Südzucker : Annual Report 2023/24

SÜDZUCKER AG

ANNUAL REPORT 2023/24

Südzucker Group 2023/ 24

€ 10,289 [9,498] million

Consolidated group revenues

€ 1,318 [1,070] million

Group EBITDA

€ 947 [704] million

Group consolidated operating result

19,204 [18,341]

Employees

€ 1,046 [927] million

Cash flow

€ 547 [467] million Investments, thereof

€ 546 [400] million Investments in fixed assets

13.2 [9.9] %

ROCE

€ 7.2 [7.1] billion Capital employed

€ 1,795 [1,864] million

Net financial debt

Sugar

Special products

CropEnergies

Starch

Fruit

segment

segment

segment

segment

segment

p. 68

p. 73

p. 77

p. 81

p. 84

€ 4,162 [3,216] million

€ 2,414 [2,217] million

€ 1,091 [1,390] million

€ 1,056 [1,193] million

€ 1,566 [1,482] million

Revenues

Revenues

Revenues

Revenues

Revenues

€ 558 [230] million

€ 196 [102] million

€ 60 [251] million

€ 48 [70] million

€ 85 [51] million

Operating

Operating

Operating

Operating

Operating

result

result

result

result

result

Outlook		About 100
2024/25		production locations
		p. 89		in 32 countries
€ 10.0 to 10.5 billion	€ 0.9 to 1.0 billion
Consolidated group	Group EBITDA expected.
revenues expected
			Slight decrease of
€ 500 to 600 million	capital employed and
Group consolidated	significant decrease of
operating result expected.	ROCE expected.

www.suedzuckergroup.com

CONTENTS

003 TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS

017 COMBINED MANAGEMENT REPORT

117 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Annual Report 2023/24

1 March 2023 - 29 February 2024 published on 16 May 2024

124 NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED ­ FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT
2. INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT

195 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Integrated report

Sustainability is firmly established as one of five

strategic directions in our 2026 PLUS group strategy­ . This integrated report combines financial and ­sustainability reporting and shows the Südzucker Group's economic, ecological and social ­performance during the 2023/24 financial year.

Further information

The annual report is also available in German. This translation is provided for convenience only and should not be relied upon exclusively.

The German­ version of the annual report is definitive and takes precedence over this translation. The annual report (in German and English) and the Südzucker AG financial statements can be ­downloaded as a PDF file from Südzucker's website at www.suedzuckergroup.com.

The Südzucker Group's financial reports have been prepared in accordance with IFRS in

Financial calendar

Q1 - Quarterly statement 1st quarter 2024/25

Annual general meeting Fiscal 2023/24

Q2 - Half-year financial report 1st half year 2024/25

Q3 - Quarterly statement 1st to 3rd quarter 2024/25

Preliminary figures Fiscal 2024/25

Press and analysts' conference Fiscal 2024/25

Q1 - Quarterly statement 1st quarter 2025/26

Annual general meeting Fiscal 2024/25

11 July 2024

18 July 2024

10 October 2024

14 January 2025

25 April 2025

15 May 2025

10 July 2025

17 July 2025

conjunction­with supplemental provisions from the German Commercial Code (HGB) and the German­ Accounting Standards (GAS).

Non-financial reports are prepared in accordance with HGB and are based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework.

Südzucker Group

Get the Power

of Plants

As a leading integrated group of companies with plant-based solutions for food, energy and other applications, we drive for a livable, healthy and sustainable world.

Around 20,000 employees in our sugar, special

products,­ CropEnergies, starch and fruit segments are committed to being the leading partner for ­plant-­based solutions on behalf of our customers.

We process agricultural raw materials into high- quality products, especially into food for industrial customers and end users but also feed and other

products­ for the food and non-food industries. In this process, the raw materials are to a large ­extent fully utilized and refined. Our marketing focuseson business- to-business clients.

A strong ownership structure provides a reliable framework­ for the company's development.

Key Figures

Revenues and earnings

Revenues	€ million
EBITDA	€ million
EBITDA margin	%
Operating result	€ million
Operating margin	%
Net earnings	€ million

2023/24

10,289

1,318

12.8

947

9.2

648

2022/23

9,498

1,070

11.3

704

7.4

529

2021/22

7,599

692

9.1

332

4.4

123

2020/21 2019/20

6,679	6,671
597	478

8.9 7.2

236

116

3.5 1.7

- 36		- 55

Revenues by segment

€ million

Sugar

Special products

CropEnergies

Starch

Fruit

Group total

2023/24

4,162

2,414

1,091

1,056

1,566

10,289

2022/23

3,216

2,217

1,390

1,193

1,482

9,498

+ / - in %

29.4

8.9

- 21.5

- 11.5

5.7

8.3

Cash flow and investments
Cash flow	€ million
Investments in fixed assets 1	€ million
Investments in financial assets / acquisitions	€ million

1,046

546

1

927

400

67

560

332

4

475	372
285	335

15

13

TABLE 002

Total investments	€ million
Performance
Fixed assets 1	€ million
Goodwill	€ million
Working capital	€ million
Capital employed	€ million
Return on capital employed	%
Capital structure
Total assets	€ million

547

3,482

693

2,967

7,187

13.2

10,278

467

3,354

697

2,999

7,095

9.9

9,698

336

3,215

707

2,318

6,325

5.3

8,441

300	348

3,209

3,322

722 740

2,179 2,213

6,222

6,388

3.8 1.8

7,973

8,387

Operating result by segment

€ million

Sugar

Special products

CropEnergies

Starch

Fruit

Group total

2023/24

558

196

60

48

85

947

2022/23

230

102

251

70

51

704

+ / - in %

> 100

92.2

- 76.1

- 31.4

66.7

34.5

Shareholders' equity	€ million
Net financial debt	€ million
Net financial debt to cash flow ratio
Equity ratio	%
Shares
Market capitalization	€ million
Closing price on 28/29 February	€
Earnings per share	€
Cashflow per share	€
Dividend per share 2	€
Employees

1. Including intangible assets.
2. 2023/24: Proposal.

4,273

1,795

1.7

41.6

2,670

13.08

2.72

5.12

0.90

19,204

4,199

1,864

2.0

43.3

3,278

16.06

1.93

4.54

0.70

18,341

3,699

1,466

2.6

43.8

2,493

12.21

0.32

2.74

0.40

18,019

3,536	3,644
1,511	1,570

3.2 4.2

44.3 43.4

2,661

2,873

13.03 14.07

- 0.52- 0.60

2.33 1.82

0.20 0.20

17,876	19,188

TABLE 003

TABLE 001

01	02	03	04
TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS	COMBINED MANAGEMENT REPORT	CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS	ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS

• 05 LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

08	EXECUTIVE BOARD			ANNUAL REPORT012023/24
09	SUPERVISORY BOARD
10	REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
14	SÜDZUCKER­	SHARES AND CAPITAL MARKET	SÜDZUCKER AG	3

01		02	03	04
TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS	COMBINED MANAGEMENT REPORT	CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS	ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
E xecutive board

EXECUTIVE BOARD

From left

Dr. Niels Pörksen

Limburgerhof, Germany

Chairman / Chief Executive

Officer (CEO), Labor director

Stephan Büttner

Vienna, Austria

COO / Chief Executive Officer of

AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG

(CEO AGRANA)

Hans-Peter Gai

Weinheim, Germany

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Thomas Kölbl

Speyer, Germany

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Dr. Stephan Meeder

Mannheim, Germany

SÜDZUCKER AG

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ANNUAL REPORT 2023/24

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Letter from the executive board

MANNHEIM, 26 APRIL 2024

The 2023/24 fiscal year has been extraordinarily successful for Südzucker­ Group, and we can be proud of everything we have accomplished. We have deliberately placed this statement at the beginning of this letter and highlighted it so clearly because business performance like this is anything but a given in an era of multiple crises. The effects of the Ukraine war and other geopolitical conflicts have impacted our business as much as the persistently challenging supply situation for raw materials, sustained high volatility in energy prices, inflation and the cooling economy in Central Europe - to name just a few of the economic conditions within which we operate. So it is all the more gratifying to see our current strategy validated and receive confirmation that our concentrated and focused efforts have paid off.

It would be a mistake, however, to take these accomplishments for granted: As the Südzucker­ Group, we are constantly challenged to adapt and evolve to secure our future success. It is likely that we will continue to face a number of different challenges moving forward.

Expressed in figures, we are concluding the 2023/24 fiscal year with revenues of € 10.3 billion and an operating result of € 947 million. This positive business performance has given us the opportunity to reduce once again the company's debt-to-equity ratio and position ourselves strategically and sustainably for the future. We were also able to significantly simplify our group and capital structure by successfully delisting our subsidiary CropEnergies, thereby fulfilling a central demand of our stakeholders.

Extraordinary year for the sugar segment

Let us now turn our attention to development in the individual segments. The sugar segment significantly contributed to our overall success in 2023/24. After several weaker years, we capitalized on the market opportunities presented to us, which enabled us to achieve an excellent result. At the same time, the beet campaign was extremely challenging - not

only due to the weather conditions but also because of the unexpected emergence of a new beet disease, Stolbur. This has presented us and our farmers with unanticipated challenges from the field to the factory. As the fiscal year comes to a close, this, particularly in combination with high raw material prices and challenging logistics conditions,

is reflected in a considerable increase in production costs, which have noticeably impacted the result since the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

Development was positive overall in the special products segment. Worthy of special mention here is the Freiberger Group, which was able to substantially increase revenues and the result on the heels of two less impressive years. Sales of frozen pizza continue to be the driving force in this segment; we are also pleased that our US subsidiary, Richelieu, showed improved performance development due to the measures implemented. The past year has been a turbulent one for CropEnergies, marked not only by the delisting but

SÜDZUCKER AG

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Letter from the executive board

also by falling ethanol prices, volatilities in raw material markets and a strategic realignment of the company. Our subsidiary AGRANA is responsible for both the starch and fruit segments. While starch experienced a difficult business year, the development in the fruit segment, particularly the fruit preparations division, was positive overall.

Changing political framework

Expanding our analysis to consider the environment in

which Südzucker­ Group operates reveals a wide range of political and social developments that we are currently addressing and must continue to consider in the foreseeable future. These include discussions concerning nutritional strategies, advertising bans, sugar taxes, highly processed foods or reformulations, as well as issues surrounding ­pesticides, genetic engineering, reductions in cultivation area or the path to carbon neutrality, to name just a few topics. We must address these issues as a group of companies, represent our positions in the political arena and be able to respond appropriately to decisions. It is also our responsibility to highlight potential negative consequences. One

issue, for example, is the duty-free importing of goods such as sugar into the EU from countries that can produce more cost-effectively due to less stringent manufacturing regula- tions. The potential impact of these significant sugar import volumes on the European market and sugar producers is considerable. Another issue is farmer protests. The long-­ simmering discontent among farmers over bureaucracy and rigid political mandates, coupled with a lack of recognition for the role they play in society, has now expanded into a discussion across various sectors throughout Europe. As agriculture becomes more complex and thus more expensive, production costs rise first, followed by food prices. ­Nevertheless, the situation cannot be resolved by calling for ostensibly cheap imports from third countries, where food is produced under less stringent conditions for people and the environment and in some instances must be transported over long distances to the EU - all at the expense of domestic agriculture, the food industry and the supply security of the local population. Ecological and economic sustainability should not apply exclusively to products made in the EU.

Outlook for 2024/25: Simplify structures, review investments

Returning our focus to the Südzucker­ Group, the most pressing issue is: What is the result for the 2023/24 fiscal year and what developments do we expect to see in 2024/25? Over the past year, we have consistently continued along the path we defined with our 2026 PLUS strategy. This applies to improving our established business segments as well as investments in our protein activities and alternative ethanol chemistry. We continue to see tremendous potential for new, innovative business segments here.

Our traditional core business remains the most important pillar for our group's continued growth. It is essential to strategically position this business to be efficient and competitive in an environment marked by numerous uncertainties and conditions in the markets, politics and society that are largely beyond our control. We are confident that 2024/25 can be a successful year, despite recent signs of deteriorating conditions and the likelihood of declining results overall. This is particularly true for our sugar business:

SÜDZUCKER AG

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Letter from the executive board

Here, we are confronted not only with volatile sugar prices and escalating production costs, but also with the urgent need to enhance our measures against beet diseases transmitted by cicadas, such as SBR (Syndrome Basses Rich- esses) and Stolbur. These efforts are crucial to safeguard our most vital raw material and guarantee high-quality beet harvests. Overall, however, a significant decline in the group result will be unavoidable.

Südzucker­ Group will continue to move ahead with the implementation phase of our defined 2026 PLUS strategy during the 2024/25 fiscal year. Where can we enhance efficiency, optimize processes, streamline structures, collaborate more effectively and foster stronger integration as a group? What adjustments can we make to sharpen our competitive edge and more effectively demonstrate the value of our plant- based solutions to our customers? Additionally, how can we better showcase our strengths as an employer to attract potential employees? Here, we see promising opportunities for the future and are confident that we have initiated the right measures.

Another increase in the proposed dividend

A decision already made by the executive and supervisory boards concerns this year's dividend: In light of the excellent result achieved in the 2023/24 fiscal year, we are proposing an increase of the dividend to € 0.90 (0.70) per share to the annual general meeting. This decision continues our long- term dividend payout policy, which aims to allow our shareholders to participate in the success of our company.

This success would not have been possible without our

dedicated­ employees, who embraced and overcame all the challenges presented during the fiscal year with enthusi- asm, skill and determination. Our sincere thanks go out to all of them. We also want to express our appreciation to our shareholders for the confidence they have placed in us and ­Südzucker Group.

We wish you all the best, great success and, most impor- tantly, good health.

Yours truly,

SüdzuckerAG

Executive board

DR.  NIELS  PÖRKSEN	STEPHAN  BÜTTNER	HANS-PETER  GAI	THOMAS  KÖLBL	DR.  STEPHAN  MEEDER
(CHAIRMAN)
SÜDZUCKER AG	7	ANNUAL REPORT 2023/24