KTG Agrar remains on course for growth
Agricultural enterprise benefits from high demand of agricultural commodities
- Total output rises 76.5 percent to EUR 31.6 million
- EBIT increases 60.8 percent to EUR 4 million
- 70 percent of 2008 harvest already sold at high prices
- Profits expected to surge in the current year
Hamburg, May 26, 2008 – KTG Agrar AG [ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4], one of the leading European agricultural enterprises, recorded strong growth across all business segments in 2007. Total output climbed from EUR 17.9 million to EUR 31.6 million (HGB reporting, all figures before IPO costs), representing an increase of 76.5 percent. The operating result (EBIT) advanced to EUR 4 million - up 60.8 percent on the previous year (EUR 2.5 million). The result from ordinary activities, at EUR 2.1 million, was also clearly higher than in 2006 (EUR 1.6 million). Siegfried Hofreiter, CEO of KTG Agrar, said: “We have delivered on our promises given at the time of our IPO. We are growing profitably, we have made significant investments in the expansion of our farmland and the capital injection has further improved our room for manoeuvre.”
KTG Agrar is Europe’s leading producer of organic market crop such as organic grain and organic maize. The company is committed to high quality also in conventional farming and has benefited, in particular, from growing demand in Germany. At the end of fiscal year 2007, KTG Agrar was farming a total of 17,982 hectares, thereof 14,643 hectares in Germany and 3,339 hectares in Lithuania. At the beginning of the current year the expansion of farmland has been further pushed ahead as well. As of 31 March, a total of nearly 20,000 hectares were available to the company.
The year 2007 saw a continuation of the sustained trends which have characterised the agricultural commodities markets for several years. Demand for agricultural products continues to rise as a result of the growing world population as well as growing affluence in the emerging countries, with eating habits changing in consequence. Supply has not been able to keep up with this buoyant demand, entailing higher prices. “Global grain consumption has been higher than grain production in seven out of the past eight years,” explains Hofreiter. KTG Agrar expects the high demand for organic and conventional market crop to persist also in 2008.
In light of the positive development across all business segments, KTG Agrar is planning for dynamic business growth and a clearly rising EBIT margin also in the current year. Wolfgang Bläsi, the company’s chief financial officer, says: “We are very optimistic about 2008, which will be the first full year to see our ten biogas plans running at full capacity. In this segment alone we expect revenues of approximately EUR 10 million.” In the market crop segment, approximately 70 percent of the 2008 harvest has already been sold at high prices. The company plans to expand its total farmland to more than 22,500 hectares by year-end 2008.
The company’s 2007 English Annual Report will be available for download in June at www.ktg-agrar.de/sys/english.