EQS-News: AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft / Key word(s): Quarterly
/ Interim Statement
Financial first quarter of 2025|26: AGRANA posts predicted deterioration
in earnings
10.07.2025 / 07:30 CET/CEST
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Financial first quarter of 2025|26: AGRANA posts predicted deterioration
in earnings
First-quarter results at a glance (1 March to 31 May 2025)
• Revenue: € 880.2 million (Q1 previous year: € 944.3 million)
• EBIT: € 5.7 million (Q1 previous year: € 32.3 million)
• EBIT margin: 0.6% (Q1 previous year: 3.4%)
• Loss/profit for the period: loss of € 7.9 million (Q1 previous year:
profit of € 16.1 million)
• Equity ratio: 46.9% (28 February 2025: 45.4%)
As forecast, AGRANA, the food and industrial goods group, recorded a very
significant deterioration in earnings for the first quarter of the 2025|26
financial year compared to the year-earlier quarter. Operating profit
(EBIT) fell markedly to € 5.7 million. Revenue decreased moderately, by
6.8%, to € 880.2 million.
“The overall weak operating performance in the sugar business and the
announced one-time staff costs for restructuring measures in Austria and
the Czech Republic were the major factors in the poor quarterly result,”
explains AGRANA CEO Stephan Büttner. Despite economic uncertainty, AGRANA
continued to pursue its goals under the new Group strategy, NEXT LEVEL,
and made important progress. “Following the decision in March 2025 to end
sugar production in Leopoldsdorf and Hrušovany in order to safeguard
sustainable sugar production within the Group, AGRANA decided at the end
of May to acquire all shares in AUSTRIA JUICE GmbH held by RWA Raiffeisen
Ware Austria AG. In our new strategic business area of Food & Beverage
Solutions, we intend to more closely integrate the beverage bases and
flavours businesses of AUSTRIA JUICE and to globally expand them. AUSTRIA
JUICE’s product portfolio and capability to deliver solutions will help us
to open up new markets, sales channels and customer groups. Despite the
decline in business performance in the financial first quarter, we
maintain our forecast for the full year 2025|26 of a Group EBIT in line
with the previous year,” says Büttner.
New reporting structure
The new reporting structure in use from the first quarter of the 2025|26
financial year is aligned with the two strategic business areas Food &
Beverage Solutions (FBS) and Agricultural Commodities & Specialities
(ACS).
• The Food & Beverage Solutions (FBS) segment replaces what was known as
the Fruit segment and comprises products and formulations for the
dairy, food service, ice cream, bakery and beverage industries.
• The Starch and Sugar segments will continue to be reported separately,
with the designation “ACS” added to both names to reflect these
segments’ placement under the strategic umbrella of the Agricultural
Commodities & Specialities business area.
Food & Beverage Solutions (FBS) segment
Revenue of the FBS segment in the first quarter of 2025|26, at € 444.1
million, was moderately above the year-earlier level, for price reasons.
The FBS segment's EBIT improved to € 36.4 million in the first three
months of the financial year (Q1 previous year: € 27.0 million). The
earnings growth resulted from a positive business performance both in the
formulations and beverage businesses.
ACS – Starch segment
Revenue in the “ACS – Starch” segment was € 257.8 million in the first
three months of 2025|26, a slight decrease from the year-ago quarter. The
decline was due primarily to lower sales prices for saccharification
products and for by-products and ethanol.
EBIT in the ACS – Starch segment was down very significantly year-on-year
to € 2.8 million. The main reason for this was the margin decline in the
ethanol business and in starch products. The compensation from the
business interruption insurance for the autumn 2024 flood damage at the
Pischelsdorf, Austria, plant had a positive impact on earnings in the
first quarter of 2025|26.
ACS – Sugar segment
Revenue of the “ACS – Sugar” segment in the first quarter of 2025|26, at
€ 170.1 million, represented a significant reduction from one year
earlier, as moderately higher sugar volumes sold to industrial customers
were more than offset by a significant drop in volumes with resellers.
However, the main reason for the revenue decline was a significant fall in
sugar sales prices, particularly in the industrial sector.
The ACS – Sugar EBIT result in the first quarter of 2025|26 was a deficit
of € 29.5 million, representing a pronounced deterioration from the
year-earlier quarter. Due to the significantly lower sugar sales prices,
the earnings measure “operating profit before exceptional items and
results of equity-accounted joint ventures” fell to a loss of € 10.7
million (Q1 previous year: profit of € 0.1 million). A redundancy benefit
plan was drawn up in connection with the restructuring through the
discontinuation of sugar production in Leopoldsdorf and Hrušovany; the
staff costs associated with the plan were € 17.9 million in the first
quarter of 2025|26. This exceptional item had an added negative impact on
EBIT.
Outlook
At Group level for the full 2025|26 financial year, AGRANA expects
operating profit (EBIT) to be steady compared to the year before. Group
revenue is projected to show a slight reduction.
As part of the new AGRANA NEXT LEVEL strategy, measures with a sustained
annual savings impact of up to € 50 million are to be implemented in the
2025|26 financial year. However, these savings cannot cancel out the
effect of the negative market developments seen particularly in the ACS –
Sugar segment.
Total investment across the Group in the new financial year, at
approximately € 115 million, is to be slightly above the 2024|25 value and
in line with budgeted depreciation.
The detailed financial results are provided in the interim statement for
the first quarter of 2025|26 at (1)https://www.agrana.com/en/ir/.
About AGRANA
AGRANA converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and
numerous industrial intermediate products. About 9,000 employees at 50
production sites worldwide generate annual Group revenue of approximately
€ 3.5 billion. Established in 1988, the company is the global market
leader in fruit preparations and the world’s leading producer and vendor
of apple and berry juice concentrates. As well, its Starch segment is a
major manufacturer of custom starch products (made from potato, corn and
wheat) and of bioethanol. AGRANA is the leading sugar producer in Central
and Eastern Europe.
For queries, please contact:
Markus Simak, Public Relations
+43 1 21137 12084, (2)markus.simak@agrana.com
Hannes Haider, Investor Relations
+43 1 21137 12905, (3)hannes.haider@agrana.com
This announcement is available in German and English at (4)www.agrana.com.
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10.07.2025 CET/CEST This Corporate News was distributed by EQS Group.
www.eqs.com
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Language: English
Company: AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft
F.-W.-Raiffeisen-Platz 1
A-1020 Wien
Austria
Phone: +43-1-21137-0
Fax: +43-1-21137-12926
E-mail: investor.relations@agrana.com
Internet: www.agrana.com
ISIN: AT000AGRANA3
WKN: A2NB37
Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt,
Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange; Vienna Stock Exchange
(Official Market)
EQS News ID: 2167766
End of News EQS News Service
2167766 10.07.2025 CET/CEST
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