EINBECK (dpa-AFX) - KWS Saat has lowered its sales forecast for the current fiscal year. On Tuesday, the company cited "significantly lower cultivation areas for corn and sugar beets in Europe" as the reason for this. On a comparable basis, sales in 2024/25 (as of the end of June) are likely to remain at the previous year's level, the seed producer in Einbeck announced. KWS Saat had previously anticipated growth of two to four percent. Currency and portfolio effects have been excluded from this calculation. The profitability forecast has been specified: The company now expects an earnings margin before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the middle of the range of 14 to 16 percent.
In the first nine months, sales stagnated at around 1.3 billion euros. EBIT fell by a good 16 percent to 282 million euros. In the previous year, KWS Saat had still benefited from earnings contributions from the Chinese corn portfolio, which has since been sold. In addition, a write-down of the remaining book value of the "Pop Vriend" brand in the vegetable segment had a negative impact. Overall, profit from continuing operations fell by 11.2 percent to €202.8 million./nas/stk
