EQS-News: KWS Annual Shareholders’ Meeting approves dividend of €1.00 and elects Dr. Hagen Duenbostel to the Supervisory Board

KWS Annual Shareholders’ Meeting approves dividend of €1.00 and elects Dr. Hagen Duenbostel to the Supervisory Board

At today's Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the shareholders of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN: DE0007074007) approved the management's proposed resolutions on all items on the agenda with a clear majority. The dividend payout for fiscal year 2023/2024 will rise to €1.00 (0.90) per share with a payout ratio of 25.2% (23.4%).

The Annual Shareholders' Meeting of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA was held this morning in Einbeck as an in-person event. The Executive Board explained the business performance of the very successful past fiscal year to the shareholders present.

KWS was convincing in fiscal year 2023/2024 and able to further expand its leading position in sugarbeet seed with highly innovative solutions. The fiscal year was also characterized by the sale of the corn and sorghum business in South America and the Chinese corn business.

The KWS Group achieved an 12% increase in net sales to €1.68 (1.50) billion. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) recorded significant growth of 55% to €302.0 (278.8) million, while the corresponding EBIT margin also improved significantly to 18.0% (13.0%). Earnings per share rose by 46% to €5.58 (3.82).^[*]

Based on the positive business development in fiscal year 2023/24, the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting resolved to pay dividend of €1.00 (0.90) on the proposal of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. As a result, €33.0 (29.7) million will be distributed to the shareholders of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA. It corresponds to a dividend payout ratio of 25.2 (23.4) %, in line with KWS' dividend policy of a dividend payment of around 20 to 25% of the KWS Group's net income, which is geared to the company's profitability.

The Executive Board and Supervisory Board took the Annual Shareholders' Meeting as an opportunity to thank all employees for their successful work and personal commitment.

Dr. Marie Schnell, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, also thanked Chief Financial Officer Eva Kienle, who will leave the Executive Board at the end of January 2025, for her many years of successful work for KWS. The future members of the Executive Board, Dr. Jörn Andreas (as of January 1, 2025) and Sebastian Talg (as of September 1, 2025), used the opportunity to introduce themselves to the present shareholders.

Following the death of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Philip Freiherr von dem Bussche, in April 2024, the vacant mandate was not reassigned. As part of the long-term succession planning, it was intended to propose Dr. Hagen Duenbostel for the election to the Supervisory Board of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA and KWS SE following a two-year cooling-off period. The Annual Shareholders' Meetings of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA and KWS SE approved the proposed elections. In the constitutive formal Supervisory Board meetings, Dr. Hagen Duenbostel was elected as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Dr. Marie Schnell as the Deputy Chairwoman. Victor Balli was re-elected as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA.

About KWS

KWS is one of the world’s leading plant breeding companies. Nearly 5,000 employees* in more than 70 countries generated net sales of around €1.68 billion in the fiscal year 2023/2024. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for almost 170 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for sugarbeet, corn, cereals, vegetables, oilseed rape and sunflower. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield for farmers and plants’ resistance to diseases, pests and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested more than €300 million last fiscal year in research and development.
*excl. seasonal workforce

 More information: www.kws.com. Follow us on LinkedIn: LinkedIn_KWS Group

Contacts:

Peter Vogt  
Head of Investor Relations
Phone: +49-30 816914-490
peter.vogt@kws.com

Sina Barnkothe
Corporate Communications
Phone: +49-5561 311-1783
sina.barnkothe@kws.com

^[*] Key figures reported relate to KWS' continuing operations following the agreements reached at the end of March 2024 on the sale of the South American corn business; the corresponding key figures for the previous year have been adjusted accordingly.