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VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG: VERBIO AG continues earnings growth in second quarter 2014/2015 and raises forecasts

DGAP-News: VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG / Key word(s): Half Year
Results
VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG: VERBIO AG continues earnings growth
in second quarter 2014/2015 and raises forecasts

05.02.2015 / 08:00

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VERBIO AG continues earnings growth in second quarter 2014/2015 and raises
forecasts

- EBITDA up 20 percent to EUR 25.9 million in first half-year 2014/2015

- Production of biodiesel and bioethanol increased by 11 percent

- First biomethane from 100% straw fed in to the network

- Prospects for dividend payments

Leipzig, February 5, 2015 - VERBIO AG earnings growth continued in the
first half of the 2014/2015 financial year. The Group's revenues for the
period fell by 27 percent to EUR 307.8 million (1 HY 2013/2014: EUR 420.2
million) compared to the same period in the previous year. The fall was
primarily a result of the lower price levels for biofuels and the lower
level of merchandise revenues from fossil and biofuel trading.

Earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation (EBITDA) amounted to EUR
25.9 million, EUR 4.4 million (20 percent) more than in the comparative
period in the previous year (1 HY 2013/2014: EUR 21.5 million). The Group's
earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) increased by 40 percent,
totaling EUR 14.7 million (1 HY 2013/2014: EUR 10.5 million). The Group's
net result before taxes (EBT) totals EUR 13.0 million (1 HY 2013/2014: EUR
8.8 million), and the net result for the period is EUR 11.8 million (1 HY
2013/2014: EUR 7.9 million). Based on the result for the period, earnings
per share (basic and diluted) is EUR 0.19 (1 HY 2013/2014: EUR 0.13).

The primary drivers of earnings growth were the increased sales quantities,
resulting from higher production capacity usage, as well as effective
efficiency improvements in the Bioethanol segment. Production of biodiesel
and bioethanol in the period from July 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 was
343,248 tons, an increase of 11 percent over the 309,417 tons produced in
the same period of the previous year. In addition, a total of 227.5 GWh of
biomethane was produced in the first half of the 2014/2015 financial year
(1 HY 2013/2014: 132.5 GWh), an increase of 72 percent compared to the
equivalent period of the previous year. At the Schwedt site, which is
supported under the European NER 300 subsidy project, the plant expansion
designed to produce biomethane from 100 percent straw achieved its first