Company Announcements

AD-HOC ANNOUNCEMENT

Publication of insider information pursuant to Article 17 MAR

 

 

Vienna, 11 November 2024

AGRANA now expects very significant EBIT decline in 2024|25 financial year

 AGRANA Group recently confirmed its annual guidance on 10 October 2024 in the context of publishing its results for the first half of 2024|25. Significantly lower EBIT* was forecast for the 2024|25 financial year compared to the prior year (2023|24: € 151.0 million), with a decline of 10% to 50%.

It had already been communicated that, due to higher sugar inventories and sharply falling sugar prices (in the EU and globally), AGRANA’s Sugar segment in particular would continue to face very challenging times in the coming months. Since the full-blown start of the sugar beet processing campaign in October 2024, it has also become evident that the campaign costs of the new 2024|25 sugar marketing year will be higher than expected. In the meantime, the evaluation of September’s flooding damages (primarily in Austria) has also been largely completed. The negative impact on earnings in the current financial year has been higher than originally forecast, mainly due to the production stoppage at the plant in Pischelsdorf, Austria, in the Starch segment.

These developments are primarily responsible for the forecast now that the 2024|25 financial year will be characterised by a very significant decline in EBIT* of more than 50% at the Group level. The operating profit before exceptional items and results of equity-accounted joint ventures is expected to be in the range of € 55 million to € 75 million.

The publication of the results for the first three quarters of 2024|25, including details of the outlook for all segments in the remainder of the 2024|25 financial year, will be on 14 January 2025 as scheduled.

This announcement is available in German and English at www.agrana.com.

*EBIT: operating profit after exceptional items and results of equity-accounted joint ventures