BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - German sugar producer Suedzucker AG (SUEZF.PK) reported that its net earnings attributable to shareholders for the first-quarter dropped to 20 million euros from the prior year's 81 million euros, with earnings per share declining to 0.10 euros from 0.39 euros last year.
Consolidated group operating result dropped to 78 million euros from 153 million euros last year. The decline was hurt mainly by the predicted significantly weaker sugar segment growth. The CropEnergies segment's result was also clearly below last year's. The special products segment's operating result was moderately lower than last year's, while the fruit segment's was slightly higher.
Consolidated group revenues declined to 1.741 billion euros from the previous year's 1.783 billion euros. The sugar and CropEnergies segments' revenues fell sharply, whereas the special products segment's rose substantially. The fruit segment's revenues remained at the previous year's level.
The sugar segment's revenues declined to 695 million euros from the prior year's 777 million euros, in spite of substantially higher sales volumes, particularly in the field of exports, driven by significantly lower sales revenues.
For the current fiscal year 2018/19, consolidated group revenues are still expected to range between 6.8 billion euros and 7.1 billion euros. This was compared to prior year's revenues of 7.0 billion euros
It expects the sugar segment's revenues to drop significantly. It sees the CropEnergies segment's revenues ranging between 730 million euros and 780 million euros, compared to the previous forecast of 760 million euros to 820 million euros.
It expects the special products segment's revenues to rise substantially and the fruit segment's to increase moderately.
The company still expects the consolidated group operating result to drop sharply, to between 100 million euros and 200 million euros, driven largely by the sugar segment's decidedly lower results. A sizable decline is also expected for CropEnergies. However, it expects the special products and fruit segments to report significantly rising operating result.
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