Higher ethanol prices lift CropEnergies' revenue, profits in summer 2019

Ken Teegardin/CC BY-SA 2.0

European ethanol producer CropEnergies AG (ETR:CE2) today reported the highest quarterly revenue in the company’s history thanks to "significantly higher" ethanol sales prices.

Revenue for the June-August quarter grew by 22% year-on-year to EUR 245 million (USD 269m) and CropEnergies’ operating profit trebled to EUR 28.6 million. The net profit for the quarter was EUR 21.2 million, up from EUR 4.7 million in 2018.

The company said European ethanol prices in June, the start of its fiscal second quarter, stood at around EUR 595 per cu m. At the end of the quarter in August they were at EUR 575 per cu m. CropEnergies explained that the decline in price and also the high volatility of spot prices observed in the quarter were mainly a result of a rise in imports from South America and the US.

The company produced 478,000 cu m of ethanol in the first half of its fiscal 2019/20, as compared to 494,000 cu m a year earlier.

All in EUR million	Q2 FY 2019/20	Prior-year Q2	H1 FY 2019/20	Prior-year H1
Revenue	244.9	200.8	447.6	393.2
EBITDA	39.1	19.4	64.9	33.7
Operating profit	28.6	9.6	43.7	14.2
Net profit	21.2	4.7	31.8	7.1