'll be making use of this. When it comes to the draft, we dealt with this in order to give you a positive answer. It was just 2 days ago where we got the government draft, and this also leads to a new assessment, which will be critical. A decision on the format of the ASM for 2023 is something that we, as I've already said, will be taken on the basis of the situation at that point in time. We were also asked if it might not make sense to have a face-to-face ASM in 2023 and to also offer virtual participation for all shareholders. As I said, we will be discussing and deciding on the format for the ASM in 2023 at an appropriate time. And we also received a question as to when the last questions on the ASM were received? That was Wednesday at 11:58 p.m. We were asked what the Board will do better in 2022 than it did in 2021? In addition to the achievement of its ambitious financial targets for 2022, the Board has set itself a number of other common goals as well. These group goals were presented to our senior management at the start of the year. We also would like to refer you to the comments that we issued for -- on our account for 2022. I'll now hand over to Wolfgang Nickl. Wolfgang?

[Interpreted] Another question was asked as to what the level of fluctuation for our employees in the current fiscal year were in Germany in our largest territory geographic markets? Fluctuation in Germany, 6.7%; previous year, 11.6%. The 2 largest geographic markets of the group, are Russia and Canada, where in Russia, the fluctuation was 21.7%; and the prior year, 15%. In Canada, it was 13.4% in the reporting year, which was unchanged over the prior year. The 2 largest markets in terms of sales are the U.S.A. and China. And the U.S.A. fluctuation was 11.2% in the fiscal year, 15.4% in the prior year; in China, 19.1% versus 20.4% in the prior year. They also asked about voluntary retirement-related fluctuation as well as termination of contracts in 2020 and 2021. In 2021, 383 employees left Bayer in Germany voluntarily compared with 339 in the prior year. Age-related, for age-related reasons last year, 232 employees left the company. In 2020, it was 255. In 2021, in Germany, 25 employees were made redundant. In 2020, it was 40. Another question was how many employees over the age of 50 and over the age of 55 in absolute terms and also as a percentage were employed at Bayer Group in the previous fiscal year? In the company, 3,153 over 50 and -- 54 -- over 50 and 55 -- 54 -- 50 to 54 and 4,406 over 55. And the different in age groups, 3,806 or 5,510 employees were employed. As a percentage, this is 16.1% and 23.3%, respectively. In the group, internationally, 12,008 employees were employed age between 50 and 54. And 14,949 employees over 55, which corresponds to 11.9% and 14.8%, respectively. We were also asked what the -- how long the most companies -- how long the employees had been at Bayer? In average, in Germany, it was 16.5%; and globally, the average is 10.6%. There was another question about how many employees in Germany, except for the Board of Management, received more than EUR 120,000 per year salary? And how many more we see more than EUR 250,000? How many received more than EUR 500,000 as well as the comparison compared to the prior year? For 2021, 3,289 employees having a fixed annual income of more than EUR 120,000. As a percentage. This is more than in the prior year, 1% in fact. This contains 72 people who are more than EUR 250,000 per year, which is 3% less than in the prior year. And of these, we have 1 person to have more than EUR 500,000 on a gross annual basis, which is unchanged versus the prior year. We were also asked whether there are any group employees in Germany who earn less than the 2022 minimum wage of EUR 12 per hour on a full-time basis? We were also asked what the gross hourly wage is for the lowest paid for full-time employed person in Germany and how many people receive this wage? In the fiscal year, 148 employees receive up to EUR 12. The lowest was EUR 10.39, and 33 of them receives this from Bayer gastronomy GMBH. I'd like to point out that the minimum wage in the year in question was EUR 9.50 to EUR 9.60 in the second half of the year. The adoption to the wage agreement for the German Hotel and Gastronomy Association [ Rothomus failure ], which is implemented in May 2022. And at this point in time, all employees in Germany received a gross hourly wage of at least EUR 12. The values mentioned correspond to the respective wage agreements. And any additions which are paid or -- any additional payments which are made for nonwage-related performance or one of our bonus payments are not taken into account when it comes to paying our gross hourly wages. We were also asked how many people full-time working in Germany receive a gross monthly wage of less than EUR 3,000? This was 598 in the fiscal year. Any additional payments, bonuses and et cetera, are not taken into account when it comes to gross hourly wages. We were also asked what the level of negative interest payments were paid in Germany and in Europe in the fiscal year? It was EUR 9.5 million, and this is only attributable to Germany. We were also asked why we don't speak about the appointments for the ASM with the next couple of years? We plan the appointments long in advance and coordinating this with other companies from an [ 40 ], is it not possible due to individual interest and other circumstances. We were also asked how you can take part in simultaneous DAX companies, especially given the lack of broad -- bandwidth in Germany? We usually tell you what the date will be at the end of the current AGM for the coming year. Coordinating this with other DAX companies is impossible due to individual circumstances and when it comes to broadband expansion in Germany, we're the wrong person to speak to. There was another question about whether or not after the AGM, we would be putting all the submitted questions and the answers to them on our homepage? We will be putting on our homepage after the AGM a complete video recording of the AGM, including the part with the questions and the answers. We were asked whether or not in 2023, we would be coordinating with other DAX companies with regard to the AGM date? As I mentioned, we plan our AGM dates a long time ahead of time. And usually, at the end of one AGM, we already announce when the next AGM is going to be. Coordinating with all the other companies in DAX 40 is not possible due to individual circumstances of the companies. We were asked about the biggest loss in the year under report and whether or not this was completely covered by insurance. The glyphosate product litigation case in the United States was the biggest insurance loss in fiscal 2021, and it was higher than the insurance protection we had. We were asked how many employees in Germany in the group have an annual gross income that is lower than the basic payment or compensation for a Supervisory Board member. The basic payment for Supervisory Board member in the reporting year was EUR 160,000. At the end of the reporting year, 24,111 employees in Germany had an annual fixed gross income of less than EUR 160,000, 24,111 employees is 22,355 full-time equivalents or FTEs. Then there was a question about parental leave and how many fathers took parental leave in the year under report in the company and in all domestic companies? In the year under report, 631 fathers took parental leave at domestic companies in Germany, including 528 in our company. In addition to that, we were asked about the average duration of the parental leave taken and the oldest person who took parental leave in the fiscal reporting year. The fathers took, on average, 2 months of parental leave. The highest age of person taking parental leave was 55. The share of managers taking parental leave was 16% in the year under report. And we were asked a question about the percentage increase for raw material and logistic costs in the reporting year and in 2022. All in all, there was an average 4.3% increase in raw material costs, and there were further increases in the first few months of 2022. Logistic costs last year were relatively stable, but they have gone up in the first few months of 2022. The increase in raw material costs, however, is different in each of our different divisions. It varies widely depending on the raw material in the region and the product. In addition to that, we were asked about the extent to which the increased raw material logistics costs would be passed on to customers in sales prices. Here, too, the situation is multifarious for the Bayer Group and depends on many factors. As you can see in our annual report, our prices in 2021 were increased by 2% across the entire group. This includes, for instance, declines in revenue due to tender process -- proceedings in China to have a direct impact on our pharmaceutical prices. We were asked a question about raw materials from Russia in 2020 and 2021, and what other contracts and contract durations we have for supplies from Russia? For oil and gas and coal, we do not have any direct contracts between Bayer AG and Russia, the purchase volume for other raw materials that come from Russia are for Bayer in 2020 and 2021, a total of less than EUR 1 million. That's about 0.01% of the total purchasing volume of other raw materials. This means that there is no major dependency on raw material supplies from Russia and Bayer does not need or did not have to establish other alternative sources. Purchasing of raw materials is based on individual orders, and therefore, we have no contractual obligations in Russia. Bayer has a number of things that we purchased, marketing and seeds. However, in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bayer stopped all expenditures in Russia that did not have anything to do with indispensable products in the field of health care and farming, no advertising or investment projects are being done. That's been completely frozen. We got the question about what product segments in the year under report developed particularly well or poorly? In our Crop Science division, the herbicide sector developed very strongly in Pharmaceuticals. We had EYLEA that achieved a significant increase in revenue. On the other hand, our business with Nexavar declined quite a bit. In Consumer Health, we achieved the biggest increase in revenue in the category of food supplements. We were also asked what product was the product that had the biggest volume, the biggest revenue and biggest margin in '21 and '22. In 2020 and '21, Xarelto was the product that had the biggest revenue and the highest margin, and we cannot answer the volume part of the question at all, unfortunately. We were also asked about the sales and contribution margin for the 10, 20 and 50 strongest products in '21 and 2020. And a volume-oriented answer to your question is something that is unfortunately not possible. We were also asked about the 5 most expensive products and how their prices developed over the last 3 years. In Bayer's portfolio, we have products with seed, crop protection means, over-the-counter medication and pharmaceutical products. We also see different price levels for products from 1 part of the world together. That's why it's really not easy to clearly identify the 5 most expensive products. Within the area of Pharmaceuticals, the price for a pill or an annual therapy cost is an irrelevant parameter. Other factors such as the dosing, the treatment regimen and duration is what needs to be taken into account. So again, I cannot give you a reasonable answer to that question. Another topic was the amount of depreciation for goods and whether these are then done away with or sold at a lower price. Due to the requirements of use-by-day for Pharmaceuticals. If we have a term of less than 1 year, these are no longer entered into the sales channel, so there is no over-storage. When it comes to plant protection, our products are prepared. And here, we don't have any significant depreciation due to over-storage. In seeds, we can see either there is appropriate disposal or alternative use, which might be -- allow us to sell it as fodder. In our annual report, we referred to impairments on inventories amounting to EUR 73 million. Another question related to the updated guidance for sales and earnings for the current fiscal year. Our current guidance for the -- is printed in the -- is the outlook in the annual report. We assume there will be growth in sales of 5% adjusted for portfolio and currency. We have EBIT before special items would be about EUR 12 billion, which is a margin of about 26%. And we were asked about our largest success story was in the year under review that we're achieving our financial and nonfinancial targets. We were also asked to what extent Bayer can exit from Russian gas and what minimum amounts would apply for a certain period of time. We don't have any contracts to get gas from Russia and our contracts for gas have a maximum term of 3 years and cover our own needs exclusively. We were also asked about the share price development and how we can explain it. We were also asked about information as to whether this might mean a standstill of the plant in Leverkusen. Well, let me mention one thing, in the last 12 months, our share price went up by close to 16%, more than 20% on the development in the DAX and EURO STOXX 50. Whether there would be a standstill in Leverkusen is a question that I cannot answer. So now I'd like to hand over to you, Stefan Oelrich.

[Interpreted] One question was capacity utilization of the sites compared to '20 and 2021. You will understand that for competitive reasons, we cannot give you specific figures for individual sites. Generally, capacity utilization in all divisions was good is a positive trend, which continued in 2021. An indication for developed productivity and capacity utilization is something that can be shown in the product-related figures in our annual report. Apart from the capacity utilization, we invested in our sites. An overview as to the number of investment plans, which we plan to make in Germany give us -- can be found in the publications on our website. There was a question which dealt with Taiwan and China in the last 2 years. We don't make any public statements on procurement in -- on a country level. We also received a question about financial impact we would have from withdrawing from China. And we would also see if we can continue our job there. We were asked about how many nondemocratic countries are involved here? And what is the percentage of the total volume here? We do not plan to withdraw from China, and we don't have a list of nondemocratic companies (sic) [countries]. As a globally active company, we also consider social, ethical and ecological standards along the supply chain, and we want to help people with health and agricultural products, depending on the state in which they live. Another question focused on the level of -- on the power draw of Bayer globally and the cost of the -- cost per kilowatt hour. 3.07 terawatt hours was consumed, 0.4 terawatt hours in Germany. The cost globally and also in Germany within the fluctuation range of normal national region industry energy crisis. We will also ask by how much electricity costs had risen since the beginning of the year and to what extent we hedged. Market prices in Europe have risen significantly. In Germany, for example, in the first quarter, it was 50% compared with average market prices of 2021 due to long-term supply contracts with a fixed price with terms of up to 10 years, particularly for renewable energies, the global increase in electricity prices will only partially have an impact on Bayer. For Germany, for example, a share of around 30% of the electricity that we use is based on renewables and is fixed for a period of time price-wise. We also asked what the additional costs were due to electricity costs for the current fiscal year globally and in Germany and how you plan to offset this. Only during the course of the year, we'll be able to make reliable statements on this. We do not have any specific offsetting measures in place. One question related to photovoltaic systems on the roofs of Bayer Germany and what the plans were for using this in the current fiscal year. Now the existing roof surfaces are only to a very small degree, suitable for photovoltaic systems. Currently, we expect a low to middle 5-digit square meter area that can be covered. There was also a question about the 3 most successful products in 2021 and 2020, Germany and worldwide the most -3 products with the higher sales are Xarelto, EYLEA and Roundup and -- so Xarelto, EYLEA and Adempas. Now due to the diversity of our product portfolio and the different in the units, the questions around the units at group level cannot be answered. We're also asked about the energy intensity in a kilowatt hours in terms of sales and what plans we have relating to this and whether we can expect any savings effects. Bayer reports energy efficiency as a share of the energy used to the amount it sells. So 241 to 220-kilowatt hours per hour. This is the improvement that was made. In order to reduce our emissions [ for present ], we want to invest EUR 500 million in improving energy efficiency of our systems and buildings as well as in renewable energies, particularly in our production sites. So different sites, we have various investment plans. This includes the use of climate neutral technologies such as geothermal power or emission-free steam generation. Our savings effects due to a price [ demur ] from the energy markets are not expected. We were asked the question about energy intensity in kilowatt hours per euro of sales per day in Leverkusen. We do not have any sales figures for the individual sites because we can't calculate these for Leverkusenn. And Leverkusen last year was around 300 terajoules. Furthermore, we were asked about the consumption of various energy fuels in Leverkusen. Energy use in Leverkusen in 2021 is essentially based on [ Haron ] energy, 150 terajoules of electricity, 160 terajoules of steam and around 77 terajoules of cooling energy. And now I will hand back to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Oelrich. We will now show you another 5 videos. They come from [ Regina Zonk, Razz Montanya, Margaret Rosapika, Frans Vagul ] and Marius Stelzmann.

[Interpreted] I'm [ Regina Zonk ] from The Society of Threatened People. We work with indigenous organizations in Brazil who are affected by the use of pesticides where they live. Bayer AG exports pesticides to them, the use of which is illegal in Germany. They are mainly sold in Brazil and India, which have much more flexible laws than Germany does. In Brazil, huge areas of arable land are covered in pesticides. Many small holder farmers and tribes live very close to these areas. Now airplanes, which spray this and literally spread the fertilizers of the -- sorry, the pesticides in front of their doors. It has a negative impact on the environment, not just in the country, but in cities as well. The health implications could simply not be calculated in some cases. There is no transparent information available and I refer to the products that the farmers use. Each of these pesticides are produced in Europe, despite many of them actually being banned here. They're exported to countries like Brazil and used there. And it is used to produce cotton export products, which then end up back in Europe, which means that you are basically shifting the practices of destroying the environment to other places. Bayer need to apply due diligence, particularly in countries like Brazil, where the government does not wish to protect its people. We ask the Bayer take a look at local populations and develop long-term business strategies, which do not require pesticides, which is why I would like to ask when will Bayer AG adhere to its duty of care to ensure that there are no human rights violations in other countries using Bayer products. This is why I would like the shareholders to vote together with the CVG against the ratification of the actions of Board of Management.

[Interpreted] I am [ Razz Montanya ] from the campaign Secret Toxic. I'll tell you a story. A study was conducted where there were pesticides found in 2020. A second study showed other heavy metals as well as 15 aromatic hydrocarbons. We were also told other things about this as well. Some of these are carcinogenic. So it comes to you when the other people are exposed to them. Moreover, animals and plants are also exposed to this. Bayer needs to ensure that when its products are used that people will be safe. So I would like the Board to provide some explanations. How these -- how are these substances sold by Bayer and how do they end up in pesticides? What do you wish to do in order to remove them from your end products? What would the financial and legal implications, therefore, be for Bayer? Does the Board know the difference between the -- where exactly the products are used? So I would like to know. So what I would like to say is I would like the shareholders together with the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers to vote against the ratification of the actions of the revenue actions of the Board of Management.

[Interpreted] My name is [ Margaret Rosapika ], and I'm speaking as a shareholder for a number of years, because the Chair of the [ BDB ] I have participated at the AGM and spoken about you with Duogynon which is a hormonal pregnancy test produced by Schering AG, which if you use it according to instructions, it can cause a damage and has also led to stillbirths and a number of other issues as well. I have been demanding compensation for decades now who have -- people who've had to innocently suffer. But this has not happened. Because the synthetic element that are used and have been tested and it's been found that they can indeed cause damage. What's shocking is that now we know this even back then when the test was used, it was known. And this is unforgivable. And you continue to reject. You continue to deny that there's any link between Duogynon, the usage of a Duogynon and the problems that have occurred. And you say this as a leading chemical and pharmaceutical group. The electrical files and nuclear files react with one another. And no matter what studies you have used to try and justify your beliefs, the experiments that have been performed -- that have been conducted contradicts the results that you have arrived at. Where is your liability? And you have also tried to cover up the scandal. And you can continue to treat the victims with disdain. So I ask that you do not ratify the actions of the Board as Management.

[Interpreted] My name is [ Frans Vagul ]. I am a firm, The Association of Former Children from Children's Home in Schleswig-Holstein. And here, there were medical trials which took place and abuse of the children who lived in these homes. Mr. Bauman at the ASM, you said, there was no information from your archives available on this, but we did find some. That infants and the children were used as guinea pigs. Maybe you overlooked something. There are far too many victims 4 of them -- many of them who are still alive. And I want to know whether you would like to provide support of the victims who were still alive. All the best from us. So please vote with the CVG against the ratification of the actions of the Board of Management.

[Interpreted] My name is Marius Stelzmann I am the Director of the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers. On the 27th of June, in a Chempark in Currenta, which was formerly by Bayer Industry Services in Leverkusen, a huge explosion, a tank containing chemical waste exploded. The fire spread to 7 further tanks. This killed 7 employees, and 31 suffered severe injuries. Firefighters also suffered negative health consequences as a result. This shows even more that the chemical industry which only works on perfect maximization accepts that there can be serious security deficiencies. The tanks were built by Bayer, which is why I would like to ask the following question to the Board of Management. Why were the tanks put so closely to one another without enough space in order to prevent in the occurrence of an explosion, a domino effect would take place and the several tanks would explode as a result? We were told that with the carve-out of Currenta, there had been agreements made on security standards. Could you tell me more about these agreements, in particular, when it comes to the tanks that exploded? Bayer also announced that it has to the right to security checks. Have these security checks actually been conducted in the past? And if they were, when and what were the results of the security checks? If not, then why did you not take the opportunity to perform these securities checks? I request that shareholders vote with the CBG against the ratification of the actions of the Board of Management.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much for your contributions. We will now continue with answering your questions. Mr. Winkeljohann will now, followed by Mr. Baumann and Mr. Nickl. The floor is yours.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Ms. Hentschel. First of all, we got a question about why the Supervisory Board has not drawn any consequences from the nonratification of the activities of the Board of Management and why the Supervisory Board has ignored the vote of mistrust by the shareholders. And in addition to that, we were asked about the importance of shareholders, for the Supervisory Board. Then the consequences -- with regard to the consequences of the nonratification of the Board of Management by shareholders. Well, this was reported on in the 2019 annual report. You can find this on -- in that annual report. Then with regard to the significance for the Supervisory Board of shareholders. I mentioned this many times. I said that many times that the dialogue in the past year was one of the main things that I dealt with in 2021. And we are -- that we were asked why Mr. Bauman was offered an extension of the contract, even though in 2019, he didn't have his actions ratified. I talked about this. I mention that we dealt with this nonratification of activities in 2019, when in 2020, the decision was made or was to be made by -- about the extension of Mr. Baumann's contract, the Supervisory Board came to the conclusion that it would be advantageous for the company to have Mr. Baumann in his position, and we therefore decided to extend that contract by 3 years up to April 2024. We were asked how the Supervisory Board and Board of Management and the employees are going to deal and have been dealing with Mr. Baumann's announcement that he wouldn't extend his contract -- would not extend his contracts, we were -- we regretted this. And we also said that it would not have any negative impact on his cooperation with the company and allows the Supervisory Board to plan for succession. We heard a question about how much severance pay would be paid if Mr. Baumann's contract were terminated. The answer is there is no cause for that. In general, I can say, as it says in the compensation report, if there is a contract that's terminated for a good reason, no severance is paid if it was asked for by the Board of Management members. In addition to that, Bayer follows the code of contact recommendation for limiting severance pay that is limiting that to 2 years of annual pay or up until the end of the ongoing contract. We heard about -- we had a question about the variable remuneration, why it shouldn't be 0 for 2021 or whether or not in 2021, the Board of Management is prepared to go without the bonus. In 2021, the Board of Management had targets set for them. They achieved those. And sometimes they even went beyond those. And since we increased our guidance for 2021 and can look back at dynamic growth, this is reflected in the target achievement for the short-term variable cash remuneration. The consequences of the decline in the share price of the Bayer share is reflected in the bonus for the 4-year period at the end of January 2021. Only 38% was paid for the tranche that began in 2017. And therefore, there is no reason to do without the incentive that is based on performance or to have that paid back. In addition to that, we were asked whether the Board of Management was prepared to do without their performance-based bonus. And if so why not the Board of Management did achieve the targets that were set for the Board of Management, sometimes they even surpassed those. We already had that question, right?

[Interpreted] Yes.

[Interpreted] Yes. This question is in there twice. Okay. We received a number of questions about the conditions under which variable compensation for the Board of Management would go to 0 in particular in the context of the development of the share price and the dividend and the business results from 2020. At the beginning of the fiscal year, ambitious targets are established by the Board of -- by the Supervisory Board. It takes into consideration all KPIs and establishes minimum values and for 2020 and 2021 and for the years prior to that, these threshold values can be found in our compensation report. The AGM voted more than 40 -- 94% to pass the compensation system based on short-term and long-term variable remuneration in line with the market in general. And a negative share price development has a major impact for the Board of Management first of all, because a decline in share price reduces the share price-oriented remuneration sector because the negative total shareholder return starting with a 38% amount lower than stock -- EURO STOXX 50 would lead to a complete canceling of that amount. And third, because the Board of Management is obliged to focus on enhancing the share price of the company, and all of this can be found in our annual report. The effect of the share price development incidentally can be seen in the payout of LTI tranches, which were established between 2015 and 2018. The payout of these tranches for those years has reached a maximum of 38% of the original target value. And in fact, sometimes, it was 0%. In other words, there was not a payment at all of that compensation component. Then there is the KPI for short-term variable remuneration. This incentivizes the operational success for the Board of Management members. It also incentivizes profitable growth and development free cash flow. For all of these criteria, we have defined minimum values below which this remuneration is completely eliminated. And on that note, I'd like to hand over to Mr. Baumann.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann. In addition to that, we were asked the question about whether certain slogan should be changed with regard to development of the company for our shareholders. In addition to that, we were asked whether that -- whether the quote should be changed and whether the acquisition of Monsanto was correct. It was a correct, strategic decision and puts us in an outstanding position to create value for shareholders, employees and the company. And this quote about that is still appropriate, even though there have been difficulties with glyphosate, and I do not want to minimize those. But the good results in the year under report are encouraging and show that we're on the right track for this, and this includes the positive guidance for this current year. We were asked why we aren't spinning off the agricultural version at Bayer and listed in the U.S. This is not being discussed. It would have a major negative impact and it would detract from achieving our operational goals. And it certainly would not be supported by our employees, representatives. I was asked if I would be willing to apologize to the shareholders for acquiring Monsanto and to give my reasons for us. Of course, I understand shareholders' disappointment with regard to the development of the share price. But I continue to be convinced that we are on the right path, and that applies to the entire Board of Management. The good results in the year under review and the good beginning to 2022 and the positive developments of the share price since the beginning of the year show that the acquisition of Monsanto was correct. I was also asked if after acquiring Monsanto, didn't I think about resigning and why I didn't think it would be a good idea to have a very important new start for the company. I think it's understandable that after the Board of Management was not ratified in 2019, I thought very hard about what decision would be the best decision for the company. The great support from the organization, from many colleagues and the rapid unanimous support from the Supervisory Board in this difficult time convinced me very quickly that I would best assume my responsibility if I continue to get the company on track, and that is the heading for fiscal 2021. We are on the right track. We were asked why Bayer has not yet suspended activities in Russia. The brutal aggression of Russia against the sovereign country is something that we've condemned. And it really hurts us to see the destruction and the death of many innocent civilians including children. In Russia and Belarus, we have stopped all expenditures that are not related to absolutely necessary products in the field of health and agriculture. Advertising measures have been discontinued. Investment projects have been stopped. In agriculture, our products have been delivered for sowing on -- for the 2022 season. Delivery for the 2023 season will depend on peace in Ukraine. At the same time, we are aware of those who are calling for a complete stop for all of our products to Russia and Belarus. We understand your concerns because the war raises moral and ethical questions for every company. Our position is very clear and that this is a war which has caused so many lives already. But as a life science company, we have the ethical obligation in every country to help the civilian population in every country where we're active. The civilian population, if we were to deprive them of important health and agricultural products to treat cancer or cardiovascular disease, health products for pregnant women or children or seed to grow plants is something that would multiply the number of lives cost, innocent civilians that would be suffering as a result of these measures. This would just multiply the number of deaths. We also received a question on cost and depreciation where we do withdraw from Russia. The assets in Russia on the 31st of December 2021 amounted to EUR 500 million. Sales in Russia amounted to EUR 956 million last year. I'd like to mention once again that we have stopped all expenditures in Russia that don't have anything to do with providing absolutely necessary products in health and agriculture. Advertising has been stopped, investment projects have been stopped and in agriculture, our products for 2022 have already been delivered and delivery for the 2023 season will depend on peace in Ukraine. We received a question as to why Bayer has not stopped business in Russia, although other companies have already done so. The brutal aggression in Russia against the sovereign country is something that we have condemned. I think I've already mentioned that. I've also said that all of our nonessential activities and expenditures have been stopped. And of course, it's clear there are people who are calling for a complete stop of delivery to Russia and Belarus. We understand the concerns due to the moral and ethical reasons behind all of this, but these would apply to every company when it comes to their activities. Our position is that this war has already cost a lot of lives already. And that we, as a life science company have an ethical obligation to protect the civilian population and to supply them with what they need, and that's exactly what we do. We were also asked why Bayer has hurt its image by continuing to do business in Russia. The civilian population, to not give them important health and agricultural products to treat cancer or cardiovascular diseases, I mentioned that already. This is something would just cause the death of even more innocent people for this senseless war. And this is something that certainly is not something that anybody can seriously want. We asked questions about the reputational risk and calls for boycotts, should the Russia business not be stopped in complete, and we talk about other companies that have withdrawn completely. But as I said, we provide essential products with the basic needs, food and health. That means that we, in this conjunction, as I've said a number of times already, we have an ethical obligation to provide the civilian population with these products. And this is something where we received a great deal of approval in recent weeks. So we see no loss or risk to our reputation at Bayer because we are convinced that we are doing the right thing. We also were asked if our consultants to the -- if a consultant to the Ukrainian President, Alexander Zelenskyy, if he calls on -- he called on a stop to business in Russia. No, this was not conveyed to us directly. No, this request did not come to us directly. In Russia and in Belarus, we have stopped our -- as I said, our activities have been reduced to what is absolutely necessary and many activities have been discontinued. I've already mentioned that a number of times already. We were also asked about who would take over the responsibility for a loss of image due to -- if we were not to stop business with Russia completely. As I said, the civilian population should not be deprived of health and agricultural products. As I said, for example, treating cardiovascular disease or cancer or an undersupply with very essential food. This is something that we cannot expect anyone to seriously want. That's why this is a question which we really cannot consider. And of course, these are -- points have been discussed and assessed in detail when formulating the position that we've mentioned a number of times. Furthermore, we were asked whether employees have criticized our decision not to have a full supply stop for all of our products. As I said before, there are a number of very difficult moral and ethical questions, which affects all of us and, of course, who are moving our employees as well. So against this backdrop, it's no surprise that in our workforce as well, there are various and different opinions. Some of the opinions are very different as well. We were asked how many shareholders asked how many questions and what the comparison is with the prior year. It's 2021, 33 shareholders sent 560 questions. This year, we had 665 questions from the 26 shareholders and the shareholder representatives. Over to Wolfgang Nickl now.

[Interpreted] We were asked the question about Bayer AG's market capitalization from the date of the announcement of the acquisition of Monsanto through to today. The market capitalization on the 18th of May 2016, which was a day before the preliminary discussion about an acquisition of Monsanto were confirmed was around EUR 80 billion. And Friday last week, it was EUR 65 billion. We were also asked about how the DAX has performed since the announcement of the Monsanto acquisition since 2018 and how high the market capitalization of a Bayer would be had it performed in the same way. We suspect that you're speaking about when the transaction for the Monsanto acquisition was concluded in June 2018. Since then, the DAX has risen by 8% and the Bayer share has fallen by 37%. We believe that the current market capitalization is significantly below the true value of the company. We were also asked to compare the market capitalization against individual other companies. But we do not want to comment on their share price performance as part of the Bayer annual shareholders' meeting. We were also asked about free cash flow between 2016 to 2021 and how it's changed and how steep the decline is in percentage in absolute terms. In 2016, free cash flow was EUR 5.8 billion. By the end of 2021, it was EUR 1.4 billion. The decline is at EUR 4.4 billion, or in other words, 76%. One thing to bear in mind here is that in fiscal 2021, we had a very high level of settlement payments for litigations that came in at EUR 4.3 billion. We were also asked about the return on capital employed between 2016 to 2021 and how this has changed. And how high this decline is in terms of percent and in absolute terms. ROCE came in at 10.3% in 2016 to 3.8% in 2021, which is a decline of 6.5 percentage points. The absolute return net operating profit after tax thus fell from EUR 4.4 billion to EUR 2.5 billion. So no PAT in 2021, in particular, due to special items on the EBIT then was diminished at a scale of EUR 3.9 billion. This is provisions relating to litigations and also for restructuring programs. They were also asked whether the market capitalization of Bayer AG is lower than the price of the Monsanto acquisition. The acquisition of Monsanto cost EUR 63 billion. Last Friday, it was EUR 65 billion. Like many analysts, we believe that the current market capsulation is significantly below the true value of the company. We were also asked about the total net and debt before the Monsanto acquisition and also at the end of 2021. We were also asked how high net debt was at the end of 2021 adjusted for the sale of the Animal Health business. Net debt before the Monsanto acquisition at the 31st of the third (sic) [March], 2018 was EUR 1.7 billion. On the 31st of the 12th (sic) [December], 2021, it was EUR 33.1 billion. Adjusting it for the sale of the Animal Health business is not possible because we don't know how this division would have performed after being sold by Bayer. We can provide you with the information that from the sale, we had a cash component of EUR 4.2 billion and EUR 1.8 billion from the sale of the Elanco stocks. A question was asked about sales and earnings in Russia in 2021. Sales in Russia last year came in at EUR 956 million. Please understand that we do -- generally do not provide any earnings figures for individual companies. In addition to that, we were asked how much revenue and results Bayer has planned for 2022 in Russia and how, taking into account the decline of the ruble, these numbers would look. I hope you understand that we do not publish any forecast on the national level. The revenue in Russia last year was EUR 956 million. The effect that the development of the ruble will have on our business cannot be seriously determined. We were also asked what the portion of our costs in Russia are in rubles. In Russia, local legal entities are fundamentally mandated by law to pay in the local currency. And as a result, more than 90% of our costs in Russia are paid in rubles. We were asked about the attitude of our employees in the Ukraine about our Russia activities. In view of the unimaginable pain and suffering that the Russian attack on Ukraine has caused, it's very understandable that our colleagues in Ukraine are wondering why we have not completely stopped our delivery of products to Russia, including essential products. However, we are in a regular exchange with them to explain these reasons at the same time, we are focusing with maximum priority on the safety of our people in the Ukraine and offer them their families and them financial assistance, accommodation and evacuation assistance. There was another question about the decline in the ruble and its impact on our group balance sheet. We can say that the rate for the ruble on the 31st of March 2022 was RUB 91 per euro. It was more or less the same as 31st of December 2021. It was RUB 85 then. Compared to other key currencies, we do not think that there will be a special impact of this on our group accounting. And I'll hand back to Ms. Hentschel on that.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Nickl. Now we will show you the last 5 videos before we begin answering the rest of the questions. These videos are submitted by [ Gundar Wolff, Susan Tabach, Katryrn Bence, Gertrude Arnould, and Berard Guyer ].

[Interpreted] Good afternoon. My name is [ Gundar Wolff ], and I'm a member of the Board of [ VEH ] in Schleswig-Holstein. I'd like to ask something of Mr. Baumann. On 26 of April 2019, I spoke to the AGM and told you about 8 years of permanent medication that I suffered as I described it in my book later on, which I have also sent to you in order to give you an insight into my life. This is the book I sent you. You did not respond to this. But your shareholders did really pepper me with questions because they were shocked by what they read about this. Would you, Mr. Baumann, give your own children, 8 years of permanent sedation like what happened to me? I don't think so because your children are more important to you than former children in homes and psychiatric institution because these terrible experiments were conducted on us. And then we're told that the well-being of patients is #1 for your company. As you have said at this AGM, the fact is the pharmaceutical industry lives from permanent patients, not from healthy people. The Association for Former Home Children in Schleswig-Holstein is prepared to work with you to come to terms, help the company comes to terms what its best. Do you have the courage to do this? We do. Have a nice day. And apart from that, I would request that you vote with CVG against ratification of the actions of the Board of Management.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, of Management members, my name is [ Susan Tabach ]. I'm one of the co-founders of the -- from Association for -- from Bayer's victims and I'm speaking on their behalf here. For more than a decade, your group was not able to judge the risk of drospirenone contraceptive even though before the market launch, independent studies were published on this indicating that there was a higher risk of thrombosis. Today, it's known that your contraceptive with drospirenone has the highest thrombosis risk of all contraceptives. And therefore, I'd like to ask the Board this, how can you still speak about a positive cost-benefit ratio if other contraceptives are just as safe as in -- as being contraceptives, but they have much lower risk? In our opinion, it's high time for you to admit the mistakes you made for the benefit of young and healthy women and to take your drospirenone contraceptives off the market in the United States. Bayer paid out-of-court settlements to victims. And as far as we know, in Germany, Bayer has done nothing for victims. On the contrary, litigation is constantly being delayed and victims are being told about alternative causes that are ridiculous, and I'd like to, therefore, have answers to these questions. How much in total has been paid out in out-of-court settlements in -- the United States? Home much litigation do you have in Germany? And how much litigation do you have in the United States how much worldwide? And as I said, how much total has been paid out in out-of-court settlements in the United States for your drospirenone contraceptive? What is that number for the entire world? How much provisioning has Bayer made for payments this year? And I'd like to ask it to all shareholders, vote with CVG against ratification of the actions of the Board of the -- against the Board of Management. Shareholders.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Supervisory Board, members of the Board of Management, my name is [ Katryrn Bence ]. I'm speaking on behalf of the German Environmental Association, BUND. Glyphosate is highly controversial. And nevertheless, Bayer and other manufacturers in 2019, asked the EU to relicense this product. German authorities have stated that glyphosate is harmless, but the research agency of the WHO has said that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic. And therefore, my question is, are you taking these results seriously in your request for relicensing? Have you even taken into account the position of the WHO? Despite this knowledge, the German authorities have stuck to their opinion and have not changed their opinion about glyphosate. They said the problem was the study. So I might ask -- I'm asking you how if the studies are inappropriate, can you license a product on that basis, why for the new licensing, why aren't you submitting new studies without mistakes? People who have suffered from glyphosate application and are suffering from cancer as a result have been given out-of-court payments. My ask is -- my question is, do you know you're going to have to pay more of this? In addition to glyphosate, we've got another problem that is the global loss of biodiversity. How in the future would Bayer like to communicate that glyphosate damages biodiversity directly and indirectly, a company that calls itself sustainable but produces products that are absolutely not sustainable, while they lose their credibility? And therefore, I request of everyone here, all shareholders that they not approve of the ratifications to the Board of Management. Please vote on this item on the agenda by saying no.

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen of the Board of Management of Bayer AG, shareholders, my name is Dr. [ Gottfried Arnold ]. I'm a pediatrician. And for years, I've been looking at the total herbicide, glyphosate. The cancer research at WHO in 2015 said that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic for people. And as a result, international scientists from the Italian Ramazzini Institute, together with the University of Bellinzona and University of New York have done an independent study funded by crowd funding. It was a global glyphosate study that they've begun. Scientists agree that not only is it important to look at the active share, but also the cross-linking agent that is the complete composition of this pesticide in a study. And therefore, the studies done so far by Bayer and Monsanto do not meet the minimum of scientific requirements. Glyphosate is used around the world. Legal experience has already been gained in the United States. And it points out the cost/risk for our shareholders. It's just a fore taste. In view of the frequency of cancer cases around the world, it's criminal to sell products that are considered to be possibly carcinogenic. So please remove glyphosate from the market here and in all countries so this doesn't happen. I would request that all shareholders vote with our coordination Association Against Bayer Hazards and not approve the actions of the Board of Management.

[Interpreted] My name is [ Berard Guyer ]. And for nearly 50 years, I've been working for organic farming. Today, I'm speaking to you as -- in my capacity as ambassador for IFOAM - Organics International. My concern, my issue today is a question about use of glyphosate and also glyphosate legislation. I see that Bayer is working massively to extend the license for that. My demand is that this activity be ended immediately. There are millions of people who are fighting for a world without pesticides. There are many millions of farmers, specifically in the global South, who show today and have shown for decades that farming without agricultural chemistry, chemicals and without artificial fertilizers and pesticides can be done and is still able to feed the world. It's important for Bayer to develop new strategies for the medium term and long term for a day in age when pesticides are forbidden, like nuclear power plants are now in Germany. If that's not done, the light will go out for the profit interest in the future of the company. And for this reason, my demand is this. At long last, please take this seriously, that is developing real alternatives. Give up your old business model. There are business models that are more sustainable that guarantee a healthy environment. And for these reasons and many others that don't fit into the 2-minute format, I would like to request of shareholders once again that they send a clear signal like was done just a couple of years ago, that is to not vote for ratification of the actions of the Board of Management of Bayer.

[Interpreted] Thank you. Now we'll move on to answering the last questions we have, and I'll hand over for this to Mr. Winkeljohann.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Ms. Hentschel. We were asked whether it's appropriate, whether the remuneration of the Board of Management CEO is 95x that of the average of a person paid according to the collective bargaining scale at Bayer and whether this is socially compatible and whether or not we think it would make sense to have a maximum factor for Board of Management remuneration. In accordance with the requirements of the German corporate governance code, we look regularly at the vertical and horizontal [ porpudence ] of remuneration, look at this over time. The vertical gap that you mentioned between the average remuneration of the Board of Management on the one hand and the average remuneration of the top management level on the other hand and the average management of the total workforce and people paid according to collective bargaining in Germany as well is looked at every year and determined, and it is presented to the HR Committee. In terms of development over time, we can say that the average target remuneration for the Board of Management has been going more or less parallel to the groups of employees that have been mentioned in order to have a consistent comparison that makes any sense. We have decided to implement the shareholder rights guideline for the compensation report and retroactively standardize them for 2021. In addition to that, we go beyond legal requirements on a voluntary basis still, and this shows that our vertical structure is still absolutely appropriate, and we are very transparent with this. Then you asked about a maximum factor between order management remuneration and workforce remuneration. Well, we don't think this would provide added value for many reasons, and I'll hand over to Mr. Baumann on that note.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Winkeljohann. There was a question about whether chemical products at Bayer such as neonicotinoid should still be sold if local governments don't prohibit them. Substances such as neonicotinoids are important for our farmers because they help fight pests and increase harvest. Many authorities around the world have cautiously checked this and shown that neonicotinoids can be used for farming without any damage to people in the environment, and they are required as pesticides. These substances are an effective tool for fighting pests in farming in order to minimize potential risks for bees and other insects' life. Bayer has taken different measures. For instance, any cultures that are attractive to bees should not have these pesticides used on them. And in addition to that, changes were made that improve their coating on the seeds. For instance, this reduces the dust produced by 95%. And to that, we asked many -- received many questions about selling substances in Brazil that are not allowed in the EU. Just because products are not allowed in the EU does not mean that they are not safe. Many other authorities around the world such as Brazil have robust and highly developed regulatory systems that protect people and the environment. And the pests in Latin America are different from those in Europe. So the farmers need different pesticides than those in the EU in order to secure their crops and protect them from weeds and fungus and pests. We had many questions that we got about the negative impact of pesticides on people in Europe. And when the Board of Management informed supply -- shareholders about this. Safety of our products is a top priority for us. Bayer conducts many training courses on the safe use of pesticides, including in the countries of the globe itself. Last year, this was more than 1 million training courses per year. All of the substances that we sell are safe for people and the environment, if they are used according to the instructions. If we do receive any information that indicate that our products aren't used appropriately, we have established internal processes in order to investigate this. We were asked about whether we were prudent in selling our products in Brazil. We always are prudent with our products. There are national rules and international rules, and we strictly comply with all of them. Sometimes we go beyond them in addition that we conducted hundreds of thousands of trainings courses on our pesticides. There was a question on our assessment of the regulatory system in Brazil. Brazil has a strong, highly developed regulatory system to protect the environment and human health. The crop protection means approved in Brazil reflect the needs of the farmers and the situation there. We have a strict and careful review of our plant protection products, and we certainly cannot take on -- we did not recognize any lack of review. They asked about how we deal with pesticides in Brazil. This -- as I said, the proper use of our products has top priority. We offer training sessions so that the products are used appropriately. No studies so far have shown any causal relationship between the diseases and the use of our crop protection means, and we carry out test procedures to ensure that they are applied correctly. When spraying from the air, we work with specially certified pilots in order to make sure that they do not blow over to the residential agents. Whereas Brazilian authorities and universities have developed a program for pilots so that they can apply the pesticides appropriately from the air. We also asked if Bayer would be involved in any of the industrial [ studies ] in order to work on a civilized practice. We are very much in favor of abiding by human rights, and we stand for diversity, tolerance, respect and dialogue. And our colleagues worldwide and -- are required to act in a fair and legal way. This applies to all of our colleagues worldwide. We require that our people observe human rights and that we'd be transparent in our response. This applies to every country on this earth where Bayer is active. We [ were ] asked about dicamba-resistant soybeans and cotton seeds. In the United States, we expect that this year, Xtend soybeans and XtendFlex cotton will be grown on 25 million hectares about the same amount as last year. United States is the main market for this technology. We offer dicamba-tolerant products in Canada and Brazil and resistant corn is also available in the United States. And we also received an information with regard to the case from the Bader Farm in the United States. This is now in appeal. Our first brief was submitted in March of 2021. The oral hearing took place on the 16th of February 2022. The court's decision has not yet been received, but we don't expect that there will be a decision before the fall of this year. We also received a question on the dicamba cases and how many cases there are, where, what crops and ecosystems and what areas are involved. We also had a question with regard to the settlement negotiations. Let me give you the pending cases. Here, this began in November of 2016. Over the course of many years, cases were submitted by -- there were about 250 plaintiffs against Monsanto and BASF. And some of these cases also have claims with regard to the dicamba damage to other crops such as melons, peaches, grapes and tomatoes. The cases in all of these cases are focusing on the general assertion that the spreading of the herbicides outside the target area can also damage dicamba-intolerant soybeans and other crops. We had a so-called multi-district litigation in Missouri, which is pending. Nearly all of these cases are now suspended due to this class action case. In addition to this case, we also have a case before a Texas court. We have about 50 wine growers and they also want to see that -- we see there are other cases in Tennessee, which was filed by a tobacco farmer. Bader Farms is now in the appeal proceedings, and we don't have a decision on this yet. As I said, with regard to the settlement proceedings. In 2020, in December, Monsanto agreed on a class action settlement where the majority of these cases could be settled. The settlement means a payment to the farmers in the harvest years 2015 to '20. And this part of the settlement is capped at USD 300 million. The settlement also provides for additional means amounting to USD 100 million. Other claims were processed as well, and we also see the -- we want to cover all of this. The litigator also is looking into the different areas and the amounts. And since the review has not yet been completed, no amounts have been paid out and all of the cases will probably go on into next year. We received a number of questions on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture business, and we see that this can all be found in our sustainability report. Details on the various substances and products are not published. We also were asked about how Bayer plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture and what the targets are over the next 5 years. Due to the different aspects here, we can see that we have direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, Scope 1 and Scope 2 are spread not uniformly amongst the different divisions. And we can see we're talking here about the production of precursors for Crop Science. Here we see this is a major share of our greenhouse gas emissions at this division. Our climate targets for the end of 2029 apply to all of our decisions. And its immediate goal is for 2024 compared to 2019, we want to reduce our own emissions by 20%. I mentioned that already. Main measures are to have investments in efficiency measures as well as to switch electricity to renewable energy. Other topics were R&D, trades, commercialization of genetically modified plants as well as our small stature corn. Genetic engineering and genome editing are important and essential in order to be able to feed a growing population. An example for this is the use of the small stature corn. And here, we can see this is in development Phase 4 and is coming closer to being launched. The stems are 1/3 shorter than in conventional corn. It makes it more resistant and more stable so that under extreme weather conditions, strong wind, for example, you can reduce the loss of harvest. This type of case of corn allows us to reduce the amount of crop protection measures as well as an optimal use of resources such as nitrogen fertilizer. We are also working on an overarching approach for sustainable corn. We also see that this was a question related to hybrid rice size and also for unsalinated soils. There are a number of different molecular building methods, which are used in order to and effect the trade of the plants, which includes tolerance against stress factors such as flooding. For the market launch and marketing, we cannot provide you with any details due to antitrust reason and are also asked which companies Bayer has acquired in agriculture over the last few years, and there have been no acquisitions. However, we have increasingly used a number of technologies to increase the protein content of soy, for example. We were also about cooperations with biotech companies in the fields of genetic technology and genome editing. We're a partner of a global network of partners from a number of different areas with access to all of the different technologies available to the agricultural industry. We also went with a number of private and public-private organizations, NGOs, universities and other institutions. A list of important cooperation partners can be found in the current annual report. In the fields of genetic technology and genome editing, which includes powerized tube lights foundation and Berkley lights. We received a question about the cost for insurance in genetic technology methods and were also asked how many months or years the development process is with the assistance of new genetic technology methods. Now for antitrust methods, we're -- antitrust reasons, we're unable to provide you any details. We have greater precision with them, gene editing, which means that full research and development costs are lower, so which we -- and this means that we can speed up the development by several years. But the spending for regulatory approval differs from country to country, and would also have to assess the plantation on an individual basis. We're also asking which organizations, bodies and initiatives and Bayer works of the deregulation of genetic technology. We're not looking for deregulation in the European context, instead we support scientifically founded regulation, which allows for innovation. Moreover, we are committed to proportionate regulation of genome editing and new genomic technologies, where you're active in a number of associations, including Euroseeds in CropLife Europe. Further information -- the information regarding these associations can be found in the EU Transparency Register. We received questions about whether Bayer supports think tanks like [ Reimagine Europa ]. Just like last year, Bayer supports Reimagine Europa, and the Task Force for Sustainable Agriculture by working together with the organizations and also by providing information and context, to -- context include to farmers, for example, we did not provide any financial support. When it comes to FarmEurope, we also provide financial support. We received a question about the marketing of crop protection products, which are not approved in EU. Now the fact that a crop protection product is not approved in the EU does not say anything about its safety. Because other regulation authorities are very stringent as well, and they have approved them. So what we have here is certainly nothing to do with double standards. Some examples of different challenges due to different climatic conditions include the locust plague in parts of Africa and Asia and also the spread of pests in Africa. But we do not have these problems in agriculture in the EU, quite fortunately. We were also asked whether the -- whether Bayer would have stopped marketing some of the crop protection -- some of the crop protection products which do not have any approval in Europe. We don't -- since 2012, we have not sold any crop protection products which are deemed to be toxic -- specifically toxic by the World Health Organization. We have also said that we will only sell crop protection products whose active ingredients are registered in a least one OECD country. In developing countries, we only market products which meet the regulatory requirements and the majority of renowned international approval authorities. This includes the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China. We were asked the question about products that are classified as very dangerous by the WHO and the FAO whether Bayer plans to reduce the products that we sell, which have this classification. We do not sell any crop protection agents, which belong to the Tox 1 category of the World Health Organization. In 2016, Bayer has committed only to sell crop protection products whose active ingredients are registered in at least one OECD country. I already spoke about the self-commitment self-obligation announced in 2019 and also about the other renowned approval authorities who play a role here. Another topic which came up was poisoning due to protection agents. Bayer conducts regular training courses for the safe use of crop protection agents in countries in the Southern Hemisphere. There was more than 1 million trainings a year in recent years. All of the active ingredients are safe for humans in the environment if they are used according to instructions. And if there are anything we could deem to be unsafe, we tell this to you in the training course. We were asked about training course for farmers in India. Every year, our field service people do training for traders and farmers in handling our products. In India alone, Bayer in 2021, did training for more than 1.3 million farmers on how to handle our products. And this -- so that we do training on safe transportation and storage and disposal of our products and the appropriate protective clothing and handling of our products. In addition to that, there are first aid measures. These training measures were also carried out together with the Industrial Association of India called CropLife India. But stewardship managers at Bayer do not only do training for field service people, they trained more than 23,000 people for dealers who sell Bayer products in India, and they inform and train them about the appropriate use and handling of pesticides. We were also asked about the amount of money we spend to do advertising for Bt cotton in India. We do not provide the country-based information for any products on marketing and advertising. We were asked about what Bayer is working on with regard to genetic technology and what products are going to be introduced in the next few months. In order to enhance our portfolio of underground insect control products, VTPRO4 technology and SmartStax PRO technology were introduced in North America and in Latin America. As a result, farmers now have access to unique RNAi-based product that protects against the crop rootworm and plays a crucial role. In resistance management, we received several questions about our seeds business, commitment of Bayer to sustainable farming and for its customers, has been strengthened by our new products. And we have new products that went into the next phase. Bollgard 4 for instance, the cotton is now in Phase 3 and has different effective mechanisms to protect the crop during different seasons against moths, and introduction of new technologies, such as Intacta 2 Xtend guarantee to soybean farmers that they will have higher yields. And we're now beginning with Phase 1. And the Intacta franchise protects soybeans against pests and weeds, and is outstanding in this industry. About 45% of the revenue in the Crop Science Division was generated in the past with seeds -- with plant features. The revenue of GVO products is about 3/4 of our revenue with seeds where -- and plant features. And as a result, 1/4 of the revenue is revenue from conventional seeds, and we should have got a question about status of biotechnology research for microbial products in farming by developing microbes, and new class of biologics can be developed. They provide lasting support for our farmers and protect plants from pests. The objective is to substantially reduce dependence of farmers on synthetic fertilizers. In the framework of our joint venture with Joyn Bio, we have decided that we can use the microbiome of the soil for optimum plant growth and have moved forward here dramatically with this and the protein content of plants and crops, and we have been cooperating with a start-up called Sound Agriculture and with Andys. We were asked about Joyn Bio. Joyn Bio is a joint venture between Leaps by Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks. It is the development of probiotic substances for plants specialized on that. And the primary focal point at Joyn Bio is microbes, which provide the necessary oxygen to crops and reduce the dependency on fertilizers and nitrogen and the impact on the world. Due to secrecy reasons, we cannot provide any more information about that. We were asked about the RNAi products that Bayer is currently working on. On a basis of RNAi technology, Bayer recently introduced the first biotechnology solution against the corn rootworm, and this means that farmers in North America and Latin America now have access to unique product based on RNAi. We were asked about studies regarding the honey and RNA residues in honey, with -- in the context of development of the BioDirect approach, Bayer has conducted studies for U.S. licensing. The BioDirect approach for controlling the Varroa is, however, not part of our product portfolio. There's another question about RNA interference in the context of SmartStax PRO technology. SmartStax PRO offers different effective mechanisms for fighting the corn rootworm, recruiting in an RNAi-based mechanism that provides additional protection against pests that are hard to fight. In addition to that, it provides protection against other pests. In other -- in order to strengthen our portfolio for underground products, we offer VTPRO4 technology and SmartStax PRO in North and Latin America. We already mentioned that. Now for our Crop Science, we always check during development our products for safety in international studies, safety for environment, consumers and we are always responsible in training people to how responsibly use our product. We got a question about RNAi sprays. During the development phase, we do studies on our pesticides in standardized tests, looking at their environmental compatibility and also the scope and distribution of any posible residues in and on plant. In addition to that, we have determined in internal processes, how we can ensure that our products are used responsibly in their entire life cycle. We received a number of questions on BioDirect technology. We do not plan to have this directly in Europe. This is to control the Varroa mite, and this is no longer part of our portfolio. We were also asked about an application for approval in 2019 for the dsRNA substance to control the Varroa mite. This is something which is used to control the mite, and this is no longer part of our portfolio as I said before. We were also asked if Bayer is working on RNAi products. For example, RNAi producing B intestinal bacteria to control Varroa. I'd like to note once again that we are no longer active in this area. We were also asked about RNA interference and product stewardship. We are -- we check during the development phase on all of our products with regard to standardized test to see if they are safe for the use of the environment and the consumer. When marking genetically modified seeds, we have established internal processes to meet the requirements to deal responsibly with biotechnology in our group regulation products, stewardship commitment principles and key requirements. This has all been defined, and you can find more on this in our sustainability report. We also had some questions with regard to acting responsibly in agriculture, and what measures we have taken. The basis for responsible activities in crop protection means and seeds are part of our guidelines for product responsibility. Training for farmers are an integral part of our situation. In Mexico, for example, transgenic plants are only grown in areas which have been agreed with the country's government to make sure that they do not mix with native species. Information on contamination or crossing is something that we look into very carefully. Another topic was how Bayer deals with CRISPR-Cas applications in plants that are seeing more and more patenting. Patents, business secrets, brands, species protection are very important for innovation, especially since high investments and specialized research are considered. Especially, when there's a major risk of no success. Here when we talk about, this is the case for crop protection means. Without patent protection, product development and R&D investments, a strictly regulated life science sector simply cannot be carried out. Bayer requires and supports efficient, but balanced protection of intellectual property. In CRISPR-Cas, Bayer does not have a large number of patents. It licenses gene editing tools so that research and products can be developed. But we are not the developers, the main developers of these tools. Another question dealt with research and commercialization in terms of commercial breeding. Bayer breeds the 6 major crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, grapes and cotton and also a number of other vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, spinach, broccoli. This is more than 500 new varieties. In addition to the large yields, we also have positive traits, for example, resistance to disease, drought and frost. We also have qualitative traits, for example, long life or taste. When we consider the research amount, we can for competitive reasons, not give you any further details on this. We were asked if Bayer also supports digital recording of data on the use of pesticides. Farmers are required by law to record the pesticides' use, and this has to be recorded in a timely manner. Specific regulations on this are the requirement of the authorities at a state, federal and EU level. We were also asked if Bayer would be willing to meet the requirements by law and to go beyond these requirements in order to anticipate certain regulatory developments. Transparency for us is very, very important. In the field of crop protection, this allows us to work within the PRISMA initiative to go beyond legal requirements to -- have access to studies on product safety, approval documentation and background materials. We also provide the summaries of the studies on our crop protection means and also the GMOs for the crops as well as the authorities' information. This shows that we have information to the full studies for those who are interested. This makes it possible for the public at large to form their own opinion on the scientific data on the basis of we use in making our statements on the safety of our products. Another question dealt with an apparent delay in the implementation of our self-commitment when it comes to selling plant protection means in the WHO categories, 1A and 1B, in particular, beta-cyfluthrin. There was no delay in our self-commitment. Since 2012, we have not been selling any crop protection means, which are seen as especially toxic by the World Health Organization. Our product, beta-cyf -- that contain beta-cyfluthrin are not categorized in Class Ib because toxicity depends on the solvent that is used. All of our finished products are WHO category 2 with the substance. We were also asked when products that abandon the EU will be taken away from the market in South Africa and Brazil? This is related to propineb and Thiodicarb. Now the fact that a crop protection agent is not approved in the EU says nothing about its safety, as I've said on multiple occasions already. Because it also [ reveal ] the safety evaluations will reflect the conditions in specific countries. And it also depends on the type of pests that may prevail in various countries, such as -- such as locusts in Africa, for example. For these reasons, the products with the aforementioned active ingredients will not be withdrawn from the market because they fulfill a specific purpose in the countries that faced the challenges I mentioned. Another question related to the potential consequences of a German export ban for -- and crop protection agents not approved in the EU. We have a global production network for Crop Protection nature. A German export ban would be analyzed. If we did have an export ban, we'd have a look which areas we could probably produce in order to come up with the right tools to allow farmers to protect their harvests. We were asked whether Bayer publicly announced the lifting -- wanted to allow our [ clauparifas ] to be produced. We do not have a registration. We do not sell any products with this active ingredient anymore. Only in Peru, in the year 2021, was it purchased by an external supplier and sold as part of a specialty complied solution. There was also a question when and in which format the Board of Management would inform the Bayer stockholders about a high level of bee deaths in Mexico. We knew nothing about this incident. The use of Imidacloprid and other neonics are safe if used according to the instructions. They are some of the most researched substances in the world, and they have been used safely for a number of years. Furthermore, we were asked when and in what format the Board of Management would inform the shareholders if they failed to adhere to the self-obligation relating to the export of active ingredients in the WHO Category 1A and 1B. I've already spoken about this, and I'd like to refer back to what I said earlier. We were asked again when and in what format the Board of Management would inform Bayer shareholders about the bee deaths in Mexico caused by thiacloprid and beta-cyfluthrin. But it's the -- we're not familiar with these incidents and the use of our crop protection agents are safe for humans in the environment. We were asked when Bayer -- whether -- why Bayer is continuing to market crop protection agents internationally that are not approved in Germany? I've responded to this multiple occasions already, and I would like to refer you to the answers I have already provided. There was a question relating to a study from the year 2018 about their presence of metals, such as arsenic and lead in crop protection and how they could have got into this crop protection agents. We were also asked about the financial and legal consequences if the presence of these metals were to -- they've proven to be systematically present in these products. Arsenic is a natural element, traces of which can be found in the environment and a number of day-to-day products. Regulation authorities, such as the EPA, have stringent standards in order to limit contamination of crop protection agents and ensure that products can be used safely. And based on these strict rules of the EPA, we check our formulation during the manufacturing process to see if there is contamination and ensure that it is safe to use our crop protection products. And the products that were mentioned in the individual active ingredients of these products been investigated for contamination in order to ensure that our products are safe to use. And for this reason, we believe there is nothing to suggest that there is a systematic presence of the metals in crop protection agents. Questions about possible consequences are thus purely hypothetical and speculative in nature, and we can thus not provide a satisfactory answer to your question. We were asked about the difference between the toxicity of the end product and the isolated of active ingredient of a crop protection agent. Bayer supports the efforts in the EU to come up with trackable and efficient methods for a cumulative risk assessment in order to add something to the legal requirements for pesticide residues. Basically both industry and the authorities have to factor in a generous safety margin. Now when the EU approved crop protection agents, there were several factors that were taken into account. And the threshold values are so conservative that a possible combination of various active ingredients is already factored in. We believe that the current measures in place are effective in order to protect the health of humans. We received a number of questions about the unfortunate incident in Currenta in Bürrig last year. Currenta has not belonged to Bayer since 2019, but belongs to the Australian company, Macquarie. As such, Bayer cannot say anything about the current processes, technology or other circumstances relating to Currenta. This also applies to the space between the tanks, as you asked and also about the energy supply lines. Now the parts of the system, which were constructed by Bayer prior to 2019 had been approved by the relevant authorities. You wanted to know whether we had any supply problems -- any disposal problems. But this new situation present us with new challenges, but we don't have any problems that will last over the long term. You also asked whether in the [ Dunai ], the old building, we believe it's necessary to invest more in security measures. The answer is, no, we do not believe there is any reason because the plant has been running safely for a number of years, and it is also being monitored by the authorities. You also asked why [ finadyne ] is disposed in Leverkusen and Dormagen. And you asked how much of the percentage is disposed of in other places. When getting rid of the residues, we decide for the best solutions, taking several factors into account, which is available capacity of the systems available. In this case, the residues were -- the ratio was 4:1 Leverkusen to Dormagen. Now you asked about Currenta and substances that were discharged into the [ ride ]. Further material, there was an [ over tiering ] value according to Currenta. This is within the tolerance, which is required by the authorities. We were asked about the safety standards at our American site in Luling. Complying with all safety and environmental standards that our sites around the world is top priority for us, and if there were problems over the years, they have been tackled quickly and thoroughly. Our facility in Louisiana is no exception here. And finally, we got a question about the major shareholders that I met with and how often in 2021, and what the subject of discussion was. Over the course of the year, of course, I have many discussions with investors, and I participate in a whole host of investor events. The contents of these discussions are, of course, confidential. And on that note, I'd like to hand over to my colleague, Wolfgang Nickl. Wolfgang, over to you.

[Interpreted] We got a question about the amount held by the 10 major -- top 10 major shareholders. The 10 biggest shareholders hold about 25% of our shares. There was a question about the lower tax expenditure for Bayer AG, lower by EUR 307 million, compared to the higher revenue. The tax expenditure is based on taxable income and is not based on revenue in 2021. The income tax expenditure was lower than in 2021 because in previous years, there were different rules that applied. We were asked about the taxes for the overall group were paid. With the exception of Bayer AG, the taxes paid outside of Germany were EUR 1.2 billion. Then with regard to the financial statements of Bayer AG for 2021, we were asked about the reason for the operational loss of EUR 1.4 billion, with revenues of EUR 15.5 billion. Bayer AG has Germany activities, pharma, Crop Science and headquarter functions. Then we have investments for the future that are not always shown in line and at the same time as revenues. For instance, licensing fees could be mentioned here. And as a result, Bayer AG can have some negative charges as a result of investments in research. So this does not reflect the strength of the profitability of the group as a whole. In addition to that Bayer AG has holding functions, which do not fundamentally have any positive income. Then there was a question about the positive risk or the positive development of the holdings of Bayer AG, minus EUR 0.2 billion in 2020 and EUR 5.7 billion in 2020 and positive. In 2020, the holdings result was EUR 0.2 billion because Bayer Crop Science AG had to take on a lot of losses, EUR 4.5 billion. And Bayer Pharma AG took on EUR 0.7 billion of losses. And the sale of Animal Health was plus EUR 4.1 billion. The lost transfer was due mainly to amortization of U.S. business. In 2021, Bayer Pharma AG had a profit EUR 1.9 billion that was transferred. That was mainly a result of allocations to U.S. business and that we had a change in the holding structure to give us an income of EUR 3.5 billion. There was a question about why -- in the business year, the profit from Bayer Crop Science wasn't transferred to Bayer AG. There is no profit transfer agree between these 2 companies, and that would be the basis for the transfer of profits. There was a question tax savings due to a change in participation or holding structure. And these regarded just the German companies, and they did not lead to a tax reduction. There was a question about tax savings due to the increase in equity, due to Neunte Bayer VV GmbH and the second K-W-a Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH. There were no tax savings as a result of that. And then we got a question, with regard to the purpose of the corporation and the number of employees in Cyprus. We have marketing service provision, financing functions. In 2021, we had 8 employees at Bayer in Cyprus. We also had a question on the tax advantage for the question of merging when doing away with the holding structure. If we were to do away with the holding structure, this would be the merging of some of -- we did not consider some of the holding points. If we consider some of the considerations there with our -- it was not a question of tax savings or a question of the ratio to relationship to planned measures in order to -- which would give us disproportionately high tax load. Only in this way, could we continue with our operational businesses in Bayer AG. We also were asked about the number of EU Transparency register. How many Bayer representatives were registered? In the EU Transparency register, you can see from this register that a total of 9 individuals are registered as Bayer representatives, with access to the European institution. We were asked about criteria, according to which appointments with representatives from the EU Commission were entered into the EU Transparency register. The appointments with representatives from the EU Commission are entered into the database by the Commission representatives and then automated and entered. One question, dealt to the criteria with regard to political work of Bayer in the EU Transparency register. In the EU Transparency register at Bayer, we see contacts and activities. We also see some central political areas, which are important to Bayer and for which we have -- we discuss things with experts and multipliers. Our position here on political topics are public transparency on the Internet. We were also asked why costs in the EU Transparency register at Bayer are only rough amounts. The EU Commission offers only the possibility to have cost ranges when drawing up the Transparency register excerpts. In other areas in the register, we have the detailed information on the individual recipient organizations. We were also asked why in the EU Transparency register we do not have individual beneficiaries. This is not correct. In the EU Transparency register, we have detailed information on the individual recipient organizations. We also received a question as to the topics and what costs Bayer had commissioned [ Rude Patterson ] and Brunswick agencies in the EU Transparency register. Bayer also published its information in cooperation with external consulting agencies as well as the costs that are incurred. Cooperation with [ Rude Patterson ] focused primarily on activities as part of the reapproval for glyphosate. The cost for cooperation with [ Rude Patterson ] amounted to approximately EUR 1.3 million in 2021. And for Brunswick, they support Bayer at the EU level when it comes to areas of chemicals, strategy for sustainability, climate policy, digital policy, plant protection, genetic engineering or the future of sustainable nutritional systems. The cost in 2021 amounted to approximately EUR 100,000. We were also asked about our political interest when it comes to the Build Back Better legislation in the U.S. Unlike what you said, Bayer did not reject this law. Bayer wrote a number of letters to support climate political regulation proposals, and this is something that can be found in transparent way in the Internet. There were several questions as well about internal trade name rights with licenses and the cost and [ touches ] that could be adopted. We do not have any internal trade -- we only have the necessary naming rights and licenses that are made available. From the internal licensing volumes of EUR 6.5 billion, license income in Germany amounted to EUR 4 million -- and in the U.S.A., this amounted to EUR 2.4 billion. This is the amount which was achieved and which was taxed. Now correspondingly, the licensing expenses are -- you can usually be deducted as in operating expense. One such example is the partial non-recognition of licensing expenses for German trade tax. We were asked a question about the share of Crop Science on consolidated sales. Share of sales in the Crop Science Division is around 50% fiscal 2021, around 45% of attributable to our seeds and the plant traits business and the remaining 55% of the crop protection and environmental science. Please bear in mind that the sales of conventional and genetically modified seeds glyphosate and dicamba are not reported separately. However, what we can tell you is our herbicide business that accounts for around 26% of Crop Science sales. There was a question about the savings potential for CO -- greenhouse gasses, the use of climate you, please understand that at this current point in time, we don't provide any information specific savings potential. Another topic asked about was for FieldView, given our digital solutions. Farmers in more than 20 countries already use our platform that cross over on 60 million hectares worldwide. And for antitrust reasons, we do not announce the climate field users are. The prices for FieldView product functions are different from country to country. In Germany, the base price of FieldView Plus is a EUR 300 per year. All data -- the customer shares with us would belong to the customers our subjects to data protection regulations. In order to be able to offer new solutions to our customers, we offer -- we work with corporation partners on a project basis. Information about the level of R&D spending for digital agriculture is not reported. There was additional question about our digital platforms in the agricultural business. The fact we built up the Climate View platform so that farmers can boost their productivity with the assistance of digital programs. One component of this Seed Advisor. This tool calculated for each field, the best hybrid crops. And the program is used by seed traders who provide the recommendations on to the farmers. Another topic was our investment in Digital Farming. R&D expenses for Digital Farming, and not reported separately in the annual report. Here, you can find information about our product pipeline for digital applications for the years 2022 and 2023. We were asked which cooperation Bayer was entered into with technology groups, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, et cetera, recently and what is a plan for the future? We have built several strategic partnerships with them. We recently -- so that we worked together with Microsoft, so that we have the agronomic expertise of Bayer with the technical knowledge of Microsoft in order to offer new digital solutions for agriculture. We're also working with Amazon Web Services to try and help farmers to operate more sustainable supply chains. Another question was asked about how high our water consumption was in Leverkusen, Wuppertal Bergkamen and Dormagen. Leverkusen in year 2021 Bayer used 212,000 cubic meters of water; at Dormagen, it was 869,000 cubic meters; in Wuppertal, 1,288 million cubic meters and 1.084 million cubic meters in Bergkamen. We received several questions about the reapproval process of glyphosate in the EU. Now along with other companies, who we're targeting a renewed approval in the EU, we're providing fact-based information of the advantages of the use of glyphosate for the user and also for the environment. Furthermore, when it comes to glyphosate, we're in close dialogue with customers, media, scientists and the broader public. Authorities and scientific institutions around the world have said for more than 40 years now that glyphosate is safe and not carcinogenic. Another topic was the patent status of glyphosate for our crop protection active ingredient glyphosate, the patent has lapsed, it has expired. But we continue to possess a large number of patents for formulations and blends of this active ingredient. Our patent protection for the first generation of Roundup Ready soya has expired, several varieties of this are still covered by a crop patent. Our soya boom cover the second-generation Roundup Ready 2 Yield still will enjoy patent protection until the middle of the 2020 decade. We were asked about our strategy to achieve greater acceptancy for glyphosate. The focus of our strategy is providing information and having a dialogue and achieving transparency, taking into consideration as many stakeholders as possible. We were asked about how many glyphosate plaintiffs have died without having received compensation. We have no precise information on that question. We were asked about glyphosate studies and the alleged carcinogenic effect of glyphosate. When used appropriate, glyphosate is safe and not carcinogenic for people. On the 15th of June this year, the European Assessment Group for Glyphosate (sic) [European Assessment Group on Glyphosate] published a draft of their assessment of the glyphosate file for 2020 and stated that the classification of glyphosate as carcinogenic is not justified. Glyphosate is not a risk for human health. We got another question about the alleged carcinogenic effect of glyphosate. I could just repeat glyphosate is, when used appropriately, safe for the user and the environment from -- for more than 40 years, authorities and scientific institutes have been classifying glyphosate as safe and not carcinogenic. We also got questions about studies regarding glyphosate with mice and rats within the framework of the relicensing of glyphosate in the EU, the authorities in France, Sweden, Hungary and the Netherlands were commissioned with a new scientific assessment of the active agent and the results are the same as those of authorities around the world, glyphosate, when used appropriately, is safe and not carcinogenic for people. The authorities based their assessment on more than 1,500 studies and 12,000 scientific contributions. There was another question about the safety of glyphosate. I can repeat glyphosate, when used appropriately, is safe and not carcinogenic for people. This assessment is the same for leading authorities, licensure authorities around the world. This includes [ ABCH ], the European Assessment Group for Glyphosate (sic) [European Assessment Group on Glyphosate], the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the European Authority for food safety, EFSA in the European Chemicals Agency, ECHA. We were asked about Bayer's attitude toward the Colombian government to use glyphosate for cocaine plant. We have no knowledge of concrete plans by the Colombian government. We were asked about the status of the litigation by investors against the company because people were saying -- investors were saying that Bayer did not provide the necessary information to capital market in Germany. And in Germany, there were 28 lawsuits on the 31st of March 2022 that were pending from 330 different plaintiffs. They're in an early stage, and there are no court appointment dates yet. There are parallel -- there's parallel litigation going on in the United States. Certification as a class action suit has been requested. In October 2021, the court in California decided to continue with some of the allegations by the plaintiff. Bayer is convinced that it always met its capital market obligations in the context of the purchase of Monsanto and published all the necessary glyphosate information on time and we are going to be strongly defending against these allegations. We are being asked about the alternatives for glyphosate that we have at Bayer. Well, we do continue our commitment to glyphosate. Glyphosate is being used for more than 40 years in many countries. And when used appropriately, it is safe for the environment, for user and in the future, glyphosate will play an important role in sustainable farming and the product portfolio at Bayer. At the same time, we're investing in additional methods for herbicides and pesticides in our research pipeline. We have a new active agent for a herbicide. It's in research Phase 3. The launch in the market not to be in a few years, but this will depend on licensing by government authorities. We were asked why we aren't removing glyphosate from our portfolio, it's been used for more than 40 years. When used appropriately, it's safe and environmentally compatible. It increases yields and it prevents errors -- too many aerosols. It helps the soil, and it helps the soil store CO2 and it saves diesel. Glyphosate is almost completely removed from the soil, this characteristic means that it does not go into water. Another topic was the possible impact of glyphosate on human health. Again, scientific studies have confirmed for more than 40 years now, the glyphosate is safe. These are the basis for long-term positive assessment by leading government authorities all over the world, including the U.S. Environmental Authority EPA, the European Authority for Food Safety, the European Chemical Agency as well as the German Office for Risk Assessment. Another question related to glyphosate and how many cases have been filed since 2017 in the U.S. and worldwide against Bayer? And how many settlements have been reached? How many cases are still pending, in how many countries and how many cases were filed in 2021? The annual report of 2021, as communicated, we have 138,000 cases in the U.S. with regard to prior product liability to like glyphosate. In 2020, we had 125,000 and we have 13,000 new cases based on these figures. In the annual report 2021, we also published the 107,000 current cases where we came to a settlement or that they did not meet the settlement requirements. In the U.S., we don't have that many pending cases left for product liability due to assessed health problems caused by glyphosate. Here, we see a total of 29 cases in Canada, 3 class actions in Australia and 2 individual cases in France. In addition, we also had a question as to how much money Bayer had paid for legal conflicts, including costs with respect to product liability cases on glyphosate. And how much money has been set aside for coming cases? This question is something that has an impact on pending court and settlement proceedings and a clear breakdown of the total cost is something that we cannot give you an overview on our expenditures for the 4 major cases, glyphosate PCB, dicamba and Essure, we can refer to that, all of them together. By the end of 2021, we had an amount which comes to approximately USD 11 billion. Based on our annual report, you can say provisions for settlements of existing and future glyphosate cases as of the 31st of December 2021 amounted to $7.5 billion. A question related to the background for why we saw an increase in glyphosate in Spain from 2011 to 2020. The assumption that this was due to a lack or missing agricultural practice is not correct. The use of glyphosate in sustainable agriculture is primarily weeds. And this is something that would be in the crop and during the growth period. And of course, weather also plays an important role here. If you have a rainy spring or rain towards the end of summer, beginning of fall, you have more weeds and farmers need them to -- need glyphosate to fight these weed. And we see with certain individuals and farmers store this in order to minimize price effects. We received another -- a number of questions on glyphosate in the water in Spain. In water and groundwater and concentrations are not a real risk for the ecosystem nor for human health. We see in groundwater analysis, for example, that we are below the quantification limit. We work closely with the Spanish authorities in Andalusia, for example, a study was completed a short time ago, and we want to improve stewardship measures so that the deposits of glyphosate in the waterways will be minimized. We were also asked about the impact of the conserving agriculture when using glyphosate and what effect this will have on human health? And together with good practice and crops, we see that without plowing, so this is going to also have a positive effect on the soil. This can reduce long-term erosion, supports the buildup of humans and also make sure that more carbon can be stored in the soil. And this is then something that will help to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. If there is no plowing then, of course, the farmers would then need -- would consume less fuel. Another question is with regard to the cost that we might have to expect with glyphosate cases and over what of time this will be covering. As I said in the summer of 2021, we presented our 5-point plan, and we wanted to settle the glyphosate litigation in the U.S. For a negative scenario, at the Supreme Court, we also have set aside an additional EUR 3.8 billion for settlements and court cases. We don't know how long this will take. We don't know how long the trials might take. This is something that we cannot tell you now. There was a question which claimed that [ Mr. Sarolini ] from the [ University Kean ] had been placed on a blacklist, and was trying to discredit Bayer, we reject both of these accusations. We were asked if Bayer knew about the employee [ Dr. Pharma ] that she had indicated before the core that Roundup cannot -- was not assessed on a long-term basis. It was also asked if the lack of long-term assessments would be a violation of a judgment from the European Court of Justice on the first of October 2019. Now without any reference to court case and the specific statement made by [ Dr. Pharma], during the course case, we certainly cannot give you a specific answer to your first question. With regard to the approval proceedings and all of the studies and data have been filed based on the requirements in order to review the safety of products and substances. In the case of glyphosate-based products, we have comprehensive epidemiologic studies show that the long-term effect will be studied of these products. I'd like to refer to a agricultural health study published in 2018. This has been studying for 25 years. The farmers from Iowa and North Carolina who regularly have been using crop protection material. On basis of the data, a number of evaluations will be carried out in order to find a possible relationship between the use of specific products and various cancers. This study includes an observation of more than 50,000 users of crop protection means, and 45,000 of them have regularly been using glyphosate-based herbicides. No relationship was found between the proper use of glyphosate-based herbicide or non-Hodgkin lympho or any other types of cancer. We were asked why glyphosate was categorized as probably being carcinogenic for humans and also for the International Agency for Cancer, IARC. Why doesn't Bayer respect this assessment? This was used for a selective number of studies in IARC, also talks about hot drinks over 65 degrees, red meat, shift work or working as a hair dresser. Unlike the IARC, a large number of scientific studies confirm the assessment of the approval authorities all over the world as well as decades of experience to show that glyphosate is safe. Another topic is [ finish ] effect of herbicides of the Roundup brand compared to the active ingredient glyphosate. Glyphosate and also glyphosate-based crop protection agents, if used correctly, are safe for the use of the environment and the consumer. And now I hand over to Stefan Oelrich to answer the rest of the questions.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Wolfgang. Welcome. We were asked by the direct GHG emissions from our production Scope 1 will not reduce Bayer as much as the emissions have acquired energy Scope 2. Scope 1 emissions consist largely from the demand for other energies such as steam cooling, heating as well as CO2 emissions, which are the consequence of chemical reaction. A reduction in these processes is much more difficult, so much more tiresome. Now if it's even technically possible, this can only be achieved in the time frame of investment cycles and our shifting from acquired electricity can be achieved much more quickly. Despite these challenges, Bayer was able to reduced its Scope 1 emissions by 4%, which corresponds to the science-based target initiative reduction trajectory. We were also asked why the share of coal in the energy mix rose by 7.4% to 608 terajoules. The increase in the use of coal as a primary energy source is due to our Soda Springs site in the U.S.A. This site operates a furnace for phosphate derivation, and more coal was used in 2021 than in the prior year. Fluctuations, when it comes to the use of primary energy are due to technical requirements when operating this furnace and are relatively standard. We were also asked which size Bayer is planning investments to reduce CO2 emissions? Spread across a number of different measures. For example, in all relevant production sites of the Consumer Health division, we are planning measures for optimizing ventilation systems. We were also asked whether Soda Springs investment measures are planned to reduce CO2 emissions. Bayer uses an internal CO2 price of EUR 100 per ton as part of investments. This also applies to Soda Springs, and it leads to an efficient-as-possible reduction of CO2 emissions across all different sites. A question was asked as to which sites Bayer, in the last year, reworked emission-intensive plants CO2 reduction measures take place at all of our sites worldwide. And in almost all of the sites, we have already recorded reductions. We have inventory reduction measures. Another question was, to what extent Bayer want to take advantage of contracts for difference? Now contracts for difference designed primarily for particularly energy-intensive processes, such as basis chemicals or in the cement and steel industry. Developments for life sciences companies, such as Bayer, is expected to be relatively minor. As soon as the rules are in place, we will examine them to see if it's worth making use of them. We were also asked about the dis-pact -- about the dis-revenue model can be harmonized with our commitment to climate change. We do not believe that there is any contradiction here. We were also asked whether the subsequent payments can be afforded as part of a legal challenge. Now the federal government, with involvement of the world [ federal ] government with the involvement of the parliament, the lower and the upper houses and the European Commission, when it comes to the EEB, I spoke about these pacts. But individual lawsuit stemming from this cannot be commented on. But there is one basic comment that I would like to make. In the past, companies have used a number of different models in order to try our orders who produce their own electricity. One option is the Schiebehafte as it is called. And the capacities and the economic risks are then spread. It doesn't relate to a circumvention of the Renewable Energies Act, but it is part of the implementation of the Renewable Energies Act. We were asked what Bayer is doing in order to -- is doing to prevent Crop Protection agents from getting into groundwater and drinking water in the event of the flood. We have regular measures in place -- we have measures in place which we regularly examine. They prevent substances from getting into water. Now due to the flooding last year, we reviewed the protective measures that we have in place. We were asked whether Bayer wants to implement the resolutions for the federal industry -- for the Federal Industry for the Association of German Industry and also for the Chemical Industry for Improved Flood Protection. Now flood protection is in the interest is in the common interest. And -- we could also potentially be affected by flooding. Now to also show the adequate rules are in place, in 2021, a number of different associations, including the Association of the Chemicals Industry, in collaboration with other stakeholders, contributed statements. Bayer was -- participated in this process. There was another question about how we are going to adjust to extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods and what we're planning to do in the years to come. Climate-related risks are already included today in our group-wide enterprise risk management system. We support the recommendations of the task force on climate-related financial disclosures. TCFD, with regard to climate-related reporting, we published a separate report on this, which implements the recommendations in the areas of governance, strategy, risk management, KPIs and targets. In particular, for farmers, short-term extreme weather events and long-term climate changes are a challenge, which, depending on the specific region, they may vary in their scope. Crop breeding plays a major role in this. One example is our short-stature corn. The next question we received was about what the group is doing in order to deal more sparingly with the precious resource of water. Bayer has as an objective to protect water resources and to enhance the efficiency of the use of water within the company and beyond. Since 2019, for an example, we have decreased our global water consumption by over 6%. Since specific water problems always occur at a local level, these issues are also treated at a local level. In addition to that, we were asked why in 2021 compared to the previous year, higher amounts of phosphorus and organic salt and heavy metals were emitted into water and how these pollutant loads are going to be reduced. The reason for a higher amount of pollutant load of phosphorus in water in 2021 is due to higher production capacity utilization at Camaçari plant in Brazil and due to the increase in emission of inorganic salts. In order to continue to reduce emissions into water completely exclude them, we take different additional measures at our different sites with regard to water treatment. In addition to that, we were asked what old water use rights in Germany, the group still has at its sites here. The water use rights as a rule -- do not lie with Bayer, they lie with the operators of the Chem Park. There are exceptions for the Berlin site and the Bergkamen site, all other water use rights are based on new and updated approvals. We are also asked about plans with regard to our German pharmaceutical sites in Bergkamen, Wuppertal and Berlin. At these sites, in the next 3 years, we plan to invest about EUR 1 billion in order to strengthen even further our production network. At the same time, we are analyzing which activities are no longer of strategic significance. In this framework, we are planning to ensure that some of the infrastructure and some of the services at our German sites in Bergkamen, Wuppertal and Berlin will be handed over to external partners. Despite this, for us, Germany will continue to play a significant role as a strategic production site. In addition to that, we were asked whether Currenta is going to be an external partner. I hope you please understand that at this current point in time, we cannot provide any additional details with regard to possible external partners. In addition to that, we were asked whether Bayer will hand over their energy supply provisioning to an outside company. We're in an ongoing process here, and the final decision has yet to be made. All options are taken into account and they're compared against complying with our climate targets and defined on the basis of that division that we're asking about how many jobs are being lost as a result of restructuring plans. I hope you understand that, first of all, we have to wait for the results of the discussions with potential interested parties. We also received a question about plans in the context of a lot that our company has in Berlin winning. This lot, this land is a commercial lot and has been a commercial lot for years, and it is going to serve to expand our activities in Berlin. It entailed an investment that is worth hundreds of millions of euros, thus securing the future for more than 1,000 jobs in Berlin over the long term. The authorities in Germany and Berlin, of course, are involved with this in terms of regional planning, use for residential purposes is excluded. Most of the buildings on this land have been empty for a long period. There was a question about our program for securing healthy and affordable food and for climate protection and environmental protection. Our group targets have consistently been oriented towards the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In particular, we focus -- we base them on the SDG2 target no hunger. Our products in farming make a major contribution to ensuring that the targets of the United Nations can be met. This applies in particular to our commitment for small farmers in countries with low and medium level income. By 2029, we will become climate neutral. And we will reduce emissions even further in the value chain as well, value creation chain. By 2030, we intend to reduce the environmental impact in farming of Bayer pesticides by 30%, and we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% that are caused in farming. Both of these targets are already integrated in our business strategy. In addition to that, we were asked about what processes and products Bayer is going to stop using because of environmental concerns. Bayer products such as medication, pesticides, crop protection, seeds are subject to very strict regulation and licensing rules. These products, therefore, can be used without any unacceptable risks for people and the environment. In addition, that since 2012, we have not been accepting any pesticides for use in farming, which belong to the WHO Class A or 1B groups. We also received a question about the processes and products. Bayer is not going to be selling anymore because of climate concerns. Global farming is one of the biggest emitters of CO2 in the world and can make a major contribution and thus, mitigate climate risk. Allow me to emphasize that Bayer's products such as seeds, crop protection products and the Digital Farming activities will make it possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in farming. We should and intend to make it possible for our farmer customers by 2030 to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% per kilogram of crop harvest. These greenhouse gas emissions are created -- are generated mainly by fertilizers used in farming, by organic substances and by watering. In addition to that, we were asked about our work in minimizing what people say about climate protection. Let me say that Bayer has, for many years, been working to protect the climate and has been reporting very transparently on these measures. In addition to that, we work externally for a climate position that is in line with our ambitious targets. And we demand of our partners, too, that they take decarbonization measures that are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. In 2021, for the very first time, we published a report, which shows the climate policy positions of the industry associations we're in and our own climate targets. We are making transparent where our positions are the same and where they differ. Those are the company and those associations. And this study is the basis for the further commitment of Bayer to work in its associations to reduce the effects of climate change. We were also asked how Bayer plans to ensure that investments are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and how -- and why we do not reach the indicator for Climate Action 100. Bayer has, as its target, making its investments in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. For controlling internally, we are using a CO2 price of EUR 100 per ton in Climate Action 100 plus benchmark, None of the companies checked completely fulfill the indicator for our investments. Bayer is one of the leading companies and is one of only 9 of the 166 evaluated companies that did at least partially fulfill this indicator. In addition to that, Bayer completely fulfilled as the only company, 7 of a total of 10 indicators in this benchmark that I was talking about. We were also asked about the former product, Duogynon. Bayer still rules out the possibility that Duogynon was responsible for embryo malformation in the '70s and '80s. Extensive studies and expertises were done by well-known experts on the reasons for causes of this, including in Germany and in England and in the United States. And as a result of that, there was no indication that there was any causal link between taking the Duogynon and the cases that were mentioned back then. In addition to that, the same results were achieved in England by the litigation that was carried out there and by the criminal investigation carried out in Germany. There are no new relevant scientific findings that would call into question the validity of the assessment from back then. In addition to that, we were asked about a clinical study done by Atara. First of all, I would like to state very clearly that this company, Atara Biotherapeutics, unlike what the person asking this question assumes, is not a subsidiary of Bayer AG. Bayer and Atara Biotherapeutics have an exclusive global license agreement for certain CAR T cell therapies for treating solid tumors. This agreement comprises, among other things, Atara's development candidate, ATA2271. And this is an autologous T cell immune therapy for tumors with increased amount of mesothelin expression. Bayer is not directly involved in carrying out the study with this ATA2271. This study is being carried out by Atara's cooperation partner, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. And on that note, I'd like to hand back to Kristina Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Oelrich. Those were the answers to the large number of questions received from our shareholders. Thank you very much to Mr. Winkeljohann and the Board of Management for answering the questions. To conclude our question-and-answer session, we would now like to turn to the follow-up questions we received from our shareholders. Up until we close the portal, we received questions from CPG and those related individuals as well as the question from [ Laurie Scnitka ]. We will also be answering another question from [ Matthias Gable ] from Stuttgart. I would like to hand over to Mr. Winkeljohann to answer the first question.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. Again, we were asked about the external consultants that were used. As I said before, [ John Meysman ], is an independent legal consultant. No further consultants were used. I would like to hand over to Mr. Baumann now.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann. When you talked about the virtual ASM and lobby activities, and when we talk about today's ASM, we can see that we went beyond the legal requirements to a great extent. Our shareholders were given the possibility as well as the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers. Up until the very close to the deadline, they has a large share of the over 600 questions. On the basis of the future law on ASMs, we will then check and see what the rights of the shareholders will be and how these can be brought in line with the rights of Bayer. As part of our membership here in the SHARE Institute, we also have been involved in the new law. We're talking about activities and associations as well as external service providers were not commissioned, so there were no special costs on that. We were asked about how much taxes was paid in 2021 was saved by the model and whether this had a role to play with the organization for Crop Science. As we said, this something that is not done for the purpose of saving taxes. The reason to this is something is not for tax purposes. We were asked once again about our cooperation with influences in product marketing, especially by Iberogast. We cannot give you any comments on any influences. As I said before, we evaluate possible partnerships with third parties who share our values and enjoy our trust of our customers. You asked about the settlement payment for Xarelto and with respect to how much was covered by our insurance. We were asked if we had talked about changing the insurance. About half of all of the total $757 was covered by this. The company was involved and had normal insurance coverage. We saw that a number of insurance companies were involved. A major change in our insurers did not take place in this case. We were also asked once again, if we plan to withdraw products from the market that don't have a license or approval. We do not sell products anymore that have the toxic category 1, and we only sell products if they have been registered at least 1 country of the OECD. We received a follow-up question to the effect that will the risks for EUR 20 billion to EUR 30 billion in risk. We were also asked whether profit from glyphosate sales or other Monsanto businesses would be the same order of magnitude. No, our answer was no. This is not the way to understand my question. The risks for litigation in the U.S. can from be seen from the provisions that you can see in the annual report. We're talking about the liabilities. These will be covered by the cash flow from the group as a whole, a settlement with regard to other individual products or businesses is something that is not relevant. Another follow-up question was with regard to the growth in sales and what share of this would be for the -- due to Monsanto acquisition. And what would have been the case if it done individually. We can see that as a result of the acquisition, we are in an integrated organization and there is a large number of new products, which we have launched since then, we can really not give you a precise figure as to what share of the growth came from which original organization. And as this is a perfectly normal subject matter with all acquisitions and integrations. We received a follow-up question on the scale and efficiency effects here. Our margin outlook for 2022 is now something that has been updated. Scale effects can result from the higher growth in 2021, 11%, and our current sales guidance for 2022, which is about 7%. So that means that we will achieve this year a comparable level as compared to the originally assumed business volume. With regard to the delay -- with regard to 100 individual measures are efficiency programs are being implemented and they will need to be adjusted on an ongoing basis. Currency effects, as we heard from Wolfgang Nickl on another point, these also have a major negative -- had a major negative impact. We were also asked if due to the CO2 intense use of raw materials, if this is something that they would be involved in the cost to society for climate change. As I said before, we make a lot of contributions also with economic relevance in order to counter climate change. We received a follow-up question with regard to glyphosate and the CO2 emissions. Why are these higher than with other crop protection products. A lot of this is within our company. This, of course, includes raw materials. So the greenhouse gas emissions are shown directly by Bayer. We were also asked if the 2023 ASM will be face-to-face or not. This is a question we've already answered a number of times. This is something we will assess and will inform you and decide accordingly. We had another -- 2 more questions. When toxic plant -- crop protection products will be withdrawn from the market here in Brazil. And when will we assume damages in the Vietnamese forests. If they're used properly, they -- as I said, we -- since 2012, we did not sell any more products which are not -- which belong to tox category 2 by the WHO. Our self-commitment shows that in the past years, we have withdrawn certain markets, and we continue to do so. This applies to Brazil as well. Vietnam, here, we really have a lot of empathy with people who suffered during the Vietnam war and continue to suffer from it. For many years, this has been recognized by the courts that companies that were working on behalf of the U.S. government would not be held responsible for possible damage caused by these products. CBG has complained about the end of the follow-up question possibility at 3 p.m. And some of their questions -- that means that they cannot ask a follow-up question on many of the questions they submitted. Let me make the following statement. The Coordination Against Bayer Dangers, it was afternoon when they asked their first follow-up question. And these were questions we haven't answered yet. In addition, the coordination also had a large number of follow-up questions. And only one of them that we read out, not any of them, only one has not been asked by the Coordination. We've answered all of the follow-up questions that were submitted before we close the list. And apart from that, the possibility to ask questions is a voluntary measure on our part, and it shows very clearly that if you talk about alleged censorship, this is something that certainly cannot be the case. To conclude, we also received a question from [ Matthias Gabler ]. He asked how many participants do we have at the end of the ASM and at the end of the speech by the CEO compared to last year as well as to the last in-person meeting. Today, at the beginning, we had 1,285; at the end of CEO speech, it was 2,030. And now 826 participants are here. And at the end of the voting period of something, obviously, that I cannot tell you now because we haven't voted yet. Last year, we had the 218 and then 1,928 at the end of the vote. At the last face-to-face meeting, we had a top figure of 3,340 participants, and that means that I can now hand over to Ms. Hentschel.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Baumann. So I think we -- that means we've answered all the questions from our shareholders. We've also answered all the follow-up questions that we received on individual answers. So the question and answer session has now been concluded. So I would like to thank you all very much for your attention. And I'd now like to hand over once again to Mr. Winkeljohann.

[Interpreted] For the entire board of management, I would like to say thank you very much. We now close the question-and-answer session. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to point out that the opportunity to vote via postal votes and via shareholder representatives via the shareholder services and the Internet will soon be closed. I'll come back to this later on. If there's anything that you would like to change, now is the time in order to do so. Now before we get to the vote, I would like to give you the up to date. For attendance, the attendance is as follows: from a registered share capital of the company you have EUR 2,515,005,649.92 divided up between 982,424,082 no-par value shares, 549,412,611 no-par value shares are represented, which corresponds to 53.93% of share capital. The register can be viewed in the shareholder portal. Furthermore, we have an absentee ballot for 40,388,841 no-par value shares, which means that the we have votes for 591,801,452 no-par value shares, which corresponds to 60.24% of our registered share capital. Furthermore, at the moment, as I said earlier on and as Mr. Baumann said, we have a corresponding number of people who are following the virtual assembly on the Internet. Now we will come to the votes and the voting representatives can now cast the vote according to the instructions that they receive for the individual items on the agenda, which means the absentee ballots that were submitted on time will be taken into account in the vote. I, therefore, announce that once again, I will say what the items are on which we're going to be voted, and then we will take a short break. As soon after this -- as soon as we resume via the shareholder service on the Internet, it will not be possible to cast a vote anymore and the vote by these will be conducted by the voting -- the vote representatives. So please cast your vote now or please provide the authority to the vote representative to do so. I will now go through the items on the agenda and the draft proposals, as you found in the invitation to this and your shareholders meeting. So for point one, we have the presentation of the confirmed annual financial statements and the approved consolidated financial statements, the combined management report, the report of the Supervisory Board and the proposal by the Board of Management on the use of distributable profit. And we also spoke about the dividend, which the dividend will amount to EUR 2 per share carrying dividend rights. And the remaining amount will be put along with other profit reserves. There was a countermotion for the dividend motion, but I would like to proceed as follows: Thus, we vote first on the proposal of management. And if it does not receive the required majority, then I will deal with the countermotion. Now to item 2 on the agenda, which is the ratification of the actions of the members of the Board of Management for fiscal 2021, there are countermotions -- there is a countermotion to not ratify the actions. And if you want to vote in favor in the countermotion, vote, No. I would like to point out that members of the Board must abstain here. On Item 3 of the agenda, ratification of the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board. Management proposes that the members of the Board in fiscal 2021, the ASM ratified the actions. There was a countermotion to withhold from ratifying the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board. This means that those who vote in favor of the countermotion need to vote, No. The members of the Board have been told that for their stocks and for stocks they represent, they have to -- they are required to abstain. Now on to item 4 of the agenda, the Supervisory Board proposed that for Achleitner, Norbert Bischofberger and Ms. Colleen Goggins be voted on to the Supervisory Board with effect from the end of today's ASM for the period up to the end of the ASM when we voted -- when the vote is held for ratifying the actions for them for fiscal 2025. There has been a countermotion to vote for alternative candidates. They are not supported as required in the stock corporation at by 10% of represented capital. As the Chairman of the meeting, I thus propose that you vote on the proposed members. If we do not receive the required majority, then I will deal with the countermotion. For Item 5 on the agenda, which is resolution on the approval of the compensation report. The Board of Management suggests that according to Article 162 of the Stock Corporation act you were to approve the compensation report for fiscal 2021. There is a countermotion on not to approve this, and you can vote for this countermotion by voting, No, on the Board's proposal. Now let's move on to Item 6 of the agenda, which is approval of the Control and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement between the company Bayer Chemicals, GmbH. Management proposes that the Control and Profit and Loss Agreement between the company and Bayer Chemicals GmbH on 18th of February 2022 be voted in favor of. We also have the election of the audit of the annual financial statements that the auditor for the review of the half year and interim financial reports. We suggest that -- we propose that Deloitte GmbH be mandated with this task for fiscal '22, the annual financial statements and also further review of the half year and interim financial reports for the 30th of June 2022 and the -- also the interim report for the 30th of September 2022 and for the 31st of March 2023. Ladies and gentlemen, I now announce that the time is 05:42 p.m. Central European Time, and this will be the start of the votes. Absentee ballots and granting all authority and instructions to shareholder representatives as well as and any changes will no longer be possible once the 5-minute break has elapsed. We will now take a break and we will return at 5:50 p.m. We will now take a short break. [Break]

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, we will now continue our Annual General Meeting as announced. Submitting votes, absentee votes and granting proxies or providing instructions to proxy holder or any changes or revocations thereof are no longer possible. I'd like to instruct our technical experts to take this into account and request of our notary that he make a note of this. We'll now begin with the voting by the proxy holder of the company. This proxy holder will now release the votes stored in the system in accordance with your instructions on the individual items on the agenda. Okay. The release of the votes by the proxy holder of the company has been done, and I'd like to now conclude the voting. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we'll begin counting the votes. Absentee votes will also be counted. The amount of time necessary for counting the votes depends on the changed and revoked absentee votes and proxies instructions to the proxy holder received during the course of the AGM. As soon as I have the results, I will announce these. Until then, we're going to have a break in the Annual General Meeting, and I'd like to ask you to bear with us until we return. The notary, will monitor the counting of the votes. [Break]

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the results of the voting, and I will continue the Annual General Meeting now, and we'll announce the resolutions. The number of valid votes submitted will be shown as well as the number of Yes and No votes and abstentions for each item on the agenda. They will be shown separately. The detailed results of the voting will also be published this evening on the homepage of the company for the AGM. And on that note, I will move on to announcing the results for Item 1 that is the use of distributable profit. I can announce that the results are 580,579,763 valid votes were submitted for those shares, and that is 59.10% of the share capital. Yes votes, 576,020,745 that's 99.21% of the votes. No votes, 4,559,018 that's 0.79%. In addition to that, there were 11,228,853 abstentions submitted. So the AGM has passed Item 1 on the agenda, that is the proposal of the management, as was announced in the Federal Gazette 3rd of March 2022. And thus, ladies and gentlemen, this can be checked off. I'll move on to Item 2 on the agenda, ratification of the actions of the Board of Management members. I can announce that the voting results are this: 570,744,939 shares had valid votes submitted, this is 58.10% of the share capital. 468,365,700 Yes votes, which is 82.06% of the votes and 102,379,239 No votes, which is 17.94%. In addition to that 21,055,373 abstentions were submitted. So with regards to Item 2 on the agenda, the AGM has passed the proposal from the management as was published in the Federal Gazette and the necessary majority has been passed. So I am pleased that the Board of Management has received your trust and like to congratulate you, Mr. Baumann and the entire Board of Management for this declaration of trust in you. This allows me to move on to Item 3 on the agenda ratification of the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board, I can announce that 570,595,985 shares had votes submitted for them. Valid votes of this is 58.08% of the share capital. There were a total of 474,772,479, Yes votes which is 83.21%. And there were 95,823,506, No votes submitted, which is 16.79%. There were 21,190,335 abstentions submitted which means that the AGM has passed the proposed resolution from management Item 3 on the agenda, as it was published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022, it's been passed with the necessary majority. Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to thank you for the trust you have placed in the Supervisory Board, and I can say this on behalf of all members of the Supervisory Board. Now I'll move on to Item 4 on the agenda, Supervisory Board elections. First of all, Dr. Paul Achleitner. I can announce that in this election, we achieved these results, total votes submitted for shares, 573,236,313 shares. That's 58.35% of the share capital, 521,845,219 Yes votes were submitted, which is 91.03%, 51,391,094 No votes were submitted, which is 8.97%. In addition, there were 18,561,964 abstentions submitted. So the AGM has passed Item 4, that is the proposed resolution from the management for the election of Dr. Paul Achleitner to the Supervisory Board. This is published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022, and necessary -- the necessary majority was achieved. Then the election of Dr. Norbert Bischofberger, I can announce the results of the election of Dr. Norbert Bischofberger were this: Votes submitted for shares, 589,248,241 had valid votes submitted. This is 59.98% of the share capital, 439,254,156 Yes votes were submitted. This is 74.54% and 149,994,085 No votes were submitted, which is 25.46%. In addition to that, 2,558,456 abstentions were submitted. That means with regard to Item 4 on the agenda, the AGM has passed the proposed resolution of management regarding the election of Dr. Norbert Bischofberger to the Supervisory Board as published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022. We'll move on to the election of Colleen Goggins. I can announce that the results of the vote for Colleen Goggins were this, 588,712,552 shares had valid votes submitted for them, this is 59.92% of the share capital. 574,618,669 Yes votes were submitted. This is 97.61%. 14,093,883 No votes were submitted, which is 2.39%. In addition to that, 3,094,399 abstentions were submitted. So the AGM has decided with regard to Item 4 on the agenda, that the proposed election of Colleen Goggins as published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022 should be passed, and it was passed with the necessary majority. Mr. Achleitner, Mr. Bischofberger, Ms. Goggins congratulations on this election. We're looking forward to continuing to work together with you on the Supervisory Board. And thus, I'll move on to Item 5 on the agenda resolution on approval of the compensation report. I can announce that the results of the vote were this: 588,127,592 shares had valid votes submitted for them. This is 59.86% of the share capital. Here, we have 141,792,849 Yes votes which is 24.11% and 446,334,743 No votes, which is 75.89%. In addition to that 3,669,116 abstentions were submitted. So with regard to Item 5 on the agenda, the AGM has not passed the proposal from the management that was submitted -- that was published in the Federal Gazette on March 3, 2022. Ladies and gentlemen, therefore, the necessary majority for the compensation report was not reached. We regret this. As a result, the targets within the compensation system and the reporting on the compensation will be fundamentally reviewed. In addition to that we will take into account the requests and demands from investors and carry out market benchmarks. Now we'll move on to Item 6 on the agenda, Approval of the Control on PLTA between the company and Bayer Chemicals GmbH, I can announce this, the results were this: 590,050,260 shares had valid votes submitted for them. This is 60.06% of the share capital. Yes votes, 588,849,817, which is 99.8%, and there were 1,200,443 No votes, which is 0.20%. In addition, 1,726,553 abstentions were submitted. The AGM has, therefore, decided with regard to Item 6 on the agenda, that the proposal from the management as published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022 should be passed with the necessary majority. Now I'll move on to Item 7 on the agenda, election of the auditor for the annual financial statements and the auditor for the review of the semiannual and interim financial reports. I can announce this. The voting results were: 589,889,044 shares had valid votes submitted for them. This is 60.04% of the share capital. Yes votes, 584,393,209 which is 99.07%. No votes, 5,495,835, which is 0.93%. Abstentions were also submitted 1,915,931. With regard to Item 7 on the agenda, the AGM has passed the proposed resolution from the Supervisory Board as was published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2022. The necessary majority was reached. Ladies and gentlemen from Deloitte, I'd like to congratulate you on that election. Now after all of these results, I can say that all of the counter motions are no longer need a vote on them. Well, on that note, ladies and gentlemen, we have gone through the entire agenda. I would like to thank all of you on behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management for your participation in this virtual Annual General Meeting. My thanks also go to the employees who prepared the answers for your original questions and follow-up questions. And I'd also like to thank everyone involved in organizing and conducting this AGM. Thank you very much. The next ordinary Annual General Meeting is planned for the 28th April 2023. I'd like to once again thank all of you for your participation and your interest that you have shown in Bayer. I'd also like to take this opportunity now to say goodbye to you. I wish you all the best, above all, stay healthy, and I hope we all have a more peaceful future. Have a nice evening, everyone. I will now officially close this AGM at 6:30 p.m. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]