Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA conference call regarding quarterly reports, nine months, 2023-2024. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for questions following the presentation. Let me now turn the floor over to CFO Eva Kienle.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen from Einbeck. Welcome to KWS's conference call on the occasion of the publication of our financial results for the first nine months of the current fiscal year, 2023-2024. I'm very pleased to report to you today on a very successful business performance in the first nine months of the 2023-2024 financial year. As you probably have noticed, we had already published preliminary key figures for sales and EBIT on April 13th as part of an ad hoc publication. We now confirm these preliminary figures today with the publication of our final figures. KWS is once again showing a strong operating performance this fiscal year, despite some headwinds from the agricultural markets. The significant increase in revenue and EBIT, despite those headwinds, once again demonstrates the strength of our business model.
It is not so much commodity prices that move our business, but innovations with clear agronomic benefits for the farmer. Here, we have very compelling, sustainable solutions in our portfolio that drive and continue to drive our growth. Our sales grew by around 18% after adjusting for currency effects, and EBIT by 48%. This strong development is once again driven by our sugar beet business, but we also grew very well in cereals with 11% adjusted sales growth. In addition to this overall very pleasing operating performance, we completed the sale of our Chinese corn activities as announced, combined with one-off EBIT income of around EUR 30 million. Taking these developments into account, we have significantly raised our annual forecast, and I will go into the details again later. We reported on another strategic development, the sale of our South American corn business at the end of March.
For some of you, this move may have come as a bit of a surprise, but from our strategic perspective of a long-term company whose DNA is shaped by independence and financial strength, this development is conclusive. At the end of my presentation, I will take up the topic again and give you an update on the transaction. After these introductory words, let's look at the most important key figures in the first nine months. It is important to emphasize here that we are classifying the South American corn business from now on as discontinued operations. As a result, we are reporting the resulting earnings contribution from discontinued operations in a single line in the P&L and report for the continuing operations as usual. Previous year's figures have been adjusted accordingly. Sales in euro increased significantly by around 10%, with currency effects having a negative impact.
Eastern European currencies, the Turkish lira and the U.S. dollar, are particularly noteworthy here. Without these effects, growth would have been around 18%. Key earnings figures, EBITDA and EBIT, rose overproportionately by 37% and 48%, respectively. Below EBIT, we see a decline in the financial results to -EUR 24.7 million. This was due to both higher interest expenses and a decline in earnings contributions from our joint venture AgReliant in the U.S., which is accounted for at equity. For the remainder of the year, we expect these effects to continue. Bottom line, there is a significant increase in net income or earnings per share of around 37% in relation to continuing operations.
Earnings from the divested South American corn business, on the other hand, declined significantly, in particular the currently challenging cultivation conditions for corn in Brazil, keyword commodity prices and El Niño, as well as the significant depreciation of the Argentine peso, which we had already reported on in the first half of the year, had a negative impact on the results. Now let's move on to the individual product segments. Sales in the corn segment, excluding South America, fell significantly by 9% or 4% after adjusting for currency effects. In Europe, business was largely stable operationally, but in view of the lower commodity prices, we are seeing a shift in acreage to other crops this year. Our North American joint venture AgReliant, on the other hand, once again posted a disappointing sales development with declining volumes and negative earnings contribution.
As we announced at the end of March, we are examining possible strategic options for our participation in this joint venture. The process here is still ongoing. The segment result rose significantly from EUR 61 million to EUR 83 million, with a one-off effect from the sale of the China business having a positive effect in particular. For the corn segment, we expect significantly lower sales for the year as a whole, and taking into account the China effect, an EBIT margin slightly above previous year levels. Now looking into the sugar beet segment, which is writing another successful chapter in its success story with a significant increase in sales and earnings. With a 25% increase in sales and overall stable acreage for sugar beet, we are once again underpinning our world-leading position in this area.
This development is closely linked to the success of our innovations such as CONVISO SMART and CR+ , which now account for 56% of our total sales. The third quarter also benefited slightly from seasonal shifts, but we still expect relevant sales for the segment in the fourth quarter, so nothing should stand in the way of another record year for sugar beet. Positive business development is also noticeable at EBIT, where earnings rose by around 50% from EUR 195 million to EUR 291 million.
In the light of the strong business performance, we continue to expect significant revenue growth for the year as a whole and now even expect a slight improvement in margins compared to the already strong previous year. Now let's move on to the cereal segment, which generates the majority of the business in the first half of the fiscal year and has mostly been recorded. Here, we see a strong increase of 9% compared to the previous year in sales. The main driver of growth this year was once again our rye business, followed closely by rapeseed and wheat. The segment's very positive business performance is also reflected in our earnings figures. With a segment result of EUR 79 million, we achieved significant growth compared to the previous year, driven by price effect and product mix.
The South American transaction also had an impact on the cereal segment, although small, where the sorghum business was also reclassified to discontinued operations. Let's now look at the vegetable segment, where our sales declined as expected, especially due to lower sales to China. At EUR -22 million, EBIT was significantly lower than in the previous year. This is due to lower earnings contributions from the business and the planned higher expenses for the expansion of our breeding and business activities.
We have now established breeding teams in Italy, in Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and Brazil to drive our breeding programs. So we are fully on schedule here, and this will then also be reflected in growing business in the medium term. Finally, let's take a look at our expectations for the current fiscal year, all related to continuing operations. In terms of sales development, we expect comparable growth of 11%-13%. Regarding EBIT margin, we forecast a significant increase to 15%-17%, including the roughly EUR 30 million from the China transaction. For the R&D ratio, we see this at around 20%, but this change is more mathematical in nature as discontinued operations have a lower R&D ratio than the group average. All in all, KWS is off to another successful financial year with strong growth in sales and earnings. Sorry.
As mentioned in the beginning, a few words on the divestiture of our South American corn business. The buyer is the family-owned Grupo Don Mario, or GDM, one of the world's leading breeding companies for soybean seeds based in Argentina. The decision to sell the business was the result of a comprehensive evaluation process of the future opportunities and risks for KWS in the South American corn market. In Brazil, we have written a great success story in terms of breeding new varieties and their market acceptance. However, the economic environment had also always been challenging, be it in terms of the strong capital requirements, the high local financing costs, and also the significant currency fluctuations.
Even though the share of our own genetics in our variety portfolio has recently increased significantly, we would continue to be dependent on third parties in the long term. However, these two aspects, independence and profitability, are very important elements of our entrepreneurial DNA at KWS, which is why we ultimately decided to divest this business. We are convinced that this step is also in the interest of our stakeholders. The transaction will have a significant positive impact on key financial indicators of the KWS Group. Since the majority of the proceeds will be used to repay loans, we expect a significant improvement in financial leverage and equity ratio, as well as a significant reduction in interest expenses in the future.
As far as the closing of the transaction is concerned, we currently expect it to take place either in the current fiscal year or at the very beginning of the new fiscal year. The decisive trigger for this is the approval of the Brazilian antitrust authority CADE, which is currently examining the corresponding application.
The transaction includes all breeding and sales activities in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as well as the corresponding production sites in Argentina and Brazil. In addition, the Brazilian sorghum business, which we previously reported in the cereal segment, will also be transferred. GDM itself does not yet have an own footprint in the Brazilian corn market, but is the leading provider for soybean seeds. With corn and soybean, GDM will become a provider of the two most important crops in the Brazilian seed market in the future. Let me stress that our South American footprint has not disappeared with a sale. We will continue to be active locally in the field of both vegetables and sugar beet. Also, our counter-seasonal breeding activities for the European corn market in Peru and Chile will remain with KWS.
Our European corn business remains core for us with its attractive profitability and relevant market shares, especially in silage corn. With this, I would like to close my presentation. Thank you for your attention, and now look forward to your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to submit a question, please press 9 followed by the star on your cell phone. If you want to withdraw your question, please press 9 followed by the star again. If you want to submit a question now, please press 9 followed by the star. The first question comes from Oliver Schwarz from Warburg Research.
Thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations for the very favorable results after nine months. Well done, ladies and gentlemen. I've got a few questions here. First of all, could you spell out the earnings contribution of AgReliant after nine months of 2023, 2024, please? Secondly, sugar beets, I appreciate that the high-margin products containing CONVISO SMART and CR+ made further inroads into the market. Nevertheless, the increase in EBIT margin after nine months to more than 40% seems pretty steep. Is that something that is, from your point of view, sustainable, or is that driven by whatever special developments in this fiscal year that might not reoccur in the years to come? And perhaps lastly, in regard to vegetables, I mean, it's been a while since the acquisition. The business seems to drag along. You are heavily investing in breeding teams. You are heavily invested in portfolio.
But on the sales and earnings level, not so much good news has come out of the business so far. When do you expect, as you said, mid-term, when do you expect that business basically to turn around and earn its cost of capital? That would be my three questions. Thank you.
Okay. Let's start with the first one and not go into detail about the earnings contribution of AgReliant after nine months. It is still positive, but at a disappointing level. So that's the only details I can reveal here, but not a specific number. Regarding the sugar beet EBIT, and I did not properly understand that you judged the margin to be pretty high, I think. I hope I understood it, whether it's sustainable at that high level. Yes, it is, because in sugar beet, the margin improvements are mainly as a result of the shift in the product portfolio to more innovative products like CONVISO and CR+ . And those are higher-yielding products than a sort of, say, classical sugar beet would be. So that is, yes, sustainable, and we do not expect a significant increase in the production costs here.
So if we have not an extreme adverse weather pattern here that would heavily influence our seed production, etc., these margins can be sustainable also, not only in short term, but also for a longer perspective. And then question regarding vegetables business and the breeding costs and the question when is sort of the business returning here positively. We have elaborated several times on the long-term strategic perspective of vegetables here. And in the peak years, let's say the R&D costs that will largely still outgrow the sales perspective. So a positive profit contribution for the entire segment here is not to be expected before mid or end of the '30s, so beyond '35 and later, as we have basically right now the spinach business with the sales of, you see, here now EUR 40 million for the first nine months.
So this is not going to double or triple in the next years with regards to spinach. But of course, all the other crops will have to take off depending on the breeding outcome. We have minor sales in tomato already, but clearly, the expectation here is the segment profitability not to become positive before the second half of the 2030s. Not sure what you mentioned with cost of capital here. We are not allocating sort of or calculating cost of capital per segment or per business unit. So maybe you can elaborate a little bit more here. The pure cost of financing for the acquisition would be unfair from our perspective to just allocate it to an operating business model. So I hope I'm sort of getting the question in the right direction. If not, please come back and report exactly what you meant with the cost of capital.
Sorry.
Okay. Thank you for that.
Once again, if you want to submit a question, please press 9 followed by the star on your cell phone. The next question comes from Oliver Schwarz, Warburg Research again.
Sorry about that. This seems to be a very one-sided call. Nevertheless, I'd like to ask you in regard to your growth perspectives. With your withdrawal from China and from South America and perhaps also from North America in the future in regard to corn and at least part of the cereal business, you seem to focus more and more on your core European markets. That's understandable given your higher market share there and unit costs obviously being lowered due to positive leverage effects. The same applies from my point of view also for your sugar beet business. Given that your market share in sugar beet in North America is already very high and in Europe, it seems to be expanding, but there seems to be limits to your growth due to the overall market size in the respective regions that you are focusing on.
Let's say when it comes to growth of the business, is your view to, let's say, generate cash and grow in those respective markets until the vegetable business really takes off, or am I missing something?
Okay. We still do see growth. Basically, you have pointed out the relevant topics, but let's go one by one. On sugar beet, we do not see a limit to the growth. As you have seen, again, the sugar beet discussion, I am leading since I'm with KWS. When I joined, we had already high market shares in the U.S. We have still increased the market shares. We have significantly increased the top line. The acreage has not been increasing. Acreage has been constantly reducing in sugar beet. It is now at a stable level. We expect it to remain there, and we are still growing the business, especially through innovation, and new product introductions will continue. So we have a super strong motor, of course, of innovation given this is our home turf.
So clearly, globally and also in the U.S., you can expect top line growth, maybe not in volume, but definitely by price and by innovative new products and add-ons like we have proven in the last 5 years with the introduction of CONVISO and CR+ . So there's nothing that would limit the growth in sugar beet. We do have still opportunities ahead in cereals and a lot to come. We have just embarked into Canada. You might have gotten into that with the rye business here. The rye has also increased a lot in the last years and is still to come. We are, as you notice, working on introducing hybrid wheat as well as hybrid barley sooner or later. So if those crops move, sorry, to the hybrid state, we will start shaping an entire new market with growth potential for hybrid crops in that segment.
We have a very strong performance and portfolio with rapeseed, who has positively recovered from the dip right after the neonic ban. Again, we have a lot more crops—not talk about the protein crops—that sit in the cereal segments where we are strategically moving the plant-based protein business forward. So also here is enough room for growth within the portfolio irrespective of only looking from a market perspective here. Vegetables, as I mentioned, is clearly to come, and this is globally. So this goes into South America. As I mentioned, we're still in Mexico. We are growing products there. We are in the US. We are also looking into Asia sooner or later. We have not yet embarked on the European perspective broadly in vegetables. So there's a lot here you will see.
So definitely, there is growth, and it's not only about generating cash, but it has always been a profitable growth. Growth for the sake of increasing top line with zero effect on the bottom line, as I mentioned, is something we are ready to invest for a certain perspective and a certain point of time. But if it comes to too many factors that do not translate the top line possibilities into bottom line upside, we're taking strategic decisions. So basically, we do not see a sort of flattening out of our growth perspective here.
Thank you for that. Perhaps I can sneak in an additional question. So in regard to the vegetables business, obviously, that is, as you stated, a business that is to become profitable perhaps past 2035. Judging from your, let's say, from what you did with your Chinese breeding business and your South America breeding business, if that vegetable business, for whatever reasons, shouldn't take off by 2035 because there will be costs involved with the distribution of those seeds as well, perhaps similar or closely similar to what we saw in Brazil, how much longer would you be prepared to wait until you decide whether that was a favorable decision or whether it's more prudent to walk away from the vegetable business?
That would take quite a longer period than just 10 years because, again, in Brazil, we started off completely different with full-fledged existing businesses for commercial corn and for breeding and developing corn. So this is a different state. So we had a jumpstart in Brazil. We converted the product portfolio. We managed, as I mentioned, excellently to gain market shares and to convert to our own product portfolio. But seeing the bottom line, as I said, just given the margin circumstances, also in Argentina with hyperinflation, etc., this is something that just eats up your whole efforts and profit just by pure financing and cash needs. And this is something you would not see in vegetables businesses in other countries and especially not in Europe where we are going. Vegetables, we have started from scratch.
So other than the spinach business with a EUR 60-70 million turnover and a very good profitability, if you look at the Pop Vriend's operations on its own, they have a 25% profitability. We're just embarking on a—and this is what we do a lot—on a seed breeding greenfield way forward in 9 crops where this just costs a lot of R&D money before something comes back. And this is more than a 10-year period you need to evaluate. So clearly, it takes quite a longer time, and we would not just throw things away. And by the way, we have met all milestones so far, as I mentioned. So right now, this is definitely not our concern, and we are successful in all the milestones we have set ourselves so far in vegetables, and we are very positive.
If we are lucky enough, there is another interesting acquisition on the way down the next 10 years. This will even speed up the development of the segment.
Very clear. Thank you very much for that.
All right. The next question comes from Christian Faitz from Kepler Cheuvreux.
Good morning. Thanks for the call. Just one question, please. Have you seen any weather-related issues in your Q3 quarter? Because, I mean, Europe was very wet. Was there any delays in seeding, or was that even a chance for you because farmers needed to reseed after they faced waterlogged fields in large parts of Western Europe?
No, not for this season. Nothing extraordinary here. We have had extremely good harvests also in Brazil corn last year. So also from a production perspective, there is definitely enough seed on the inventory shelves for this season and even beyond. So the harvests have been extremely good in some countries in the last year. And right now, there is nothing which relates to, as you mentioned, the El Niño and so reseeding or sort of even late sowing.
Okay. Thank you very much.
So there are no further questions at this time, so I would hand over back to you.
Thank you very much for your interest in joining the call today. I'm happy that I could report so nice numbers. There were some critical voices after the first half year, and I think the more we grow, the more the variance throughout the year and the quarters will continue to remain. So I hope I could gain an understanding today on that is about third quarter and the remainder and the strategic outlook. Thank you very much for your interest, and have a great day.