AGRANA reaffirms full-year forecast, with significant EBIT growth despite difficult market environment

AGRANA reaffirms full-year forecast, with significant EBIT growth despite difficult market environment

First three quarters of 2025|26 at a glance

• Revenue: € 2,494.0 million (–7.9%; Q1–Q3 previous year: € 2,707.8 million)
• EBIT: € 48.4 million (–5.3%; Q1–Q3 previous year: € 51.1 million)
• EBIT margin: 1.9% (Q1–Q3 previous year: 1.9%)
• Profit for the period: € 9.6 million (–33.8%; Q1–Q3 previous year: € 14.5 million)

Outlook for full year 2025|26

• Reiterating the forecast for full year 2025|26 of significant increase in EBIT and moderate reduction in revenue.

In the first three quarters of the 2025|26 financial year (the nine months ended 30 November 2025), AGRANA, the manufacturer of food and industrial products, recorded a moderate year-on-year decrease in revenue to € 2,494.0 million (Q1–Q3 previous year: € 2,707.8 million) and in operating profit (EBIT) to € 48.4 million (Q1–Q3 previous year: € 51.5 million). While EBIT in the Food & Beverage Solutions (FBS) business area rose significantly due to a better performance both in its formulation and beverage activities, the earnings situation in the Agricultural Commodities & Specialities (ACS) business area deteriorated as a result of narrower margins on ethanol and saccharification products, lower sugar sales prices and one-time staff costs for restructuring measures.

"We are on track to achieve our financial targets for 2025|26. As we had forecast, Group operating profit (EBIT) increased significantly in the third quarter, with the result that we delivered almost steady EBIT for the reporting period of the first three quarters, despite difficult market conditions and one-off sugar restructuring costs. The Food & Beverage Solutions segment was a key contributor in this. Although the operating performance in the sugar business remained unsatisfactory, it showed an improvement compared to the same period of the previous year. This confirms that the restructuring measures we have introduced are producing results and we are moving in the right direction," emphasises AGRANA CEO Stephan Büttner. “The Food & Beverage Solutions segment was a crucial stabilising pillar of Group EBIT in the first three quarters of 2025|26 and remains the driver for the unchanged EBIT forecast for the 2025|26 financial year. We expect a significant increase in Group EBIT to a value of between about € 45 million and € 60 million.”

Food & Beverage Solutions (FBS) segment

Revenue of the FBS segment in the first three quarters of 2025|26, at € 1,252.1 million, was above the year-earlier level. While revenue rose slightly in the formulation activities for price reasons, it decreased somewhat in the beverage business amid lower volume.

EBIT of the FBS segment grew to € 89.8 million in the first nine months of the financial year (Q1–Q3 previous year: € 72.9 million). The significant improvement was due to a positive business trajectory in both formulations and beverages.

ACS – Starch segment

In the first three quarters of 2025|26, the ACS – Starch segment generated revenue of € 756.2 million, slightly less than in the year-ago period. Key reasons for this were lower sales volumes and selling prices for saccharification products as well as lower ethanol prices.

At € 18.9 million, EBIT represented a significant decrease from the year-earlier figure, mainly due to lower margins in ethanol and in saccharification products. While sales prices for core products declined, raw material costs increased year-on-year.

ACS – Sugar segment

Revenue of the ACS – Sugar segment in the first three quarters of 2025|26, at € 458.5 million, represented a significant reduction from one year earlier, as slightly higher sugar volumes sold to industrial customers were more than offset by a very significant drop in volumes with resellers. Another important driver of the revenue decline was a pronounced fall in sugar sales prices in the industrial sector.

The EBIT result deteriorated by 18% year-on-year to a loss of € 45.1 million. In the deficit markets of the CEE region, the prevailing considerable price pressure had a negative impact on sales volumes with resellers. In addition, the significantly lower sugar sales prices in the industrial market segment weighed on margins. However, beginning in the second quarter, the cost-saving and optimisation measures taken led to a continuous improvement in the metric “operating loss before exceptional items and results of equity-accounted joint ventures”; at € 22.4 million, this loss was significantly reduced from the previous year’s € 32.7 million deficit.

With the termination of sugar production in Leopoldsdorf, Austria, and Hrušovany, Czech Republic, a redundancy benefit plan was drawn up in spring 2025. In connection with this, expenses of € 20.4 million were recognised in the first three quarters of 2025|26 (largely in the first quarter), consisting mostly of staff costs. This exceptional item had an adverse effect on EBIT.

The detailed financial results are provided in the interim statement for the first three quarters of 2025|26  LINK

Outlook

For the full 2025|26 financial year, AGRANA expects a significant increase in Group EBIT. Group revenue is projected to show a moderate decrease. The AGRANA Group’s total investment this financial year, at approximately € 100 million, is expected to be both significantly below the 2024|25 value and significantly less than this year’s budgeted depreciation of about € 112 million.

About AGRANA

AGRANA converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and numerous industrial intermediate products. With about 9,000 employees, the two business areas of Food & Beverage Solutions and Agricultural Commodities & Specialities generate annual Group revenue of approximately € 3.5 billion at 50 production sites worldwide. Established in 1988, the company is the global market leader in fruit preparations and the world’s leading producer (and supplier) of apple juice concentrates and berry juice concentrates. AGRANA is the leading sugar company in Central and Eastern Europe and a major producer of customised potato, corn and wheat starch products as well as of bioethanol.

For queries, please contact:

Markus Simak, Public Relations
+43 1 21137 12084, markus.simak@agrana.com

Hannes Haider, Investor Relations
+43 1 21137 12905, hannes.haider@agrana.com

 

This announcement is available in German and English at www.agrana.com.