Bill Anderson continues on his chosen course and also does away with many a familiar exercise at Bayer's Capital Markets Day. There is no medium-term forecast – superfluous, things usually turn out differently. Especially with regard to Bayer, the CEO, who has been in office since June, is certainly correct with this statement. But not giving investors anything at all is remarkable, to say the least. Sure, there were a lot of nice words and the prospect of savings of 2 billion euros, which the new organisational model is expected to deliver by the end of 2026. But that's about it.

Of course, it will take some time for the new model to be introduced. However, the outlook for 2024 is meagre, especially when you consider that 500 million euros are already to be saved in the current cycle. The operating result continues to shrink, following a decline of 13% in the previous financial year. Although the dividend will be reduced to the statutory minimum for three years, resulting in a gross annual cash outflow of 2 billion euros, net debt at the end of 2024 will, at best, be 2 billion euros lower than at the end of the previous year. If thought through to the end, this would mean that there would be no free cash flow from the operating business.

This also caused disillusionment in the stock market. The fall in the share price accelerated in parallel with the comments made by the Board of Management at the Capital Markets Day. Anderson had already pulled the first idea out of investors' heads in the morning: "Not now." This was Anderson's answer to the question about structural changes. Although Anderson defended his view eloquently, it did not catch on.

Anderson spoke of four challenges that the Group must overcome. In fact, however, it is above all the legal disputes that the Leverkusen-based company cannot get under control. So far, 13 billion euros has been paid out, and a further 6.7 billion euros has been set aside. This may or may not be the end of the line. It is, therefore, correct to reconsider the strategy for dealing with legal disputes, even if details are still being skimped on.

Bayer is caught in a strategic cul-de-sac. Anderson does not dare to make a break for it. But without this, it will be challenging to provide the three divisions with sufficient resources for further development.