DGAP-News

BayWa AG: International business bolsters third quarter - BayWa makes substantial gain - Seite 2

sentiment in the industry even further," Lutz explained. "For BayWa, this
means that we are intensifying our efforts to adjust to the structural
changes here by concentrating our site network further, for example. What
is more, we will continue to expand our international trade and export
activities, including the planned development to turn Mukran on the Baltic
coast into a deep water port," the Chief Executive Officer said, before
adding that grain trading markets are becoming increasingly volatile and
therefore harder to predict. A slight rise in grain prices recently
bolstered international trade and stimulated German farmers' willingness to
sell their grain, but the outlook for the year as a whole still must be
more cautious than it was before the harvest. "We intend to come up to our
full-year earnings in 2015 at the same level as the previous year, at the
least," Lutz added.

Agriculture: International business performs well - hot summer and volatile
prices hit grain trading in Germany
Revenues in the Agriculture Segment, which comprises trading in
agricultural operating resources and produce as well as the Agricultural
Equipment and Fruit business units, came to EUR7.69 billion as at 30
September 2015 (2014: EUR7.70 billion). EBIT after the first nine months of
2015 stood at EUR63.9 million (2014: EUR69.8 million).

The primary reason for the dip in EBIT was the situation in the German
agricultural trade. As an example, the hot summer weather almost completely
eliminated the need to dry out grain after the harvest, which led to
corresponding loss of income in core BayWa regions. In addition, this
year's corn harvest was significantly poorer than the previous year,
particularly in Bavaria, resulting in a corresponding reduction in
marketing volume for BayWa. All in all, farmers' willingness to sell their
grain dropped significantly, and processors held back on their purchases in
anticipation of a further fall in prices, as the price trend was strongly
downward-facing until the end of September. Prices, and therefore also
sales and demand, did not rise again until the start of the fourth quarter.
Sales of crop protection products were also impacted by the dry summer
weather. Sales of fertilisers, on the other hand, rose due to falling
prices, and seed business continued to experience stable development.

BayWa's international Group companies in the agricultural trade business
also performed well in operating terms. Amongst other things, new sales
channels were opened up in North Africa and the Arab world, which are set