By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Pharma and pesticides group Bayer reported a bigger-than-expected fall in fourth-quarter core earnings, dragged down by a weaker Brazilian real and U.S. dollar and competition in the North American agriculture market.

Quarterly core profit, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for one-offs, fell 3.4% to 2.39 billion euros ($2.91 billion), below an average estimate of 2.45 billion euros in a poll posted on the company’s website.

Adjusted EBITDA at its agriculture unit fell 30% to 594 million euros, dragged lower by 450 million euros in negative currency effects and also hurt by competition in U.S. weed killer market.

The pandemic also put women off seeking appointments for Bayer’s Mirena-branded birth control devices, it said.

Bayer added it “remains strongly committed” to a comprehensive settlement of claims in the United States that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer.

Bayer on Feb. 3 struck a $2 billion deal with plaintiffs’ lawyers to resolve future legal claims, as the products will remain on the market, but a judge still has to sign off on it.

That would add $750 million to the total bill of an outline settlement agreed in June 2020, tallied at up to $11 billion at the time.

Bayer added that based on end-December exchange rates it expects 2021 adjusted EBITDA of 10.5 billion and 10.8 billion euros, down from 11.45 billion last year.

Weak fourth-quarter agriculture earnings were partly offset by strong gains in prescriptions of Bayer’s stroke prevention pill Xarelto.

($1 = 0.8218 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Caroline Copley)