By Rod Nickel
(Reuters) - Farm pesticide seller FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC) will aim for mid-to high single-digit annual revenue growth starting in 2018 with help from acquired assets, Chief Executive Pierre Brondeau said on Monday.
Philadelphia-based FMC will focus on increasing sales of crop chemicals developed internally, and avoid big acquisitions for the next few years, after it closes a deal by year-end to swap its health and nutrition business for part of E I du Pont de Nemours and Co's crop protection business, Brondeau said in an interview.
The deal would vault FMC to the world's No. 5 pesticide maker by sales from eighth-largest in a market where abundant grain production has softened crop prices.
The swap will bring to FMC 15 crop chemicals that DuPont (NYSE:DD) has in development, adding to nine in FMC's pipeline.
"My objective is we need to be ... from an organic growth standpoint, the fastest-growing company in the industry," he said. "We believe we can grow today, even if we are at the bottom of the (agriculture) cycle."