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Bayer 1Q profit jumps 31%
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April 28, 2000: 6:20 a.m. ET
Earnings soar as healthcare unit booms; double-digit sales, profit growth seen
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LONDON (CNNfn) - German drugs and chemicals maker Bayer reported Friday a better-than-expected 31 percent rise in first-quarter pretax income amid soaring pharmaceutical sales. The company also said it expects revnues and operating earnings to grow 10 percent for the year as a whole.
The Leverkusen, Germany-based company said pretax profit rose to  952 million ($864 million), or 0.76 per share, in the first quarter, up from 726 million, or 0.60 a share, a year earlier. The average analyst forecast was for  Bayer to report earnings of 821.5 million.
Total sales rose 4.8 percent to 7.3 billion, after the divestment of the Agfa-Gevaert unit, which was listed last year. But sales from continuing operations, excluding the Agfa impact, jumped 23 percent to 7.25 billion.
Operating profit rose to 1.03 billion ($938 million) in the first quarter as healthcare business doubled its operating income to 340 million. Shortly before noon in Frankfurt trading Friday, shares of Bayer (FBAY) rose 1.3 percent to 44.75. 
"They were very good figures and the pharmaceuticals was an especially pleasant surprise," Heiko Bienek of Independent Research in Frankfurt told Reuters.
Powering the gains in the drugs segment was the stronger demand for the blockbuster antibiotic Ciprobay and hypertension treatment Adalat in North America and Japan and a doubling of sales of its lipid-lowering agent Baycol.
Polymers, Bayer's largest operating segment, saw a 23 percent rise in sales to 2.7 billion, boosted by strong demand in Asia and Europe.
Like its rival BASF, which reported Thursday a 44-percent increase in first quarter profit, Bayer benefited from economic recovery in Asia and Europe and saw revenues from its U.S. operations boosted by the strong dollar. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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Bayer
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