DGAP-News

BayWa AG: International business bolsters third quarter - BayWa makes substantial gain

DGAP-News: BayWa AG / Key word(s): 9-month figures
BayWa AG: International business bolsters third quarter - BayWa makes
substantial gain

05.11.2015 / 10:30

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International business bolsters third quarter - BayWa makes substantial
gains

BayWa AG has generated significant growth in its EBIT (earnings before
interest and tax) of roughly EUR35 million since the close of the first
half of 2015. EBIT rose year on year to EUR75.3 million (2014: EUR74.5
million) in the first nine months of 2015. Revenues came in at EUR11.1
billion, falling only marginally short of the previous year's figure (2014:
EUR11.4 billion), primarily due to price trends.

The Group's positive development in the third quarter was predominantly
driven by the international business of the Agriculture segment and
renewable energies, which evened out the effects of problematic framework
conditions in national agricultural trade in the same period. "Especially
those times in which we experience a difficult situation in agriculture in
Germany show how important our international growth strategy of recent
years is. We are only able to post these kinds of results after the first
nine months of the year thanks to the good results in international grain
trading and the outstanding development in European and US renewable
energies project development business," the Chief Executive Officer of
BayWa AG, Klaus Josef Lutz, explained. According to Lutz, 6 major solar and
wind power projects, with a total output of 114.5 megawatts, were
successfully sold in the third quarter alone. The fruit trading result also
rose year on year, above all on account of growth at New Zealand Group
company T & G Global Limited and its subsidiaries. International grain
trading activities, in particular the Dutch subsidiary Cefetra B.V.,
capitalised on their opportunities and expanded their feedstuff business.

By contrast, grain trading in Germany suffered from the effects of the hot
summer and the extremely volatile price trends. For example, income from
grain drying services usually performed by BayWa on behalf of farmers was
almost completely absent due to the extremely high temperatures. On the
other hand, additional costs were incurred in grain transportation due to
high low-water premiums. Grain prices were much higher at the start of the
harvest than they were at the end, which meant that farmers sold less grain
and processing companies held back on their buying activities. "General
issues in agriculture, such as the abolition of the milk quota, dampened