The inventor of Aspirin and maker of Yasmin birth-control pills said on Wednesday that second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 2.22 billion euros (1.75 billion pounds), just short of the average estimate of 2.31 billion euros in a Reuters poll.

"Although earnings growth was again held back by substantial negative currency effects, these were offset by the good business development," the company said in a statement.

Sales growth of 0.9 percent to 10.36 billion euros was also shy of market expectations.

Shares in the company, which also makes transparent plastics for panoramic roofs, pesticides and veterinary drugs, were indicated 2.3 percent lower in pre-market trading, while Germany's blue-chip index DAX <.GDAXI> was seen slipping 0.2 percent.

The company's top five new medicines - anti-clotting drug Xarelto, eye treatment Eylea, lung drug Adempas and cancer treatments Stivarga and Xofigo - achieved combined sales of 702 million euros over the quarter, against 339 million euros in the year-ago period.

Bayer has said it expects peak annual sales of at least 7.5 billion euros from these drugs, up from 1.52 billion last year.

The strong euro , which was up more than 5 percent against the U.S. dollar on average over the quarter, prompted Bayer to dampen expectations for full-year revenues.

It now targets 2014 sales of 41 billion euros, where it had previously seen 41-42 billion, up from 40.2 billion euros last year.

It said it continued to expect a low to medium single-digit percentage increase in adjusted EBITDA for the year.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Harro ten Wolde and Victoria Bryan)

By Ludwig Burger