EQS-News: AGRANA NEXT LEVEL: Supervisory Board approves new group strategy

AGRANA NEXT LEVEL: Supervisory Board approves new group strategy

Annual cost savings potential: € 80 – 100 million

Today, AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG's Supervisory Board approved AGRANA NEXT LEVEL, the new Group strategy presented by the Management Board. The implementation of the measures it details will significantly increase AGRANA's competitiveness in the future and is the company's response to challenges such as economic uncertainty, geopolitical crises, high raw material volatility and increasing cost pressure. The strategy focuses on system change and profitable growth, and aims to reduce the company’s dependency on market volatility as well as increase its basic profitability. 

The core element of AGRANA NEXT LEVEL is the transformation of the AGRANA Group into a streamlined, strategic holding company with two strategic business units: “Agricultural Commodities & Specialities” and “Food & Beverage Solutions”. This reorganisation will enable the Group to pool its expertise in a targeted manner and make greater use of existing synergy potential both in terms of markets and costs. The resulting annual savings potential, which will be fully effective from the 2027|28 financial year onwards, amounts to approximately € 80 – 100 million and is an integral part of AGRANA NEXT LEVEL.

All the details required to realise the savings effects resulting from AGRANA NEXT LEVEL will be worked out in detail by the end of the current financial year 2024|25 and then implemented step by step.

AGRANA CEO Stephan Büttner: “AGRANA NEXT LEVEL is our roadmap through a multitude of challenges that will affect our employees, customers, suppliers and owners alike. The transformation of our company is designed to make our organisation more effective and agile in future. With this new strategy, we’re responding to current challenges while also proactively shaping our future. We’ll achieve cost and market synergies, which will strengthen our profitability and increase our scope for future profitable growth. By systematically implementing our portfolio strategy and focusing on innovation, we’ll lead AGRANA into a successful future.”

In addition to structural transformation, sustainability remains a central component of AGRANA’s NEXT LEVEL strategy. We’re on track to achieve net-zero emissions (Scope 1+2) by 2040; and Scope 3 by 2050 at the latest. “This commitment is not only part of our social responsibility, but also a strategic imperative to remain competitive in the long term. We’ll have invested more than € 600 million in sustainable technologies and energy efficiency by 2040 to ensure that AGRANA meets the requirements of the Paris Agreement on climate change," emphasises CEO Büttner.

The new role of the holding company

In future, AGRANA Holding will focus on the strategic direction of key areas, including strategy and transformation, human resources management, IT, procurement and operations excellence. Operational services are being combined to ensure efficient management of the Group. Consolidating similar functions and streamlining structures avoids redundant processes and ensures simpler, more efficient workflows.

A new role for the divisions

In order to combine the competencies of the AGRANA Group effectively and to align them with the market as well as create cost synergies, the company's structure will be transformed into a more functional and permeable business model. While four companies (divisions) will remain under the holding company, they will be strategically combined into two business units, “Agricultural Commodities & Specialities” (sugar, starch, fruit juice concentrate) and “Food and Beverage Solutions” (fruit flavour, brown flavour & spicy preparations, flavourings, syrups, sauces) to better meet the different management requirements.

“Agricultural Commodities & Specialities” will focus on cost efficiency, from raw material purchasing to production due to the broad standardisation of products and high competitive pressure. This business unit will build on its strength of having a regional footprint with its proximity to raw materials and proven expertise in raw material management.

In future, the low margins resulting from the dependence of raw material processing on agricultural cycles, climate and market conditions will be counteracted by optimising processes and technologies. The structural similarities between sugar and starch production offer great synergy potential, which AGRANA will be exploiting by aligning production and maintenance processes, as well as by intensifying technology transfer (for example, in emission-reducing energy systems).

In “Food and Beverage Solutions”, management focuses on developing innovative solutions for and with industrial customers. Here, AGRANA can draw on its market leadership in fruit preparations with a global footprint, worldwide customer proximity and innovative strength. The focus is on customer-specific, value-added products and the co-creative development of customised solutions with customers in the food and beverage industry. This higher level of innovation will lead to products with stronger margins and better opportunities for differentiation in global markets. In particular, the “Ice Cream”, “Food Service” and “Flavours” customer segments will be further promoted. The existing collaboration between AGRANA Fruit and AUSTRIA Juice in product development will be intensified, for example by using AUSTRIA Juice's flavour expertise for dairy products.

“AGRANA NEXT LEVEL is not just the name of our new strategy; it’s the philosophy for the future of our entire organisation. The strategy was developed by the AGRANA management team with the support of external expertise and the diligent work of an internal project team, to whom I’d like to express my sincere thanks. We’re taking many valuable things with us from our almost forty-year company history and we’re leaving some things behind us as we enter a new era. Knowing that we have a strong team of many outstanding colleagues, we’re confident that the transformation we’ve begun will be a success story and that we’ll continue to succeed as we chart our course into the future,” concludes CEO Stephan Büttner.

About AGRANA

AGRANA converts agricultural raw materials into high-quality foods and a numerous industrial intermediate products. Around 9,000 employees at 53 production sites worldwide generate annual Group revenue of around € 3.8 billion. Established in 1988, the company is the global market leader in fruit preparations and the world's leading producer of apple and berry juice concentrates. As well, its Starch segment is also a major manufacturer of custom products (made from potato, corn and wheat) and of bioethanol. AGRANA is the leading sugar producer in Central and Eastern Europe.

For queries, please contact:

Markus Simak, Public Relations
+43 1 21137 12084, markus.simak@agrana.com

Hannes Haider, Investor Relations
+43 1 21137 12905, hannes.haider@agrana.com
 

This press release is available in German and English at www.agrana.com.