Mike Mack CEO Syngenta

Mack: Profitability was affected by lower North American sales

Crop protection giant Syngenta has posted a one per cent increase in sales to $8.5 billion (around £4.9bn) in its half year trading results.

Net income fell by one per cent to $1.4 billion (£820m) following restructuring and impairment costs.

The company said it had seen a late start to North American crop protection use but recorded strong growth in all other regions.

“The pace of sales growth in the first half was held back by adverse weather conditions in North America which, combined with a reduction in corn acreage, significantly impacted the crop protection market, “ said Syngenta CEO, Mike Mack.

“Growth in all other regions was robust, exceeding our full year target rate of six percent at constant exchange rates. Emerging market sales increased by 11 percent, with performance clearly demonstrating the success of our integrated strategy.

“Profitability was affected by the lower sales volume in North America and by emerging market currency weakness.”

Mack added that the firm expects an acceleration of sales growth in the second half of the year, driven by Latin America.

The company will release its Q3 results on 16 October 2014.