German food manufacturer Südzucker has raised its revenue forecast for the 2017/2018 fiscal year, after seeing significant growth in the first three quarters.
Consolidated group revenues for the period from 1 March to 30 November 2017 increased to €5.3 billion, up from €4.9 billion the previous year.
Südzucker says that its sugar and crop energies segments were the main contributors to these higher revenues. Its special products segment saw revenues increase slightly, while the fruit segment remained the same as last year.
As a result, the sugar giant is now anticipating group revenues for the fiscal year to reach between €6.9 and €7.1 billion, up from previous estimates of between €6.7 and €7 billion.
Operating result is still expected to come in at €425-€500 million, which should mark an increase on the €426 million achieved last year.
Sugar Segment
Südzucker's main business area, sugar, saw revenues grow to €2.35 billion in the first three quarters of the year, up from €2.14 billion last year.
The company says that this increase is driven by higher export volumes, but cumulative sales revenues are still higher than a year earlier.
Operating results in the period nearly doubled to €150 million, driven by rising sugar sales revenue and lower production costs.
Above-averages yields of around 81 tonnes of beets per hectare are expected in the company's 2017 cultivation and processing campaign, as a result of the mildly hot summer and sufficient rainfall.
In total, around 35.9 million tonnes of sugar beets will be processed into 5.7 million tonnes of sugar within Südzucker Group.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
