AGRANA – RESULTS FOR HALF-YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2003
Date: 13.10.2003AGRANA developed satisfactorily during the second quarter of the current group financial year lasting from 1 June through 31 August 2003.
Comparability of the whole of the first half of the financial year (1 March through 31 August 2003) with the same period of 2002/03 is limited by the fact that two extra months (January and February) were added to the 2002/03 financial years of the AGRANA International subsidiaries following the change in their balance-sheet dates.
Sales revenues during the second quarter of this financial year were € 16 million or 7 per cent up on the same period of 2002. However, because of the relocation of the balance-sheet dates of AGRANA’s subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe last year, revenues during the first half of the 2003/04 financial year (1 March through 31 August) were € 36.4 million or 7.8 per cent down on 2002/03 at € 429.8 million. Based on genuinely comparable periods, revenues increased by € 3.9 million or 1 per cent.
Operating profit during the first half of 2003/04 came to € 38.0 million, which was € 11.5 million down on the first half of the 2002/03 financial year and € 8.4 million down on the same period of 2002 (March through August). The reduction was attributable to developments within the AGRANA International subsidiaries, whose markets performed less well than during the first half of the previous financial year in both quantity and price terms.
Figures for the first half of the current financial year and the first half of 2003/04:
| AGRANA’s Performance (1 March –31 August) |
1st Half 2003/04 |
1st Half 2002/03 |
|
| Revenues | €mn | 429.8 | 466.2 |
| Operating profit | €mn | 38.0 | 49.6 |
| Profit before tax | €mn | 36.5 | 49.6 |
| Consolidated profit (after allowing for minority interests) |
€mn | 25.3 | 31.9 |
| Investments in tangible non-current assets (full year) |
€mn | 51.8 (planned) | 49.7 (planned) |
| Investments in tangible non-current assets (1st Half) |
€mn | 16.2 | 18.4 |
| Staff | 3,638 | 3,671 |
Outlook for the 2003/04 financial year
As the 2003/04 financial years of the AGRANA International subsidiaries will be of normal length (12 months, as against 14 months in 2002/03) and in view of the low world market price of C sugar, we expect our revenues during the 2003/04 financial year (inclusive of Vallø Saft) to be slightly down on 2002/03. Given the poor state of AGRANA International’s markets and the effects of the weather-related increase in raw maize prices, operating profit will decline by up to 15 per cent compared with 2002/03.