BayWa's international operations have once again helped the group increase earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) year-on-year.
The German group’s agricultural sector (BayWa AG) generated EBIT of €158.1m over the 2015 financial year, up from €152.1m in 2014.
Revenues in the 2015 financial year amounted to €14.9bn, down slightly from €15.2bn a year earlier. The group attributed the fall to the sharp decline in commodity prices in the agricultural and energy sector.
In reporting the 2015 results, BayWa said the difficult market environment in agricultural trade negatively impacted earnings due to low producer prices and a reduced willingness to sell among domestic farmers. Much of the agricultural industry in Germany was affected by the associated impact.
“Thanks to its good position in the international agricultural business, BayWa was able to compensate for this development to a certain extent,” said Klaus Josef Lutz, chief executive of BayWa Ag.
Lutz also announced BayWaAG would once again put forward a proposal to group’s supervisory board to raise the dividend for 2015 from €0.80 to €0.85 per share, in keeping with the policy of consistent dividend development, corresponding to an increase of 6.3 per cent. As a result, the dividend would have more than doubled since 2009.
