Basel, Switzerland
March 19,  2001

The following was issued today by Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT): 
Pro forma(A) Financial Highlights (unaudited)

Growth rates in the following narrative are on a pro forma basis and are at constant exchange rates (CER). 

-- Full year sales grew two percent in a difficult market
-- First half sales up seven percent; second half sales down four percent
-- EBITDA up 10 percent
-- Profit before tax up 30 percent; EPS for 2000, $2.19 per share (1999: $1.88)
-- Merger set for success

Heinz Imhof, Chairman, said: 

"This year marked the successful launch and merger of Syngenta. At the same time we sustained performance in increasingly competitive markets. I am very encouraged by these first results for Syngenta which are tribute to the hard work and enthusiasm of our employees." 

Michael Pragnell, Chief Executive Officer, said: 

"Our performance reflects the strength of our major brands supported by good growth from more recently launched products. After a strong first half, there was a softening in commodity prices from mid-year and we also consciously restrained sales in Latin America. Our results were
underpinned by the cost reduction programs announced in 1999. Integration of our two businesses is now well underway as we align the organization behind our strategy." 

(1) Unaudited pro forma results:
(a) Exclude all products to be divested in compliance with competition authority mandates for the formation of Syngenta. Including these products, sales in 2000 were $7176 million (1999: 7335 million) and EBITDA was $1334 million (1999: $1263 million), representing a CER growth rate of three percent and 10 percent respectively. 
(b) Exclude special charges including restructuring costs, product divestment gains and, in 1999, abnormal debt write-offs. Including the effect of these items, EPS in 2000 was $6.04 (1999: a loss of $0.12).
(c) Assume the two businesses merged from 1 January 1999 and in both years operated with the effective underlying tax rate incurred in 2000 of 48 percent.

Highlights for 2000 

Syngenta, with its global headquarters now established in Basel, Switzerland was created and listed on 13 November 2000 and is the global leader in the $40 billion agribusiness market. Ranking number one in Crop Protection and number three in the high-value commercial Seeds
market, Syngenta's position is based on a broad portfolio of powerful brands and a strong pipeline. Integration plans were fully formulated prior to listing and were implemented from `Day One' enabling the business to present one face to customers in most of the major Northern
Hemisphere markets by the end of January 2001. 

Crop Protection sales, which account for 86 percent of Syngenta's sales, increased two percent. After a strong first half, sales reduced by five percent in the second half with a softening in commodity crop prices from mid- year. Extremely wet conditions in the important winter-cropping areas of Europe contributed to this reduction. In addition, sales were deliberately constrained in Brazil and Argentina to mitigate balance sheet risk. These factors particularly affected sales of selective and non-selective herbicides and more than offset good growth in insecticide sales throughout the year. Fungicides' sales ended the year ahead of 1999. 

Seeds had a strong year in 2000 with growth of seven percent; the first half was up eight percent, the second half up four percent. Important restructuring was completed in the non-priority crop areas and this adversely affected profits. 

2000 was a productive year in Research and Development. First registrations were received in Europe for CALLISTO(R) (mesotrione), the novel selective herbicide for use on broad-leaved weeds in corn. Pyriftalid, the new grass weed herbicide for rice, obtained registration in Korea and will be launched in 2001. First market introductions for trifloxysulfuron-sodium, the new low-dose herbicide for cotton and sugar cane, are scheduled for 2001 in Latin America. Picoxystrobin, the second-generation strobilurin fungicide, is targeted for launch in 2002 in major European markets. TOUCHDOWN(R) IQ(TM) which offers superior performance on herbicide-tolerant crops was also registered in the USA and Europe. Earlier in 2001 the successful mapping of the rice genome was announced, in collaboration with Myriad Genetics. This technology breakthrough has particular importance for achieving similar maps of other cereal crops and will accelerate the development of enhanced food crops. 

Cost reduction programs announced by both former businesses at the end of 1999 led to a reduction in costs of $100 million in 2000. As a result EBITDA increased to $1195 million, equivalent to 17.4 percent of sales (1999: $1134 million, 16.2 percent of sales). 

The impact of currency reduced total sales by four percent and EBITDA by five percent. 

A special pre-tax gain of $852 million, excluded from the pro forma statement, arose as a result of competition authority mandated divestments. This gain was partially offset by special charges of $122 million associated with the formation of Syngenta and $207 million of restructuring costs relating to the first wave of Syngenta's synergy program. 

With tight working capital control and following the receipt of $955 million, before tax, from the mandated divestments, Syngenta ended the year with net debt of $2.4 billion and net gearing at 58 percent. 

Outlook 

Michael Pragnell, Chief Executive Officer, said: 

"Syngenta has set ambitious performance targets. These include an EBITDA margin of 25 percent of sales in 2004. We aim to achieve this by enhancing the quality of our product portfolio coupled with the delivery of $525 million in cost synergies by 2004. There has been a slow start to the season this year compared to last year's early start. There is great momentum in the organization and we are on track to deliver our cost savings target of an additional $90 million in 2001." 

Crop Protection Sales 

Except where stated, all narrative in this section refers to the full year. Growth rates are on a pro forma basis and are at constant exchange rates (CER). 

Selective Herbicides: 
major brands BICEP(R) MAGNUM, DUAL(R) MAGNUM, FLEX(R), FUSILADE(R), TOPIK(R) 

Selective herbicide sales declined by four percent due to a competitive corn market and further increases of herbicide-tolerant crop plantings in the USA and Argentina. Double-digit growth in the cereal herbicide TOPIK(R) partially compensated for declines in other products including FUSILADE(R) and atrazine, as well as other smaller brands. Sales in the second half were further reduced by the wet autumn in Europe. 

Non-selective Herbicides: 
major brands GRAMOXONE(R), TOUCHDOWN(R) 

Market expansion due to the substitution of manual labor in Asia and increases in herbicide-tolerant crop plantings in the US market continued to drive sales of GRAMOXONE(R) and TOUCHDOWN(R) with particularly strong growth in the first half of the year. Second half sales were adversely affected by the wet autumn in Europe and de-stocking in the USA in preparation for the launch of TOUCHDOWN(R) IQ(TM) in 2001. 

Fungicides: 
major brands AMISTAR(R), BRAVO(R), RIDOMIL GOLD(R), SCORE(R), TILT(R), UNIX(R) 

Major contributors to growth included: AMISTAR(R) which continued to grow in the USA on a variety of crops and in Latin America, particularly Brazil, on soybean and vegetables; UNIX(R), which was in strong demand on early cereal disease in Europe; and SCORE(R) which sustained
good growth in South East Asia on rice and vegetables. 

Insecticides: 
major brands ACTARA(R), FORCE(R), KARATE(R), PROCLAIM(R), VERTIMEC(R) 

Insecticide sales were driven by broad-based growth across the portfolio. This included KARATE(R) which benefited from the advantages brought by the ZEON(TM) micro-encapsulation technology, and FORCE(R) which also recovered from below average sales in 1999. Exciting
growth of the recently launched products ACTARA(R), particularly in Latin America, and PROCLAIM(R), largely in Asia, made a significant contribution. VERTIMEC(R) maintained its leading position in the worldwide acaricide market. 

Professional Products: 
major brands AVID(R), BARRICADE(R), CRUISER(R), HERITAGE(R), ICON(R), MAXIM(R) 

Sales growth of Professional Products in the first half was more than offset by reduced sales in the second half; this was due to lower acreages for Seed Treatments and product phase-outs. In Turf and Ornamentals sales growth in the USA, the largest market for these products, continued due largely to a strong performance from HERITAGE(R). Additional registrations for CRUISER(R) seed treatment and growth of ICON(R) insecticide in Public Health supported increased sales in Latin America. 

Sales in Europe, Africa and the Middle East were down three percent in conditions where preliminary data suggest a market contraction. In Western Europe growth was achieved in fungicides but this was offset by a weaker performance across other product lines, particularly in the second half. In Eastern Europe sales growth was encouraging following a depressed 1999. Performance in Africa and the Middle East was slightly reduced. 

NAFTA sales were strong in the first half due largely to an early start to the season, notably in the mid-west, and particularly for both selective and non-selective herbicides. Broad-based growth in insecticides was the major contributor; fungicides also grew throughout the year but this was more than offset in the second half by reduced herbicide sales. 

Sales in Latin America for the year were unchanged with growth in insecticides and non-selective herbicides offsetting reductions in fungicides and selective herbicides. After sales growth of 20 percent in the first half of 2000, second-half sales were constrained to mitigate balance sheet risk particularly in the large markets of Brazil and Argentina. The impact of this particularly affected herbicides. 

Asia Pacific sales increased generally throughout the region, apart from Australasia, reinforced by new product introductions. Weakening crop prices, notably in South East Asia for rice, sugar and palm oil, adversely affected sales in the second half, in particular non-selective herbicides. China achieved encouraging growth ahead of commissioning the new GRAMOXONE(R) plant in the first half of 2001. Japanese sales performed well helped by the increased shareholding in Tomono Agrica. 

Seeds Sales 

Except where stated, all narrative in this section refers to the full year. Growth rates are on a pro forma basis at constant exchange rates (CER). 

Field Crops:
major brands NK(R) corn, NK(R) oilseeds, HILLESHOG(R) sugar beet 

Sales growth was driven mainly by the success of the product offering in corn across all regions. New variety launches in Europe, the test marketing of the PROSHIELD(TM) technology in NAFTA and superior subtropical corn hybrids in Brazil were particularly successful. Sales of soybean in NAFTA and winter oilseed rape in Europe were also strong. In Europe sugar beet sales were lower but sunflower sales increased despite difficult market conditions. 

Vegetables and Flowers: 
major brands S&G(R) vegetables, ROGERS(R) vegetables, S&G(R) flowers 

In Vegetables, growth was achieved through new product launches and focused marketing activities in tomato, sweet pepper, melon and cauliflower. NAFTA vegetable sales decreased due to difficult market conditions but strong performances were achieved in fresh tomato and melon. Gains were also made in India, China and Latin America. In Flowers outstanding growth was achieved in NAFTA and there were notable successes in Australia and Latin America where new distribution activities have been initiated. The launch of an innovative new X-tray young plants container was successfully implemented in Europe. 

In Europe, Africa and the Middle East growth was achieved across all areas with the exception of sugar beet, which declined slightly due to strong competition in a contracting market. This was set against a market environment that was not buoyant. 

NAFTA sales benefited from the continuing acceptance of premium priced biotechnology traits for Bt corn, and herbicide tolerant soybeans. Strong growth was also achieved in the Flowers range. These increases more than offset the decline in Vegetable sales due to a reduction in demand for fresh vegetable seed in the region and for export. 
 
Strong growth in Latin America was largely due to the excellent performance of sub-tropical corn germplasm, particularly in Brazil, where new product introductions were made. 

Sales in Asia Pacific were bolstered by strong growth in Vegetables in India and China whilst experiencing difficult conditions in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. 

The full text of this news release can be found at www.syngenta.com.

Company news release
N3396