BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - CropEnergies AG, a member of the German sugar company Suedzucker AG (SUEZF.PK), Wednesday said it expects further growth in revenues and earnings in the current financial year 2011/12.
CropEnergies manufactures bioethanol for the fuel industry, with an annual output of over 700,000 cubic meters of bioethanol.
For the business year ending February 2012, the company anticipates an operating result ranging from 50 million euros to 53 million euros. In the prior fiscal, the company recorded an operating result of 45.9 million euros.
Revenues for the year are expected to be between 550 million and 570 million euros, which is also higher than the year-ago revenues of 472.8 million euros.
In addition, the company boosted its annual net earnings by 37 percent to 26.4 million euros compared to 19.2 million euros a year ago.
In the first three quarters of fiscal 2012, revenues increased 22 percent to 425.8 million euros. The company attributed the growth in revenues mainly to higher prices for bioethanol and protein food and animal feed products.
EBITDA for the period improved 21 percent to 66.1 million euros and operating profit surged 34 percent to 42.8 million euros.
During the nine-month period, CropEnergies produced a total of 497 thousand cubic meters of bioethanol, compared to 509 thousand cubic meters produced in the preceding year. In the third quarter, production was 191 thousand cubic metres of bioethanol, higher than 186 thousand cubic metres a year earlier.
As a result of its successful business development, net financial debt as of November 30, 2011.was reduced to 155.4 million euros from previous year's 193.5 million euros, the company stated.
In Frankfurt's Xetra, CropEnergies shares closed Tuesday's regular trading at 5.28 euros, up 1.42 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
