"The pace of sales growth in the first half was held back by adverse weather conditions in North America which, combined with a reduction in corn acreage, significantly impacted the crop protection market. Growth in all other regions was robust, exceeding our full year target rate of six percent at constant exchange rates. Emerging market sales increased by 11 percent, with performance clearly demonstrating the success of our integrated strategy. Pricing remained firm across the business.

"Profitability was affected by the lower sales volume in North America and by emerging market currency weakness. At constant exchange rates the EBITDA margin increased, helped by price increases, lower seeds costs and savings from our existing operational efficiency program. In February we announced a comprehensive new program to accelerate operational leverage from 2015. Project teams are working on the implementation of this program across the company, and we are on track to deliver significant savings in production, commercial operations and R&D. Our priority is to ensure that ongoing sales growth is accompanied by improved profitability and strong cash flow generation."