Corporate News
- Dividend of EUR 3.00 per share resolved for the fiscal year 2023
- Good business performance in Q1 2024 presented
- Forecast for full year 2024 confirmed
Lohne, 25 June 2024 – EnviTec Biogas AG (ISIN: DE000A0MVLS8) today held its Annual General Meeting. In view of the very good earnings and cash position and the solid equity ratio, the shareholders approved the company’s dividend proposal of EUR 3.00 per dividend-bearing share. All other items on the agenda were also approved by a large majority. The Annual General Meeting was attended by shareholders holding around 84% of the voting rights.
Jörg Fischer, Chief Financial Officer of EnviTec Biogas AG: “We have grown strongly over the past years and have used the successful development to make targeted and substantial investments to ensure our continued success in the future. The investment programme launched in 2021 now totals EUR 200 million, of which around EUR 130 million will already be invested by the end of the year. This essentially relates to the expansion of our biogas upgrading activities including the start of bio-LNG fuel production in the Own Plant Operation segment. We also took important decisions in the Plant Construction and Service segments and gained a foothold in new dynamic markets such as the USA. The dividend increase reflects the Group's higher overall profitability.”
Fischer also sees the company well on track in terms of current business development. In the first three months of 2024, EnviTec generated total output of EUR 80.8 million at Group level (Q1 2023: EUR 89.5 million). Earnings before taxes (EBT) stood at EUR 14.5 million (Q1 2023: EUR 21.0 million). Total output (or revenue) of between EUR 360 million to EUR 400 million and EBT of between EUR 40 million and EUR 50 million is expected for the full year 2024. The decline compared to the fiscal year 2023 is mainly due to one-time effects in the Energy unit, which will not occur in this form in the current financial year. At the same time, the Group’s business volume and profitability are significantly higher than in the previous years, which underlines the dynamic development of EnviTec.
In his presentation, Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Tenbrink first introduced the newly formed management team of the Plant Construction segment, which has been composed of Jakob Falkenstein, Maurice Markerink and himself since early 2024. He also reported on the status quo of several current EnviTec projects, including the ongoing expansion and conversion of the existing plant in Forst as well as EnviTec’s successful entry in the Swedish market.
In his report, Olaf von Lehmden, CEO of EnviTec Biogas AG, focused on the Group’s strategy and the prospects in the international biogas markets. Especially in Germany, he pointed out, there was still insufficient political support for biogas producers, although the many different fields of application for biogas – from heating to road transport to chemical raw materials – would make a green gas transition possible in many areas. In his opinion, policy-makers’ inactivity is particularly evident when it comes to fraudulent imports from China, which has led to a strong decline in GHG quota prices, creating uncertainty in the market and preventing long-term investments.
“At the European level, by contrast, we are seeing political support for biogas as a source of energy. In particular, the RePower-EU Plan has led to new momentum in several European markets. In the USA, the Inflation Reduction Act continues to offer great opportunities for us. And thanks to our investments, our flexibility and our diversified structure, we are ideally positioned to seize further opportunities that arise in the international biogas markets. We are increasingly focusing on new applications in gas upgrading and the fermentation of residual materials and waste. By contrast, the generation of electricity from biogas will become clearly less important in the market and also for our business in the coming years,” von Lehmden explained.
