Agriculture

Bayer’s sunk boss leaves high water mark

21 Mar 2023

In one of his last acts before bowing to activist pressure, Werner Baumann is pledging the $60 bln drugs-to-seeds company will slash rice’s H2O needs by 25%. Leaving aside his legacy as the architect of the Monsanto deal, his ambition is worth emulating.

Syngenta jumbo IPO will sow seeds of doubt

14 Feb 2023

A Shanghai listing this year may value the pesticides and seeds maker at a chunky $66 bln. The group’s role in feeding a growing global population will please investors. But its reliance on toxic weedkillers that are losing favour in Europe poses a long-term threat.

Capital Calls: Adidas kitchen sink

10 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: Shares in the sportswear maker fell 11% amid forecasts of a high-single-digit decline in sales in 2023.

Bayer’s new CEO plants seed of future breakup

9 Feb 2023

Bowing to pressure from activist investor Jeff Ubben, the $66 bln drugs-to-seeds maker is replacing embattled boss Werner Baumann. Ditching the architect of the ill-advised Monsanto deal makes sense. Hiring pharma expert Bill Anderson suggests the crop division may be spun off.

Capital Calls: AI lessons, Robots, Streaming wars

8 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: Textbook rental company Chegg becomes an early victim of ChatGPT fears; a short supply of U.S. workers makes automation look even more appealing; Warner Bros Discovery flips the script on its deal logic and will keep HBO Max as a separate service.

Bayer’s rude health lays better path for breakup

11 Jan 2023

Activists including Jeff Ubben are piling into the $58 bln German seed and drug maker. Its cheap share price, thanks to the dire Monsanto deal, has for years dangled the promise of a lucrative carve-up. Improvements in the pharma unit and a CEO change make it more likely now.

Capital Calls: California flooding

11 Jan 2023

Concise views on global finance: Heavy rainfalls have revealed the cracks in California lawmakers’ disaster spending measures, that have helped to prepare for fires and earthquakes.

Capital Calls: Transatlantic chemicals deal

28 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: A potential acquisition of Univar by $10 bln German chemical distributor Brenntag makes sense, but investors may fear a bidding war.

Energy crisis gives beermakers a lasting hangover

26 Oct 2022

Heineken’s shares fell 10% after reporting weaker-than-expected sales. Inflation is eroding punters’ disposable income, making it harder for brewers to raise prices like in previous crises. Soaring costs for fuel and wheat, which bite next year, pose a further threat to margins.

Capital Calls: Food fight

23 Aug 2022

Concise views on global finance: Retailers like E-Mart are cutting food prices amid surging costs, risking a sector-wide race to the bottom.

Wine IPO is a very rich toast to affluent India

12 Aug 2022

The country’s largest producer Sula has plenty to cheer but more competition from Australia and sluggish growth are some reasons not to pop the cork at 86 times earnings. With a growing crowd of massively overpriced stocks targeting India’s wealthy, investors can be picky.

Global food crisis demands urgent Western response

25 Jul 2022

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed up food and energy costs around the globe. The most urgent problems are in poorer countries, write William Rhodes and Stuart Mackintosh. Rich nations offered insufficient help for Covid-19. International bodies can do better this time.

Russian grain deal gives food crisis a partial fix

22 Jul 2022

Moscow has agreed to lift a blockade on 20 mln tonnes of Ukrainian grain. That should reduce the scale of a Middle East food crisis, and ease prices which remain high versus 2021. Still, Russia could always renege on the new deal.

Guest view: Global hunger fight means no biofuel

6 Jun 2022

Food supplies have shifted rapidly from surplus to shortage. Sarasin’s Henry Boucher argues Western governments have a way to stop prices spiralling further. It entails prioritising food over fuel, and scrapping states’ biofuel mandates.

Explosives maker crosses its breakup wires

24 May 2022

Incitec Pivot unveiled plans to spin off its fertiliser arm. TNT rival Orica trades at a big premium, suggesting a split should lift the $5 bln market value. Unless CEO Jeanne Johns can allay investor fears about volatile agriculture markets, however, this demerger will be a dud.

Egypt’s hunger pangs are like 2011, but worse

19 May 2022

A decade ago the soaring cost of bread helped unseat Cairo’s long-term ruler, Hosni Mubarak. In 2022 food prices are rising faster, and Egypt’s population and debt are bigger. The more prices rise, the trickier the tradeoff between enraging financial and domestic constituencies.

India stands between world and food riots

16 May 2022

A ban on wheat exports is a messy but partial U-turn on India’s pledge to feed the world with its grains. The move protects consumers at home at the expense of farmers. Globally, it will exacerbate food security woes and shift the focus onto the country’s critical rice exports.

Capital Calls: Coinbase is conjoined to crypto

11 May 2022

Concise views on global finance: The exchange saw users and volumes fall, revenues slashed and lost over $400 mln in the first quarter. When cryptocurrencies slump, Coinbase has no choice but to follow.

Fertiliser makers face long wait for free lunch

11 Apr 2022

Soaring gas prices are making products of crop nutrient producers like Norway’s Yara and Austria’s Borealis unaffordable for farmers. Subsidising the companies might be the least bad way to avoid a food inflation crisis. Waiting for grains to fail will store up bigger problems.

Bayer has 29 bln reasons to say bye-bye to CEO

29 Mar 2022

Four years on, the 61 bln euro group’s Monsanto purchase has left it with cancer litigation and a clunky structure. Its current worth may be 32% less than the value of its bits, arguing for a breakup. That’s hard while boss Werner Baumann, the deal’s architect, is in place.