Mannheim, 11 July 2023 – At today's virtual annual general meeting of CropEnergies AG, Mannheim, the shareholders approved by a large majority the proposal of the supervisory board and executive board to increase the dividend to EUR 0.60 (previous year: EUR 0.45) per dividend-bearing share after the record financial year 2022/23. This results in a total distribution of EUR 52.3 million. All other items on the agenda were also approved with a majority of over 90 percent.
As in the previous year, the Annual General Meeting was again held in virtual form. A total of around 130 shareholders and guests watched the broadcast from the Rosengarten in Mannheim. This means that 83 percent of the share capital was represented.
During the event, shareholders and shareholder representatives were able to actively participate in the discussion and asked over 40 questions, which were answered in full by the Executive Board members and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. In addition to the past financial year, the shareholders were particularly interested in the developments on the energy and raw material markets, the implementation of the corporate strategy and the development in the current financial year.
Chief Executive Officer Dr Stephan Meeder, in addition to presenting the results of the previous year and the 1st quarter of 2023/24, went into detail about the strategic development and future plans of the CropEnergies Group. He presented the current status of various projects such as the planned construction of a plant for the production of renewable ethyl acetate near Zeitz and the investment in the start-up Syclus, which is planning to build and operate the first ethanol-ethylene plant of its kind in the Chemelot industrial park in Geleen, The Netherlands.
Meeder also reported on the plan to bring Super E20 to a public filling station for the first time for captive fleet trials in order to take another important step towards climate neutrality in the transport sector. The filling station in Mannheim is scheduled to open in autumn.
CropEnergies AG
Sustainable, renewable products made from biomass – that is what CropEnergies stands for. Our products contribute to a climate-friendly world and ensure that fossil carbons remain in the ground permanently and do not continue to drive climate change.
Founded in Mannheim in 2006, the member of the Südzucker Group is the leading European producer of renewable ethanol. With a production capacity of 1.3 million m3 of ethanol per year, CropEnergies produces neutral alcohol as well as technical alcohol (ethanol) for a wide range of applications at locations in Germany, Belgium, the UK, and France: Sustainably produced ethanol as a petrol substitute is an answer to the future challenges of climate-friendly energy supply in the transport sector. Thanks to highly efficient production plants, our ethanol reduces CO2 emissions by an average of more than 70 percent across the entire value chain compared to fossil fuel. Our high-quality alcohol is also used in beverage production, cosmetics, pharmaceutical applications, for example as a basis for disinfectants, or as a raw material for innovative biochemicals.
Equally important are the resulting protein food and animal feed products as a sustainable regional alternative to emission-intensive protein imports from overseas, as well as biogenic carbon dioxide. It is used in beverage production, among other things, and will be a valuable raw material for a wide range of applications in transport and industry in the future. Thus, all raw material components are utilised in our circular economy.
CropEnergies AG (ISIN DE000A0LAUP1) is listed on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.