"Germany: "Over half of our revenues originate from international business,"

BayWa AG, Munich, has increased its earnings year on year once again in 2013. The international trading and services company recorded revenues of just under €16 billion (2012: €10.5 billion) and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of almost €222 million (2012: €186.8 million) for the recently completed financial year 2013. The successful year is also due to be reflected in the dividend: The Board of Management will put forward a proposal to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 17 June 2014 to raise the dividend by €0.10 to €0.75 per share.

According to Chief Executive Officer Klaus Josef Lutz, the financial year 2013 represented a "milestone in over 90 years of history at BayWa". "Over half of our revenues originate from our international business," said Lutz at the presentation of the figures in Munich. "Only through the strategy of growth in our core areas of agriculture and renewable energies are we able to record such success today and propose to raise the dividend further."

The companies acquired at the end of 2012, Cefetra B.V. and Bohnhorst Agrarhandel GmbH, have been successfully integrated into BayWa's operating business in just one year, said Lutz. He added that this step will pave the way for the coming years. In 2013, operating EBIT rose to just under €196 million (2012: €169 million). The full-year inclusion of New Zealand fruit company Turners & Growers Limited in the reporting year, as well as the initial consolidation of Cefetra and Bohnhorst (from the end of May 2013), made a major contribution to this result. BayWa financed the acquisitions primarily through the sale of properties, which brought in roughly €290 million last year.

The CEO believes that BayWa is on firm footing for 2014: Agricultural trade is showing promising development in the first few months of the year, Lutz said. The same applies to the renewable energies business, including good progress in the realisation and sale of wind power plants in the USA. Given that building materials also made a positive start to the year and BayWa will split from its building materials locations in North Rhine-Westphalia midway through 2014, Lutz assumes that "we are also moving in the right direction in terms of improving our operating figures in this segment". For the current financial year, Lutz announced that further acquisitions are due to be completed and prepared for, above all in the agricultural industry. "We want to increase our international growth," said Lutz. "As we were quick to adapt to globalised markets, we are able to drive forward the expansion and restructuring of BayWa AG in an extremely targeted and risk-aware manner."

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