Pharmaceutical giant Bayer to slash 12,000 jobs worldwide

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer plans to make 12,000 job cuts worldwide, a "significant number" of which will fall in Germany, the company said Thursday.

Bayer said in a statement released Thursday that its management and supervisory boards had approved the plan, which also includes divesting its animal health business, with the goal of boosting its core pharmaceutical and agricultural businesses.

The restructuring also envisages a sell-off of its Coppertone sun care and Dr Scholl's foot care product lines, as well as its 60-per-cent stake in service provider Currenta, the statement said.

The company said it expected the measures to increase earnings per share from 5.70 euros (6.50 dollars) in 2018 to 6.80 euros in 2019, with a target of around 10 euros per share in 2022.

The Leverkusen-headquarted company concluded its 63-billion-dollar acquisition of Monsanto in June.

It is fending off a flood of US legal complaints involving glyphosate - a compound found in Monsanto-manufactured weedkiller Roundup, which some believe is carcinogenic.

Bayer has faced pressure from shareholders to revive its stock price after it slumped following an adverse US court ruling which awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to a terminally-ill school groundskeeper. The damages payout was later reduced to 78 million dollars.

The court found that the man's cancer was the direct result of exposure to Roundup, prompting investor concerns about a string of follow-up lawsuits.

Bayer chief executive Werner Baumann said the restructuring was not a direct result of the Monsanto takeover, nor was it a response to the US legal complaints.

"As we now proceed with these measures, we are laying the foundation to sustainably enhance Bayer’s performance and profitability," Baumann said.