Syngenta's net income reached $1.87 billion in 2012, up 17 percent from 2011's $1.6 billion, according to the company's latest financial report.
The company reported a strong fourth quarter in North and Latin America, as well as double-digit seeds growth in all regions. “In 2012, crop prices rose sharply as adverse weather conditions in several regions resulted in significant production shortfalls, once again highlighting the fragility of global supply," said Syngenta CEO Mike Mack. "Growers in the affected regions had to adapt quickly in terms of planting and investment decisions, while also dealing with ongoing challenges such as weed and insect resistance. The strong growth in Syngenta’s sales reflected our flexibility in providing solutions across crops and, increasingly, in addressing agronomic challenges through our integrated offers. These are proving their worth in developed and emerging regions alike, contributing to growth rates of eight percent and 11 percent respectively.
“Since the announcement of our new strategy two years ago, we have been driving the development of our portfolio by crop," he said. "The results already achieved in the field and the potential for new integrated offers have enabled us to increase target sales for our eight strategic crops to $25 billion by 2020. In addition, last year we made a number of acquisitions to secure new technologies. We were able to do so while maintaining a strong balance sheet as evidenced by the proposal of another substantial increase in the dividend.”
Syngenta has said it plans to invest $77 million in the expansion of its corn seed production facility in Formosa, Brazil. Annual capacity will be quadrupled to 1.6 million bags by 2015. "Brazil is already among the world's top three corn producers and has tremendous long-term growth potential," said Syngenta's Chief Operating Officer, John Atkin. "The Formosa expansion will help us meet increasing grower demand for our leading hybrids and our new trait combinations. These will also form part of our new integrated solutions which focus on grain quality, water efficiency and land optimization."
