MANNHEIM (dpa-AFX) - Südzucker Group expects higher operating profits in the current 2023/2024 financial year thanks to significantly better sugar businesses. In the twelve months to the end of February, operating profit adjusted for special items should now rise to 850 to 950 million euros, the SDax company announced in Mannheim on Thursday. Previously, management had targeted 725 to 875 million euros, compared with a figure of 704 million euros a year earlier. The sales forecast of 10.4 to 10.9 billion euros remains unchanged.

Operating profit in the Sugar segment already picked up noticeably in the first fiscal quarter. After one million euros in the same period last year, Südzucker now posted 169 million euros here in the three months from March to May. At the group level, the figure jumped 73 percent to 282 million euros, while revenues rose eleven percent to 2.5 billion euros./ngu/men