BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - CropEnergies AG, a unit of German sugar producer Suedzucker AG (SUEZF), reported Thursday that its first-half revenues decreased slightly to 390 million euros from last year's 405 million euros, as expected.
The manufacturer of sustainably produced bioethanol for the fuel said its EBITDA, a key earnings metric, however, increased to 57 million euros from last year's 13 million euros due to higher sales prices, lower raw material costs, and an improved cost structure.
Operating profit also improved considerably to 40 million euros, compared to previous year's loss of 4 million euros. The operating margin reached 10 percent.
CropEnergies' production declined mainly due to the temporary standstill of the plant in Wilton, UK. With the reduced bioethanol production, the production of food and animal feed products also decreased in the reporting period.
Further, the company said it now expects an operating profit, before restructuring costs and special items, between 50 million euros and 70 million euros, compared to previous estimate of 10 million and 40 million euros. Last year's loss was 11 million euros.
CropEnergies had already raised the forecast for the financial year 2014/15 on September 22 due to the improved price levels in the European bioethanol market.
Revenues are now expected to range between 700 million euros and 750 million euros, while previous estimate was 675 million euros to 725 million euros. This is compared to last year's revenues of 827 million euros.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX