Chinese-owned agricultural giant Syngenta reports slower earnings growth as it prepares for US$10 billion IPO

Earnings increased by 24 per cent in the third quarter, slowing from 39 per cent in the second quarter

The Chinachem-owned company is expected to be valued around US$50 billion in its initial public offering on Shanghai’s Star market, expected by year’s end

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A Syngenta Group staff member displays wheat at a demonstration farm in China on June 11, 2021. The company is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of seeds, pesticides and fertilisers. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:30pm, 27 Oct 2022Updated: 4:24pm, 2 Dec 2025

Switzerland-based, Chinese-owned agrichemical and seed giant Syngenta Group’s sales and core earnings growth eased during the third quarter, it said on Thursday ahead of a planned US$10 billion flotation within the next few months.

Sales increased by 20 per cent to US$7.9 billion in the three months ended September 30, slightly slower than the 24 per cent increase during the second quarter.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 24 per cent to US$1 billion. In the second quarter earnings had increased by 39 per cent.

The company said it was seeing an “increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment” while the continued strengthening of the dollar also weighed.

Syngenta Group’s global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. China National Chemical Corporation (Chinachem) acquired the company in 2017 for US$43 billion in what remains the largest Chinese takeover of a foreign company. Photo: Handout

“Sales growth was attributable to a significant increase in sales across all business units, driven by robust grain prices, attractive farm economics and inventory builds across the value chain,” the company said. “Necessary price increases were implemented to help mitigate higher costs.”

Based in Basel in Switzerland, the company was formed in November 2000 through the merger of the agriculture subsidiaries of the drug makers Novartis and AstraZeneca, and is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of seeds, pesticides and fertilisers, competing with US company Corteva and Germany’s BASF and Bayer.