Mannheim, 19 December 2014 - CropEnergies AG, Mannheim, has increased its revenues by almost 10 percent in the first three quarters of the financial year 2014/15 to EUR 626 (previous year: 573) million.
Aside from the increase in production volumes, the growth was mainly due to the expansion of trading.
The decrease of the EBITDA to EUR 21 (previous year: 62) million is in line with the expectations already communicated. After depreciation, this resulted in an operating loss of EUR -6 (previous year: 38) million. The main reason for the significant reduction in earnings was the slump in bioethanol prices in Europe compared to the previous year. Prices fell from EUR 515 per cubic meter at the end of November 2013 to a low of EUR 434 per cubic meter on 22 July 2014 and reached EUR 447 Euro per cubic meter at the end of November 2014. Decreased proceeds for food and animal feed products also contributed to the reduction of earnings. Even though the raw material cost decreased compared to the previous year, this could only partially offset the significant drop in sales prices.
CropEnergies confirms the outlook for the financial year 2014/15 and continues to expect a growth in revenues by 5 to 10 percent to EUR 820 to EUR 860 (previous year: 781) million. EBITDA is expected to range between EUR 20 and EUR 40 (previous year: EUR 68) million. Owing to the continuing uncertainty regarding price and market developments, CropEnergies expects to achieve an operating profit ranging between EUR 0 and minus EUR 20 million.For the 1st half of the financial year 2015/16, CropEnergies expects the difficult market conditions to continue since the decision about the use of biofuels until 2020 and beyond on an EU level is not expected until April 2015. CropEnergies anticipates this decision to give a new stimulus to the industry.
The full report for the first three quarters of the financial year 2014/15 will be published on 12 January 2015.