German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG (BAYN.XE) on Thursday slightly lowered its outlook for 2015, even as the group reported a 21% jump in net profit for the third quarter, boosted by positive currency effects.

Bayer now expects sales for the year "in the region" of 46 billion euros ($50.78 billion), down from EUR47 billion, as a result of shifting exchange rates in the fourth quarter. But the company reiterated its forecast of increasing earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before special items by a high teen percentage point in 2015.

Net profit for the period ended Sept. 30 was EUR999 million, compared with EUR826 million during the same period last year, beating analysts' forecasts. Analysts had predicted a net profit of EUR823 million, according to a recent poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

Bayer's closely watched metric of Ebitda before special items climbed by 27.6%, to EUR2.52 billion, compared with EUR1.98 billion last year, helped by strong earnings growth in the health care business.

Group sales rose by 10.7%, to EUR11.04 billion, driven by the health care division. Health care sales jumped by 19.2%, to EUR5.65 billion, largely as a result of increased sales of the company's recently launched blockbuster drugs, including blood thinner Xarelto.

Source: Bloomberg