In 2023, AgroGeneration Group produced about 72.45 thsd tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which is 8.6% less than a year earlier, with an increase in acreage by 2.5% to 29.62 thsd ha, the company’s website reports.
It is noted that the EBITDA of the agricultural holding in 2023 returned to positive values, amounting to EUR 0.3 mln, compared to negative EUR 5.8 mln in 2022. The company was still well below the pre-war level, although net losses decreased from EUR31.6 million in 2022 to EUR7.9 million in 2023, the report said.
AgroGeneration explained the decline in production by almost 9% by the forced changes in the range of crops in 2023 due to the reduction of winter wheat plantings in the fall of 2022. This, in turn, was caused by weather conditions and resulted in more than 70% of the sown areas becoming less productive after several years of sunflower cultivation.
According to the report, crop yields in 2023 increased by 30% compared to the previous year and amounted to about 4 tons/ha versus 3 tons/ha, respectively. Despite the increase in the harvest, the quality of wheat decreased and almost 100% of it was represented by feed grain, while a year earlier this figure was 80%. The agroholding explains that wheat quality deteriorated across Ukraine due to heavy rains before the harvesting campaign in June-July 2023 and due to the late sowing campaign in the fall of 2022 amid poor weather conditions.
The group’s farms harvested about 43 thsd tonnes of sunflower at an average net yield of 1.9 c/ha, compared to 2 c/ha in 2022. The total net production of corn and soybeans amounted to about 6 thousand tons.
AgroGeneration’s revenue in 2023 amounted to EUR16.4 million, down 36.7% year-on-year, due to the sale of 75.7 thousand tons (-7.4 thousand tons by 2022) of crops from the 2022 and 2023 harvests, which were sold at significantly reduced prices. At the same time, EUR 9.3 mln was received from the sale of 2022 stocks, EUR 7.4 mln for the 2023 harvest, and EUR 0.2 mln was received for other products and services.
The share of exports in AgroGeneration’s revenue in 2023 amounted to 18% in tonnage, compared to 28% in 2022.
AgroGeneration was founded in 2007. The company specializes in growing grains and oilseeds, and its land bank before the Russian military invasion amounted to 58 thousand hectares in Kharkiv region, and by the end of 2022 it had shrunk to 30 thousand hectares due to the Russian invasion. Following the operational restructuring carried out in the third quarter of last year due to the war, the holding includes seven companies. The restructuring was aimed at disposing of “toxic” assets, including 25,000 hectares of land destroyed or severely damaged by the war and located near the Russian border, which would have cost more than $50 million to maintain.
Due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, AgroGeneration reduced its land bank to 30 thousand hectares from 56 thousand hectares in 2022. The agricultural holding’s revenue fell by 41.1% compared to the pre-war year 2021 to EUR 25.854 million, and net loss amounted to EUR 31.595 million against net profit of EUR 14.202 million, respectively. The gross loss amounted to EUR5.608 million against a gross profit of EUR32.361 million in 2021, and the losses from the war were estimated at EUR15.448 million.
At the end of last year, the company’s total debt was estimated at EUR18.065 million, down from EUR24.599 million a year earlier, and its assets were EUR36.391 million, compared to EUR82.033 million a year earlier.
Currently, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine is considering the purchase of shares of AgroGeneration S. A. by NovaAgro Ukraine LLC, which will make it the owner of AgroGeneration S. A., which would make it the owner of a controlling stake.
