Bayer (BAYRY) announced its third quarter results yesterday. Revenues of the group recorded a 7% decline to €7.39 billion from €7.94 billion. The company’s earnings per share from continued operations were €0.78, compared to €0.85 in year-ago period.

Bayer operates through three major segments: Healthcare, accounting for 53.24% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2009; CropScience (15.4%), and Material Science (27.5%) with the remaining 4% coming from other items. While Healthcare segment revenues improved marginally by 3.5%, both cropscience and Material Science fell 8.6% and 20%, respectively.

The Healthcare segment recorded revenues of €3.9 billion compared to €3.8 billion in the corresponding period last year. Both the divisions of Healthcare – pharmaceuticals and consumer health contributed to the growth of the Healthcare segment. Bayer’s primary market, Europe – accounting for 39% of its Healthcare revenues – declined 3%, compared to the year-ago period. The other markets of North America,