Annual General Meeting 2020: BayWa successful so far in navigating crisis – dividend raised for 2019

At this year's Annual General Meeting, Klaus Josef Lutz, Chief Executive Officer of BayWa AG, drew a positive conclusion for the past financial year: 'We achieved our targets and finished 2019 with a significant year-on-year rise in EBIT.' EBIT increased to €188.4 million (2018: €172.4 million), with revenues rising to €17.1 billion (2018: €16.6 billion). The shareholders therefore voted at the Annual General Meeting, which was held as a virtual event due to the coronavirus pandemic, to raise the dividend by 5 cents to 95 cents per share.

'BayWa's positive development was once again driven by the Energy Segment in 2019, more than compensating for the effects resulting from the difficult market conditions in agriculture,' Lutz explained. 'Global Produce - the fruit business - was also successful, and Agricultural Equipment developed significantly better than expected even following the record year seen in 2018. Building Materials also outperformed the expectations.'

BayWa has proved to be strong and resilient in recent months. As an essential business, BayWa saw stable development. 'Overall, we have come through the pandemic quite well so far,' said Lutz.' He does not currently expect any serious adverse effects from corona in the second half of the year either. 'We therefore expect the BayWa Group's earnings before interest and tax to at least be on a par with the previous year,' the Chief Executive Officer said at the Annual General Meeting.

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