DGAP-News: KTG Agrar SE / Key word(s): Final Results KTG Agrar SE reports strong revenue and earnings growth for 2014 13.05.2015 / 07:45 --------------------------------------------------------------------- KTG Agrar SE reports strong revenue and earnings growth for 2014 * Sales revenues +42% to EUR 234.1 million * EBIT +55% to EUR 37.1 million * Net income climbs from EUR -0.7 million to EUR 6.4 million * Outlook: Harvest phase has only just begun; further revenue and earnings growth planned Hamburg, 13 May 2015. KTG Agrar SE (ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4) clearly increased its earnings at all levels in the financial year 2014. At EUR 234.1 million, Group sales revenues not only exceeded the EUR 200 million mark by a wide margin but were also up by 42% on the previous year. This dynamic growth, to which all business segments contributed, was driven by energy and food production. Sales revenues in the Energy segment increased by 42% to EUR 70.9 million, while the Food segment increased its revenues by 85% to EUR 103.3 million in 2014. "Last year we invested heavily in farmland, biogas plants, food production and agricultural properties and are now starting to reap the fruit," said Siegfried Hofreiter, CEO of KTG Agrar SE. "And this is only just the beginning, as we have built up a unique value chain 'from field to plate', whose earnings potential we are only just beginning to exploit." KTG Agrar SE's earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose by approximately 55% to EUR 37.1 million. Earnings before taxes (EBT) almost quadrupled to EUR 11.8 million, while net income reached a clearly positive EUR 6.4 million, up from EUR -0.7 million in the previous year. Due to the increased earnings, Group equity climbed from EUR 88.5 million to EUR 113.4 million. KTG Agrar SE's equity ratio improved from 15.2% to 16.5%. The headcount moved in sync with the company's dynamic growth and climbed from 775 to 1,008 people (annual average). Thereby, KTG Agrar SE lives up to its social responsibility as an employer especially in economically weaker regions and thus makes a significant contribution to the development rural areas and infrastructure. Siegfried Hofreiter comments: "As a farming business in the heart of Europe, we today cultivate far more than high quality, agricultural products on a total of 45,000 square metres. Residues such as grass and sugar beet leaves are used to produce energy for 500,000 people. We not only supply a city like Hannover with clean energy 24/7 but also provide people with healthy food - for breakfast, lunch and dinner." Brands such as "Frenzel Tiefkühlkost" and "biozentrale" as well as the KTG brand "Die Landwirte", which has been seen with an excellent response from consumers, bring the local farm shop to the supermarket. Outlook: The seeds for further revenue and earnings growth have been sown KTG Agrar SE will also exploit the opportunities arising from the unique value chain in the coming years. Growth will continue to be driven by the Food and Energy segments. In May 2015, KTG Agrar SE acquired three biogas sites with a combined capacity of 7.5 megawatts, which has made the company the No. 1 biogas producer in Germany. Following the integration phase, the takeovers will result in additional sales revenues of EUR 12 million and additional EBITDA of EUR 3 to 4 million per annum. The existing plant portfolio as well as the additional plants, will, once they have been integrated, increase the secured revenue base to over EUR 90 million and the EBITDA base to EUR 28-29 million by 2016. For comparison: this is equivalent to c. 50% of the total KTG Group's 2014 EBITDA totalling EUR 54.5 million. The food production activities, which are subsidiaries of KTG Foods SE also create excellent opportunities. More than ever, aspects such as supply chain visibility, traceability and regionally produced quality food meet the desire of consumers. Current surveys show that these expectations apply not only to Germany, which will remain KTG's most important market, and to Europe but also far beyond. The dynamic growth of the population in Asia, especially in countries such as China and Taiwan, is very exciting. As a result of recent food scandals, many consumers are very sceptical about local food. KTG Agrar SE thoroughly analysed the Chinese market in 2014, and the results are promising. In spite of much higher prices, consumers like to buy European products, and KTG clearly benefits from the "made in Germany" seal and the "from field to plate" strategy. In Germany, KTG Agrar SE also identified a mega trend at an early stage and prepared for it, namely vegetarian food. This long-discussed topic has finally arrived in German supermarkets with a vengeance. Meanwhile all major meat producers are producing vegetarian meat substitutes and have discovered this segment as an important growth market. KTG is ideally positioned for this. Over the past years, KTG Agrar SE has gained a leading market position as a producer of non-GMO soya. Soya is the basis for vegetarian food, a scarce resource in the world market and processing capacities in Europe are still developing. In 2015, KTG Agrar SE will harvest soya beans on its more 8,000 hectares in east Germany, Lithuania and Romania. A major portion of the soya bean harvest will be processed into 100% GMO-free vegetable oil at the Group's own oil mill in Anklam. In this process, KTG also optimises the value chain through the marketing of the resulting soya bean cake as a high-quality protein component in animal feed. "Thanks to the market trend described above and our positioning as one of the leading producers of GMO-free soya, we have the opportunity to help shape this market and to further expand our value chain in the soya segment without significant investments, ," says Benedikt Foertig, member of KTG's Management Board. All in all, KTG Agrar SE will continue the harvest phase in 2015 and aims to further strengthen its equity capital by growing both its sales revenues and earnings. Siegfried Hofreiter comments: "As revenues will pass the EUR 250 million mark this year, EUR 500 million is a realistic target in two to three years' time. The seeds for it have been sown." About KTG Agrar SE With cultivable land of approx. 45,000 hectares, KTG Agrar SE (ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4) is one of the leading producers of agricultural commodities in Europe. As an integrated supplier, the company produces agricultural commodities and renewable energy and food. The Hamburg-based company's core area of expertise is the organic and traditional cultivation of market products such as cereals, potatoes, soy and rapeseed. For organic market products KTG Agrar is the European market leader. The company mainly produces in Germany but has also operated production in the EU member state of Lithuania since 2005. As a result of the takeover of Frenzel Tiefkühlkost and Biozentrale Naturprodukte, KTG has expanded the value chain by the production of food since 2011. In the year 2014, KTG achieved a total output of EUR 297.7 million and EBIT of EUR 37.1 million. Since November 2007 the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and had more than 1,000 employees at year end of 2014. Further information can be found at www.ktg.ag Kontakt: Investor Relations / Presse Fabian Lorenz MC Services AG Tel: +49 211 529252 28 [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 13.05.2015 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: KTG Agrar SE Ferdinandstr. 12 20095 Hamburg Germany Phone: +49 (0)40-303 76-47 Fax: +49 (0)40-303 76-799 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.ktg-agrar.de ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4, DE000A1H3VN9, DE000A1ELQU9, DE000A11QGQ1, WKN: A0DN1J , A1H3VN, A1ELQU, A11QGQ Indices: HASPAX Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich (m:access), Stuttgart; Open Market (Entry Standard) in Frankfurt End of News DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------- 356843 13.05.2015