German healthcare and high-tech materials company Bayer said net profit for the second quarter totaled €747 million compared to €530 million in the prior year quarter. Earnings per share were €0.90, higher than €0.64 a year ago.

Core earnings per share for the recent quarter amounted to €1.29 versus €1.16 in the previous year.

Sales of the Bayer Group for the three months increased 0.8% to €9.252 billion from €9.179 billion in the prior year. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, sales were up by 5.4%.

"We confirm the full-year sales and earnings forecast that we raised in April," said CEO Marijn Dekkers said.

Bayer said it continues to target a currency- and portfolio-adjusted sales increase of between 5% and 7%, which corresponds to group sales of between €36 billion and €37 billion. Core earnings per share for 2011 are still expected to improve by about 15%, the company said in a statement.