Südzucker sees the profit of fiscal year 2023/24 increase by 22.5% to €648 million. That is significantly higher than the €529 million of fiscal year 2022/23. Especially the difference with fiscal year 2021/22 is large. That year the profit was only €123 million.
The revenue of 2023/24 increased year on year from €9.5 billion to €10.3 billion. That is an increase of 8.3%. The Ebitda increased from €1.1 billion to €1.3 billion. Remarkably, the number of employees also increased significantly by 4.7%, to 19,204 employees.
Revenue of sugar segment grows significantly
Südzucker states in their report that the revenues mainly stem from the success of the sugar segment, the special products segment (such as ready-to-eat products, animal feed, and snacks), and the fruit segment. This is in contrast to the energy segment and the starch segment, which they claim significantly shrank. The energy segment CropEnergies produces, among other things, renewable ethanol.
The fruit segment accounted for €1.6 billion in revenues, 5.7% more than the previous fiscal year. The revenue of the special products segment was 8.9% higher at €2.4 billion. In the sugar segment, Südzucker made the biggest leap. That branch of the company accounted for revenue of €4.2 billion, a significant 29.4% more than in 2023. According to Südzucker, this was mainly due to higher prices during the fiscal year.
CropEnergies declined by 21.5%
On the other hand, the revenue of the starch segment was €1.1 billion, 11.5% lower. This was due to lower sales volumes and prices. The energy division of the company (CropEnergies) generated revenue of €1.1 billion, a decrease of 21.5%. This was partly due to lower sales volumes due to planned maintenance work. On the other hand, due to significantly lower prices, writes Südzucker.