CropEnergies posts 26% revenue gain for 2010-11

CropEnergies AG, a German bioethanol manufacturer and producer of food and animal feed, increased its revenues in the 2010-11 financial year by 26% to EUR472.8 million (US$533.4 million).

EBITDA grew by 131% to EUR76.3 million ($109.2 million). Despite an increase in depreciation, operating profit nearly quadrupled to EUR45.9 million (US$65.7 million). The operating margin reached 9.7% of revenues. CropEnergies thus exceeded its own forecast and further expanded its position as one of Europe''s leading bioethanol manufacturers.

The increases of revenues and earnings were attributable to significant growth in the capacity utilisation of bioethanol and high-quality protein-rich co-products, particularly as a result of higher production output from the Wanze plant.

In the 2010-11 financial year, the CropEnergies Group increased its production of bioethanol by 14% to 687 thousand m？3. In the area of high-quality protein-rich co-products, the company began selling gluten for food applications, thus entering a new profitable market.

Production and sales volumes of bioethanol, food, and animal feed in the 2011-12 financial year are expected to remain at least at the previous year''s high level. In conjunction with better marketing opportunities for the products, CropEnergies expects a continued, but now more moderate, growth in revenues in the 2011-12 financial year.

Provided that the higher raw material costs can continue to be offset through higher selling prices, operating profit will also grow, but more moderately. This will further strengthen CropEnergies'' leading position among the listed biofuel manufacturers especially against the background of current raw material prices.

CropEnergies - a member of the S？？dzucker Group - is a leading European manufacturer of sustainably produced bioethanolfor the fuel industry, with an annual output of over 700,000 cubic meters of bioethanol. CropEnergies also refines the co-products of bioethanol production into over 500,000 tonnes of high-quality food and animal feed.