Annual General Meeting 2019

Annual General Meeting 2019

Annual General Meeting 2019

Dividend remains stable − BayWa confirms positive outlook for 2019

Munich, 28 May 2019. BayWa AG achieved the goals it set itself for 2018. The international trade and service group increased its earnings in all core segments and was able to offset the one-off effect from the sale of the BayWa Tower in 2017 despite a partly unfavourable environment. The Group’s revenues totalled €16.6 billion in 2018, and EBIT reached €172.4 million. At this year’s Annual General Meeting, shareholders voted to pay a dividend of €0.90 per share for the financial year 2018 (2017: €0.90 per share).

In his speech to shareholders, Klaus Josef Lutz, the Chief Executive Officer of BayWa AG, said the consolidated result last year was driven by strong impetus in international agricultural business and in Agricultural Equipment, as well as in the Energy and Building Materials Segments. The Renewable Energies business unit made the largest contribution to EBIT. BayWa is aiming for a significant increase in earnings in 2019 as well. The company anticipates a recovery in agricultural business in Germany, an increase in speciality trading and growing sales volumes in the project planning of solar and wind power plants. BayWa also sees continued good potential in the Building Materials Segment. The need for housing in Germany will remain high and therefore continue to provide the necessary demand for building materials in the future.

Against this background, Klaus Josef Lutz voiced clear opposition to the calls for expropriation being made in the political debate over how to solve the housing shortage. “These discussions are totally unacceptable in the context of our social market economy and won’t lead to the construction of new homes. There are appropriate tools for creating new and affordable housing,” said Lutz. He cited an increase in straight line depreciation, the simplification of building regulations and tax relief for energy-efficient building refurbishment as examples. It is up to the government to shape this framework for action, he added.

Lutz also outlined how BayWa is meeting the major global challenges of global population growth, digitalisation and climate change. BayWa must ensure its long-term profitability while creating sustainable benefits that go beyond material success, he said, citing climate change as an example. Building on its current sustainability strategy, BayWa will in future focus even more closely on making its business activities greener as part of its “ECOnomics” programme – not only in its home market of Germany, but on all continents.

Lutz cited the Group’s smart farming solutions and the Renewable Energies business unit, which has been globally successful for ten years now, as examples of how firmly environmental protection and resource conservation are already anchored in BayWa’s business models. In order to reduce its own energy requirements, BayWa is also pursuing an ambitious climate strategy and aims to be 100 percent climate-neutral throughout the Group by 2030.

By signing the Diversity Charta – in the spirit of today’s German Diversity Day – BayWa is also setting a further example of an open and unprejudiced working environment. As part of this voluntary commitment, the topics of inclusion and diversity are to be anchored even more firmly in the corporate culture from now on.

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