The 2023/24 financial year
was exceptionally good for the Südzucker Group.
We can be very satisfied and proud of what we have achieved.
All the more so because the underlying conditions
were once again very challenging:
Many external factors had an impact on our business.
I am thinking, for example, of the effects of the wars in Ukraine
and the Middle East.
Or energy prices, which are still too high and volatile,
and the continuing problems with the supply of raw materials.
Nevertheless, our business has developed positively.
We were able to deleverage despite high investments
and continue to strategically position the company for the future.
The driver of our success was our sugar segment.
We achieved an excellent result here.
And this despite the fact that a new sugar beet disease
was the dominant theme of the campaign.
It causes so-called "rubber beet”
and presented everyone involved – from cultivation to processing –
with major challenges.
We are also very satisfied
with the result in the special products segment:
Freiberger was able to increase its revenues and results.
BENEO continues to benefit from customer
and consumer interest in health-conscious nutrition.
And the PortionPack Group
is tapping into new growth areas in co-packing.
At CropEnergies,
falling ethanol prices and volatility
on the raw material markets had an impact on business performance.
There was also a strategic realignment –
and most recently the delisting of the CropEnergies share.
Declining ethanol revenues and lower sales volumes
also had a negative impact on our starch segment.
By contrast, the fruit segment had a good financial year overall,
especially the fruit preparations division.