Mannheim, October 12, 2006 - CropEnergies AG, Mannheim (ISIN DE000A0LAUP1), achieved revenues of ? 65.0 million in the first half of 2006/07 (previous half-year: ? 15.9 million), which already exceeds the full prior-year revenues of ? 60.5 million.
The level of capacity utilisation in the second quarter of 2006/07 already reached more than 60,000 m³, which is equivalent to about 90 % of capacity. A total of around 110,000 m³ of bioethanol was produced in the first six months of 2006/07. The gratifying development of revenues thanks to higher sales volumes and prices led to a more-than-proportional increase in operating profit. With ? 4.9 million, it was 91 % higher in the second quarter than in the first quarter of the financial year (? 2.6 million). Operating profit for the first six months rose to ? 7.5 (-9.2) million. Group net earnings for the first six months came to ? 3.4 (-11.3) million. Cash flow reflects the strong earnings improvement. It rose by ? 18.3 million versus the year-earlier period to ? 9.2 million.All in all, the Group expects the positive development of revenues and earnings in the first six months of the 2006/07 financial year to continue in the second half. A total output of over 210,000 m³ and revenues of over ? 125 million are forecast for the full year 2006/07. About CropEnergies AG CropEnergies AG, Mannheim, is a subsidiary of Südzucker Aktiengesellschaft Mannheim/Ochsenfurt. The Group is an established and one of the leading European manufacturers of bioethanol for the fuel sector, measured by production capacity. "Crop" stands for "creative regeneration of power". Bioethanol is derived from fermenting plants that contain sugar or starch. CropEnergies utilises grain and sugar beets as raw materials. CropEnergies has subsidiaries in Germany, France and Belgium and runs at Zeitz, Sachsen-Anhalt, the biggest bioethanol-plant in Europe at present. CropEnergies AG (ISIN DE000A0LAUP1) went public on September 29, 2006 and is listed at Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Official Market, Prime Standard.