EQS-News

KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA: KWS reports on successful fiscal year 2021/2022 and expects further growth - Seite 2

Business development by segment
The Corn segment again recorded strong growth in the year under review, with sales rising by 21% to 935.4 (774.0) million.  €. This was mainly due to the South America region, where sales increased by more than 70%. In Europe, KWS achieved sales growth of around 7% in a highly competitive environment. Sales of the US joint venture AgReliant increased by around 3% in local currency, mainly due to higher sales volumes for soybean seeds. Significantly higher production costs and negative effects of the Ukraine war weighed on the segment result, which decreased to €57.2 (71.3) million. In addition, lower earnings contributions from the AgReliant joint venture had a negative impact. The segment's EBIT margin fell from 9.2% to 6.1%.

Sales in the Sugarbeet segment rose significantly by 12.2% to €588.4 (524.3) million due to the great success of innovative KWS varieties. KWS thus grew faster than the market and thus once again underpinned its leading global market position for sugarbeet seeds. Strong demand for CONVISO SMART – an innovative weed control system – was once again a driver of growth in the past financial year. The corresponding varieties are now available in 25 countries and accounted for a significant share of segment sales of around 19%. Another growth driver was the new varieties with Cercospora tolerance (CR+), which already recorded very strong demand in the second year of the market launch. Against the background of the positive sales development, the segment result also rose significantly to €195.0 (174.7) million. At 33.1% (33.3%), the EBIT margin was on a par with the previous year.

In the Cereals segment, sales rose significantly by 13.2% to € 216.4 (191.62) million. The main driver of this positive sales development was the strong growth in rapeseed. In particular, favorable market conditions and improved performance of the variety portfolio led to an increase of 42%. The rye seed business also developed very well with an increase of 4%, especially in Germany. The rye seed business accounted for a significant share of segment sales at around 40%. Sales of wheat seed increased by around 7% due to positive market conditions, while sales of barley seed were slightly below the previous year's level. Against the background of the pleasing sales development, the segment result rose to €29.5 (21.3) million. The EBIT margin increased to 13.6% and was thus significantly higher than in the previous year (11.1%).