German food manufacturer Südzucker AG has announced that group revenues increased from €1,608 million to €1,783 million in the first quarter of its current fiscal year. The company says that this 'sharp rise' was driven by the sugar and crop energy segments.
Consolidated group operating profit also rose from €110 million to €153 million for the period from 1 March 2017 to 31 May 2017.
Sugar Segment
The sugar segment's revenues rose to €777 million, which the company says was driven by higher sugar sales revenues, which offset declining volumes.
Südzucker Group also expanded its beet cultivation area to 443,644 hectares in 2017, which represents a 15% increase year-on-year.
The special products segment experienced a marginal increase in revenue to €481 million, however, its operating profit was lower than last year due to higher raw material prices.
Crop Energy
Crop energy is a growing segment for the company, with revenues increasing to €214 million, which was 'considerably higher' than last year's €149 million.
Südzucker says that this was driven almost exclusively by greatly increased production and sales volumes after restarting the production plant in Wilton, Great Britain, in the second quarter of last year.
It notes that the negative impacts of slightly higher raw material prices, operating costs from the restart of the Wilton plant, and inspection and maintenance work in its Belgian plants, were 'more than offset'. Ethanol sales revenues also experienced an increase compared to last year.
Annual Forecast
Südzucker is anticipating group consolidated revenues of between €6.7 and €7 billion for the 2017/2018 fiscal year. The company is expecting sugar and fruit segments to increase moderately, and is expecting a more significant increase in the revenue for the crop energies segment.
It forecasts that operating results will continue to rise, ending the financial year in the range of €425 to €500 million.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
