AGRANA Group at a glance

AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG was founded in 1988 as the holding company of the Austrian sugar and starch industry, and is today one of the leading sugar and starch producers in Central Europe, the world leader in fruit preparations for the dairy industry, and one of the world’s largest producers of concentrated fruit juices. Sugar, starch and fruit – these are the three arms of the Group’s growth strategy.

AGRANA has a total of 53 production facilities located on five continents.

AGRANA products are a part of every-day life. The range of these products extends from sugar in food products, starch in textiles and paper, bioethanol to substitute gasoline, all the way to concentrated apple juice and fruit pieces in yoghurts.

The activities of the Segment Sugar, the tradition heart of the Group, span Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. AGRANA has also been marketing sugar and starch products in Bulgaria since November 2006. AGRANA offers a wide range of sugar and specialty sugar products distributed under market-specific sugar brands such as the Wiener Zucker brand used in Austria. The appeal of the range is attributable to both the constant high quality of the products and to attractive packaging designs.

The Segment Starch includes production facilities in Austria, Hungary and Romania. AGRANA’s corn and potato starch factories manufacture special products for the reprocessing industry that are tailored to customers’ specific requirements. AGRANA’s special starch products, for example, are used in numerous confectionary, baking and baby food products. The Group has also established an outstanding reputation as an international specialist in the area of organic starches through its range of guaranteed GMO-free products.

The implementation of the EU’s biofuel directive in Austria led to the decision on the part of AGRANA to build a bioethanol plant in Lower Austria which entered operation in June 2008. Bioethanol is alcohol distilled from renewable plant materials such as corn, wheat and sugar beet that is ultimately used to substitute gasoline. 

The Segment Fruit, including the business segments fruit preparations and fruit juice concentrates, adds a truly international dimension to the Group’s operations. Since 2003, AGRANA has rapidly formed the fruit division through the acquisitions of Atys (France), Dirafrost (Belgium), DSF (Germany), Steirerobst (Austria), Vallø Saft (Denmark) and Wink (Germany). All of the Group’s fruit preparation and concentrated fruit juice operations were merged into two companies, AGRANA Fruit and AGRANA Juice in 2006 in order to maximize synergy effects.Fruit is either prepared for use in the dairy, baking or ice cream industries, or is supplied to the beverage industry in the form of top quality fruit juice concentrates.

AGRANA’s shareholder structure is dominated by a strategic alliance of cooperative-based Austrian owners and Südzucker AG Mannheim/Ochsenfurt (Germany), both of which hold around 37.75% of the Group’s equity capital. The remaining 24.5% of shares are in free float traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange. The market capitalization of the Group currently stands at around EUR 1.1bn.