FRANKFURT, Germany, Aug 4, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - German agrichemical giant Bayer on Tuesday returned to profit in the second quarter, helped by a strong performance at its agricultural business as well as a smaller legal bill.

Net income for the three months to the end of June was 219 million euros ($252 million), Bayer said, compared to a loss of 199 million euros this time last year.

Core earnings rose about 30 percent at the company's Crop Science division, which makes seeds, soybeans, weedkillers and insecticides, but were down slightly at its Pharmaceutical and Consumer Health divisions, both of which make medications.

Special charges "primarily attributable" to litigation costs also declined in the quarter to 172 million euros, down from 981 million euros, Bayer said.

The aspirin maker has spent more than $10 billion settling thousands of cases linked to glyphosate-based herbicides since it acquired the US agrichemical group Monsanto in 2018, developer of the popular Roundup weedkiller.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer considers glyphosate a probable human carcinogen.

Bayer has pointed to scientific studies as well as regulatory approvals in the US and the European Union as evidence the weedkiller is safe.

The company in June successfully argued before the US Supreme Court that it should be shielded from so-called failure-to-warn legal claims in US states since the US Environmental Protection Agency ruled that Roundup could be sold without any warning label.

Bayer is hoping to bring the saga to a close with a $7.25-billion class action settlement and has said that a favourable US Supreme Court ruling would disincentivise potential opt-outs.

"Our containment strategy is in a strong place, with some important milestones ahead," Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said Tuesday.

Sales of glyphosate-based herbicides meanwhile rose 12.6 percent in the quarter, Bayer said, driven by particularly strong growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.