According to ICIS,Bayer's third-quarter net profit fell 10.1% year on year to €249m ($372m). Sales for the quarter slipped 7.0% to €7.39bn with group earnings before interests and taxes (EBIT) slipping 5.6% to €646m, the company said. Bayer MaterialScience’s EBIT slumped 36.1% year on year to €85m. Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items, meanwhile, edged up 0.4% to €1.50bn, helped by increased contributions from Bayer Healthcare. For the first nine months of the year, Bayer’s net profit slumped 25.2% to €1.21bn on sales of €23.30bn, down 6.8% from the same period last year. “We still expect to post full-year group sales of between €31bn and €32bn and are adhering to our ambitious target of limiting the decline in group EBITDA before special items to about 5 percent,” Bayer chairman Werner Wenning said in a statement.