EINBECK (dpa-AFX) - Among other things, higher selling prices brought the seed producer KWS Saat good business in the past fiscal year. The SDax company topped analysts' expectations in terms of both net sales and operating income. The outlook was also somewhat better than expected. The news was well received on the stock market. KWS shares rose by four percent in the morning, putting it at the top of the SDax small caps index. As a result, the loss for the year shrank to around 14 percent.

In the fiscal year to the end of June, the company increased its sales by 18 percent to 1.82 billion euros, as it announced in Einbeck on Wednesday. In its largest segment, corn, KWS Saat benefited from higher selling prices in its core markets of Brazil and Europe. The increase was even greater in the equally important sugarbeet and cereals business.

Earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) climbed by 44 percent to just under 223 million euros, corresponding to an operating margin of 12.2 percent. Sales and operating profit thus exceeded both the company's own forecast and analysts' expectations. The bottom line was a profit of 127 million euros, of which KWS Saat intends to pay its shareholders a dividend of 90 cents. In the previous year, KWS Saat paid out 80 cents per share.

In the current fiscal year 2023/24, the company expects to increase net sales on a comparable basis by three to five percent. The company is targeting an operating margin of between 11 and 13 percent. The margin forecast is thus in line with analysts' expectations; for sales, the average estimate of experts surveyed by Bloomberg is at the lower end of the company's outlook.

Expert Charlie Bentley of analyst firm Jefferies was correspondingly positive: the seed producer had posted a smaller operating loss than feared in the seasonally insignificant final quarter of the current fiscal year. In addition, the sales growth target for the new fiscal year is above his estimate, which is reassuring in view of the increasing concerns about agricultural sales markets. Warburg analyst Oliver Schwarz, on the other hand, described the outlook as conservative./jcf/zb/men