Südzucker confirms full-year 2019/2020 forecast

While the sugar segment’s revenues fell sharply, the fruit segment’s were slightly below last year's level and the special products and CropEnergies segments’ rose.

The consolidated group operating result dropped as expected significantly to € 74 (previous year: 139) m, driven mainly by the sugar segment losses: revenues fell sharply to € 1.121 (previous year: 1.389) bn. According to the company, the decline was driven by low sales revenues and significantly lower volumes due to the reduced 2018 harvest. The sugar segment's operating loss of € - 93 (previous year: 3) m had been predicted. The main causes were the EU sugar market price level, which did not cover costs, and sharply lower sales volumes due to the drought-driven weaker 2018 harvest.

The decline reported by the fruit segment was more than offset by improved results reported by the special products and CropEnergies segments.