AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft (AGR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome, and thank you for joining the AGRANA results of the first 3 quarters of 2021-2022 conference call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Hannes Haider responsible for Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AGRANA's conference call presenting our results for the first 3 quarters of '21/'22 financial year. First of all, a happy new year, and all the best for 2022. You already got some insights in our figures when we published an ad-hoc announcement on the 15th of December last year. Today, we will provide you with more financial details also on the 3 segments. As announced in our invitation, a presentation is available in reference to our call. You can find this presentation in the IR section of our website. With us today are 3 out of 4 members of the Management Board. Our CEO, Markus Muhleisen, will start the presentation with an overview on the highlights for the first 3 quarters. Then he will also present some highlights regarding the market environment in the 3 segments. Our CTO, Mr. Harringer, will afterwards present to you what is going on in the group regarding raw materials and production. He will also provide you with an investment overview. Finally, our CFO, Mr. Buttner, will report on the financials in detail, and he will conclude with an outlook for the remaining financial year. The presentation will take about 30 minutes. After the presentations, the lines will be opened for your questions. And now I may pass over to our CEO, Mr. Muhleisen, who will start with the presentation.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this call. I am pleased to discuss with you today, together with my colleagues, the results for the third quarter and the outlook for the remainder of the year. And as you can see on Slide 2, our Q3 numbers were good. We're quite pleased with the Q3 performance. Overall, in a highly volatile market environment, we were able to grow the top line by 13.5% and EBIT by 9.5%. And that then marks for us the turnaround in our overall performance that we had predicted since the beginning of the year. We've always said, look, first half is going to be weaker, has a lot to do with the campaigns from last year and other factors. And we should then start seeing an improvement in the performance in the third quarter, and we can now report on that. And so cumulatively then through the first 3 quarters, we are now at EUR 2.2 billion in revenue and EBIT of EUR 76 million. And we are confident, now turning to the next slide, Slide 3, therefore, that we will be able to achieve our guidance for the full year. We expect also the fourth quarter to be a good quarter for us. And therefore, we continue to be on path to significantly improve our bottom line, our EBIT by at least 10%. Now the part that I do want to emphasize here is that it continues to be a very volatile environment. You probably all know that, whether it's the commodity markets, but also the energy cost. But then also, as we've now seen in the recent weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic, far from being over, is something that we have emphasized, as you know, as you will remember, since the beginning of the year that it is important to keep that in mind that the pandemic will be with us for a while. And we also see that actually as an outlook for next year, it is something that volatility will be -- continue to be with us next year, and with it, the disruptions, both on the supply as well as on the demand side. And so one of the key aspects continues to be to be very focused on strong execution. We continue to operate somewhat in crisis mode, I think not just as AGRANA, but I think as total societies continuously have to adapt. And I want to actually take this opportunity to really highlight the tremendous effort that all of our employees are putting in. And it is something that -- it cannot be forgotten that this is kind of environment, the high volatility requires very high agility, and I'm very pleased with how the AGRANA organization is performing. I also want to take this opportunity to, again, highlight the robustness of our business model with the different divisions. And we're facing many headwinds. We're also having some tailwinds. And because of the way we're diversified, the way we're set up, we're actually managing through this crisis quite well. And I also want to take the opportunity to highlight the strong business relationships we have, which also have helped us manage this crisis quite well. So I -- while we remain very focused on delivering this year's numbers and then executing strongly, at the same time, we are preparing for the future. And Slide on 4, just maybe a very brief update on our strategic agenda. As I laid out for you in some past calls, there are sort of 5 focus areas that we're working on, and we continue to work on those. Work is progressing well. We are engaged in an in-depth review of our business, and that is progressing well as well. And while I cannot really share details in today's call, I can tell you, one of the things that I have been very impressed with is indeed the strong foundation AGRANA is built upon and that we do see a significant upside potential actually in all of our divisions. And we'll come back to that in one of the future calls as we progress on this agenda. And then just very briefly, let me touch upon some significant factors in the external environment that have been both head and tailwinds for us. And so if you move forward to Slide 5 and then 6, certainly, we have been helped, and especially in Q3, for the very strong ethanol prices that has been a great tailwind for us in the Starch division. We are currently still at over EUR 900 per cubic meter in early January, and these are historic highs for ethanol, and that has certainly been a great help for us in our Starch division. If you then move to Slide 6 (sic) [ Slide 7 ], on the other hand, we had to face an explosion as well on the electricity cost. It's something which you know very well, but it has hit us hard across all divisions, but particularly hard in the Sugar division. Obviously, we have hedging strategies. We have ways to manage volatilities, but they do differ how we can do it in different divisions. And the Sugar division, in particular, historically, is one where we've had a lower level of hedging against energy variations -- energy cost variations and other divisions has to do with the campaign nature of that business. And as a result, these higher energy costs hit us particularly hard in the Sugar division, but they also are very significant in the other segments. And then if you move on to Slide 8, here, maybe just a brief outlook on the sugar markets, very pleasingly, we're now back to over EUR 400 per tonne at the European level. As you know, the last few years have been difficult on the sugar market. And we're clearly now in better territory, and we continue to see that being positive for us. The outlook also among the European forecasters here is that we should continue to see a stable positive environment in the future. So let me then conclude at this stage. Stephan, our CFO, will obviously want to take you through the detail through the financials. But first, let me turn it over to our CTO, Norbert, to give you a bit more insight into raw materials and production. Thank you.

Thank you, Markus. Also from my side, a very warm welcome to our today's conference call. Let me start with an overview about the raw material situation in our Fruit segment on Page 10. The purchasing of fruits from the 2021 crop for processing in this financial year and next year was largely completed in the third quarter of 2021/'22. Overall, in the reporting period, about 273,000 tonnes of raw materials were procured for the fruit preparation activities. The globally required amount of strawberries, the most important fruit by volume in this part of the Fruit segment, was contracted at prices in line with levels of the year before. From August on, strawberry planting for the next crop began in the regions with a Mediterranean climate. The crop acreage in Egypt and Morocco is expected to be slightly expanded. Given the sustained strong demand from Europe and the United States for frozen fruit and also as a result of rising logistics costs, prices for the coming crop year are likely to show moderate increases. In AGRANA's fruit preparations business, the volatile market setting for commodities in general and in the global change in freight costs drove a rise of about 7% year-on-year in raw material costs. In order to both secure the required quantities of supply and counteract the price increases, a focus of efforts in the past months was on making procurement more flexible, as well, the collaboration with strategic suppliers was intensified. Concerning energy, rate hikes for electricity and natural gas since the third quarter of 2021/'22, especially in Europe, led to significantly higher costs year-on-year. In the fruit juice concentrate activities, AGRANA was able to process greater volumes than in the prior year, thanks to good availability, both of apples and red berries. All fruit juice concentrate plants recorded good capacity utilization. Let me now switch to our Starch segment, starting with corn and wheat on Page 11. During the wet corn campaign at our corn starch factory here in Austria, in Aschach, from the middle of September to mid of December of the last year, about 130,000 tonnes of wet corn was processed. For the full financial year, the total corn processing volume at this facility is expected to reach about 466,000 tonnes. In our plant at Pischelsdorf here in Austria, approximately 99,000 tonnes of wet corn was processed from the middle of September to the middle of December. A combined total of 1.05 million tonnes of non-corn grains and corn are to be used in our integrated biorefinery in the full year '21/'22. At the plant in Hungary, which is accounted for using the equity method, 215,000 tonnes of wet corn was processed from the end of August to the beginning of December. Total corn processing at HUNGRANA in the full financial year is expected to reach also 1.05 million tonnes. Now a short overview about potatoes. On the 2nd of September of the last year, the potato starch factory in Gmünd here in Austria began the processing of starch potatoes from the 2021 harvest. Thanks to the favorable weather conditions during the growing season, contract fulfillment by the growers is expected to reach about 106% of the contracted amount of starch potatoes. The average starch content of about 19.2% will make a tangible increase from the prior year's 18.1%. The wheat and corn quotation, you can see it on Page #12, on the market stock exchange in Paris, rose significantly since early March of the last year. A combination of strong demand for corn and grains and weaker harvests due to weather extremes in key production areas was responsible for these price gains and increased volatility. At the end of the quarterly reporting period, quotations were around EUR 237 per tonne for corn and EUR 280 per tonne for wheat. Ladies and gentlemen, let me now come to our Sugar segment on Page #13. The area contracted by AGRANA with its growers for sugar beet production in the 2021 crop year was almost 86,000 hectares. In retrospect, the growing conditions for sugar beet in the last year can be described as favorable. A dry and warm June was followed by summer months with moderate temperatures and frequent precipitation. A mild September and a very, very dry October, combined with cooler night temperatures, resulted in a significant increase in sugar content of the beet. In September, in particular, sugar content rose by about 2 percentage points. This was attributable not only to the weather, but also to the healthy beet stocks. In general, the beet fields were in very good conditions up to harvest time. Among other things, the presence of beet weevil was significantly reduced from the year before. The total amount -- the total beet harvest amount will be about 5.7 million tonnes, including some 100,000 tonnes of organic beet grown here in Austria. Beet yields in Austria, our most important country for beet production, are around 80 tonnes per hectare. The beet campaign in all factories started between the middle of September and early October in the last year. By the beginning of December, about 60% of the plant beet volume has already been processed. At 2.9 million tonnes, the largest portion is processed at the 2 Austrian sites in Tulln and in Leopoldsdorf. In this year's campaign in Tulln, in addition to regular beet, the approximately 100,000 tonnes of organic beet will be processed into about 13,500 tonnes of organic sugar. Capacity utilization of the factories was improved, thanks to higher beet volumes. As of the 30th of December of the last year, contracts for beet production in 2022 have been concluded for a planting area of about 35,000 hectares here in Austria. Now some facts about ESG and our ambition to meet the climate challenge. On Page 15, ladies and gentlemen, you can see that for AGRANA, sustainability is an integral aspect of its business activities. This slide should be a reminder on the first interim target of our climate strategy. I just would like to draw your attention in this context on the current measures. With the installation of the new natural gas-fired steam boiler in Sered' in Slovakia, the second last sugar factory which have been fired by coal was converted to natural gas with the ability to use biogas also. This represents a significant further step on our pathway for phasing out the use of fossil fuels. We are currently analyzing all emissions from our upstream supply chain and downstream value chain, the so-called Scope 3 emissions. The resulting picture of the corporate carbon footprint will provide the basis for the setting of comprehensive science-based climate protection targets under the Science Based Targets initiative by the end of 2022. Last but not least, some words about our investments in the current business year on Page 17. In the first 3 quarters of the current business year, AGRANA invested EUR 50.1 million or EUR 2.7 million more than in the year earlier comparative period. In addition to the regular projects for product quality improvement, asset replacement and maintenance across all production sites, the following individual investments are worthy of note. In the Fruit segment, a new filling line in our factory in France in Mitry-Mory; the upgrading and capacity expansion of the existing cooling system, combined with heat recovery from the compressors, also in Mitry; and a new construction of an application laboratory in Dachang in China. In our Starch segment, we continued the measures to increase specialty corn processing in Aschach here in Austria; we did an efficiency improvement to the spray drying towers in Gmünd; and upgrading of our drum drying plant for the production of potato flakes in Gmünd, this new equipment was successfully commissioned during the last weeks; and the expansion of the company wastewater treatment plant also in Gmünd. In our Sugar segment, we did the already mentioned conversion of the boiler plant from coal to natural gas and biogas in Sered' in Slovakia; and the expansion of our process control systems in our factories in Tulln and in Austria. Ladies and gentlemen, the total investment across the 3 business segments in the current business year, at approximately EUR 92 million, is to exceed the last year's level, but will be significantly below this year's budgeted depreciation of about EUR 120 million. Our short-term focus is on the implementation phase after the completion of major projects and capacity expansion in recent years. Ladies and gentlemen, now I'm glad to hand over to Stephan Buttner for his overview about the financials.

Thank you, Norbert. So good morning, ladies and gentlemen. So I will start with an overview of the revenue by segment. So as already mentioned, our revenue increased by 10.4% in total, up to EUR 2,169.6 million. When we look at the Fruit segment, so we see an increase of 5.3%, up to EUR 939.1 million. When we look at the fruit prep business, we saw an increase of 7% in revenue, up to EUR 775 million, mainly driven by price increase of over 6% in total and a slight volume increase of 1% in fruit preps. When we look at the juice business, we had stable revenues of EUR 167 million compared to the prior year. So there, we had different effects. One was a lower sales volume of apple juice concentrate, also, as already mentioned, due to lower availability of apples in the campaign 2021 and, therefore, lower sales volumes, whereas we had a price increase in the berry juice concentrate and also the added value business. When we look at the Starch segment, so we see an increase of 18.9% in revenue, up to EUR 737.8 million, which is a significant increase. So overall, product segments, we had a significant increase in revenue. When you look at native starch, there was a plus of 25%; also in modified starches, 20% plus; and in the saccharification products, 10% plus. And also in the ethanol business, we had a price increase in total of 18%. So in the other product segments, the increase was mainly driven both by volume and prices. In Sugar, revenue went up to EUR 492.7 million. This was also driven, on one hand, by a price increase of around 4.3%. Volumes also slightly increased by around 2%, and this was mainly driven by the recovery in the industrial sales volumes where we had issues last year due to the corona pandemic. When we look at the EBIT, so in total, and we went down to EUR 76 million, already certain -- some effects, we already mentioned. So also, again, when we look at the Fruit segment, so the performance was down by 12.3% to EUR 36.2 million. So this is coming from both businesses, on one hand, from the fruit preps business, they were down on EBIT level from EUR 38 million in the prior year to EUR 34 million. So this is coming partly from the operative business. There, we had negative impact, especially from the raw material side, so increasing raw materials which we could not fully pass on to the clients. Also a negative volume effect out of China with a significant amount of approximately EUR 4 million on the bottom line. Also, we had higher staff costs, especially in North America due to a shortage on the labor side, and this also amounted to around EUR 2 million. And then also in the fruit preps business, we had an extraordinary negative impact of EUR 1.6 million coming from a micro claim in the U.S. In juice, the result, the EBIT was down after 9 months from EUR 3.6 million to EUR 2.3 million. As already mentioned also here, the main driver was the apple juice concentrate business where we saw lower volumes but also lower margins. Whereas we hear from the new campaign 2022, we already see a recovery which will hold on in the coming months. So there, we have at least a positive outlook. In Starch, EBIT went down by 8.5% to EUR 53.5 million. So here, we must say that the main driver, and this was already also mentioned by Markus, is of course the ethanol in the first 9 months. It was really a tailwind for us. So we have a dramatic shift from the Starch business results towards the ethanol business. So ethanol accounted for, I would say, approximately 76% of the EBIT in the Starch business. So Starch business itself, product-wise, was heavily under pressure due to increase in raw materials, and we have a certain time lag in being able to pass on these raw material and energy price increases to the clients. In Sugar, so we had, on the operative level, more or less stable result. Of course, we had positive effects on the price side, as already mentioned, but this was more or less offset by higher prices for [ trade ] sugar and cane sugar, but also for sugar beet. Also positive effects here were lower -- significantly lower [ idle ] costs in the actual year versus the prior year, and this was also already mentioned due to better beet availability, especially also in Austria. When we look at the consolidated income statement, so revenue and EBIT, I already commented on. So the net financial items show a better performance with minus EUR 11.2 million. I would come to that afterwards more in detail. And the profit for the period with EUR 44.8 million, resulting in earnings per share of EUR 0.71. Also, again, an overview of the energy costs in the first 3 quarters. We also, as already mentioned, so here, we can see the increase. So main factor is the natural gas. And you see that in all the segments, we have a significant increase of energy costs. This is not fully yet reflected in our EBIT or operative results. As you know, we also have campaign businesses, especially in sugar. And these increases in gas prices especially also lead to higher cost of goods sold, which will also be a factor in the coming months and especially also in the first half year of '22/ '23, the business year. So this is unfortunately a massive impact that we have to face due to the high volatility. But I think in all of the businesses, not only in AGRANA, this is a massive factor. Net financial items, I already said we could improve, down to EUR 11.2 million. Here, we had positive effects versus the prior year in the currency translation differences and also a slight positive effect in the net interest expense. In the tax rate, we had a result of 30.9%. This is after adjustment, more or less comparable with the prior year. The consolidated cash flow statement, so we saw an operating cash flow before changes in working capital of EUR 150 million, mainly driven versus the prior year by the lower profit after tax. Changes in working capital, EUR 67.1 million. Of course, a massive increase, I would say, versus the prior year, but this is also caused by the massive increase in raw material prices, which was already mentioned by Norbert, so that we end up with net cash from operating activities of EUR 60.5 million. And after investing activities, still a positive free cash flow. The consolidated balance sheet, so in the noncurrent assets, we see no major changes. So here, the slight reduction is mainly caused by the difference between our depreciation and capital expenditures. In the current assets, we see an increase of 17.6%, which is significant. And this is mainly, of course, caused by higher inventories. So we have higher raw material costs, especially in sugar for the beets, but also in the fruit business and also the trade receivables also due to higher volumes, but also higher sales prices increased by EUR 100 million. Equity, yes, stable, more or less, I would say. And also we saw a significant increase in the current liabilities, and this is also cost against the trade receivables, also by trade liabilities, which went up by EUR 134 million. The equity ratio is still at the level of 50%, which is okay for us. Net debt, EUR 486.2 million. Of course, also big influence here is the increase in raw material prices and the gearing with 36.3%. So let's come to the financial outlook. Also, as already stated, we keep our outlook on the EBIT level where we said that we -- our target is to have an increase of at least 10% versus the EBIT of the prior year for the full year '21/'22. So we confirm that revenues should increase moderately versus 2021 in '21/'22. Of course, we also want to emphasize that corona is still an important factor and causes high volatility and also uncertainty when we talk about our forecast. When we look at the different segments, so in Fruit, revenue should be moderately up; and EBIT, still we confirm a significant improvement. In Starch, we expect a significant increase in revenues and a stable EBIT. And in Sugar, also a significant increase in revenues and a moderate improvement on EBIT level. Thank you very much. Now I hand over to Hannes Haider, who will give you an outlook on the financial calendar.

Thank you, Stephan. Before we go on with the Q&A session, I just wanted to remind you that our annual results for the full financial year will be published on the 13th of May, and the Annual General Meeting will take place on the 8th of July. And we will now go on with the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Vladimira Urbankova from Erste Bank.

Thank you very much for interesting presentation, especially the details on energy costs. And when I'm looking at your guidance, on the surface, it was confirmed, but by segment, we have seen some changes. And I would really appreciate if you would, a little bit, elaborate more what are the expectations now for the segments, and why guidance changed? Respectively, didn't change for Fruit, but changed for Starch and Sugar? And if I'm looking at minimum 10% targeted growth on the operating line. I think 10% would be still something quite easy to achieve it, but you can tell me that it's not the case. But simply, do you expect that the fourth quarter to be in line with the first quarter? Second quarter? Or which quarter you would compare to the expected fourth quarter performance? And next question would be related to the tax. I didn't notice any special remarks on the high effective tax rate. So what was the reason behind the hike in the 3Q? And what do you expect for the full year? And then on the raw material and energy costs, what is your ability to pass over these costs to customers? In individual segments, where is the highest chance? How long it might last? What could be the time like? So this would be it for now.

Yes. So thank you, Mrs. Urbankova. You asked very, very interesting questions. Not so easy to answer, but let me try. So I think, first of all, you asked about guidance, yes? So especially in Sugar and in Starch, so let me tell you. In Sugar, and I already commented on that, we see this massive increase in energy prices. And also, Markus already stated that we were not really able to hedge the energy prices at an earlier stage. So this heavily affect our production now in the campaign 2021. Which of course also leads to higher cost of goods sold, inventory level. And this also means we have to compare these cost of goods sold with our sales prices, which were not increased that much in August and September for the [ concentrates ] for the coming year. And therefore, of course, we expect lower margins, as I already said, in the first half of the business year '22, '23. And there also will be, we expect, a significant lower results in Q4 in Sugar than we expected when energy prices were expected to be lower. But as you maybe have seen, that also for January and in the last couple of weeks, we again saw a massive increase in gas prices. In Starch, here also, we have a dramatic increase in raw material prices, which also will play an important role in Q4, also energy prices, especially also electricity, but also natural gas. And the tailwind here comes from the ethanol prices. And as already said, it is a very important factor when we also look at Q4. So we saw a drop again now in the last couple of weeks. But still, at the current levels, we can keep our guidance. But it is, of course, an important factor on the ethanol prices side. So this is the reason that we have a high volatility on 1 hand, in raw material prices; but also in energy prices, where we are not fully -- have not been fully covered with the hedge versus sales prices. And this then leads [ to different ] guidances in the different segments. For the tax rate, yes. So there, we had 2 more or less special effect on -- coming from an adjusted tax rate in Argentina. Due to hyperinflation there, it went up from 30% to 35%. And another important effect here is the deconsolidation of a Serbian affiliate, I would say, in the Fruit segment, which is called Yube. This was deconsolidated, so there was an impact of EUR 0.6 million. Then I think the next question was how we are able to pass on? I think the energy and raw material price increases, yes, I mean, this is something which differs from segment to segment, but also from product to product. We have yearly contracts with customers, but we also have quarterly contracts. This is different in all the segments. But of course, I mean, there is always a lag, yes, and we are lagging behind when raw material prices and energy prices are -- over a longer period of time, are permanently increasing, then we are always lagging behind. But what we will then also see, when there is a turn, and it goes into the other direction, then we will also hopefully then benefit from this development. Okay.

I have some difficulties on the line with the sound quality. Just what I was missing was -- is the [ better performance in fourth quarter ] compared to the previous quarters of the year. And what is the effective tax rate for the full fiscal year, this to remain open?

Sorry, I -- you also have...

Full year tax rate.

Yes, it's the same effect. So you see the major effects are mainly coming in the third quarter, and this affects the full year.

Mrs. Urbankova has that finished your question?

Frankly speaking, I have some [Technical Difficulty]

Mrs. Urbankova, can you please dial again? Your connection is very bad. So we will go on with the questions. Bernd Maur from RBI has sent us the following questions to read out. First question. Is there a possibility of adjusting the fixed sales prices and annual contracts due to the significant input cost increases since the contracts were concluded in late summer? Do you consider any negotiations?

Yes. Thank you. I'll take this question. This is Markus. So look, the short answer is yes. We -- our salespeople are very hard looking for opportunities to adjust these contracts. As you would imagine, these are difficult negotiations. As Stephan already alluded, we do have a mix of contracts, some are long-term contracts. And especially when you have long-standing relationships, you have to be careful on how you approach these topics. But our salespeople are pushing hard on this. I will say it is particularly challenging to pass on these costs in -- with those customers that operate in the food business, and in particular, those that are themselves then confronted with pushback from the retailers. Especially to those of you that are based here in Austria, you know very well the retailer concentration is very high. We also have a high retailer concentration in Germany and a few other countries. And what we're hearing from our customers and what we're also experiencing ourselves is that it is extremely hard for our customers themselves to pass on cost increases than to the retailers. Retailers are actually, in a number of cases, demanding price cuts. So despite these inflationary pressures all around, a very challenging negotiating environment. And so this obviously makes it much more difficult then to pass on cost increases. But we're trying everything, and in particular there, where we have short-term contracts, we absolutely are passing them on.

The next questions are, is there any progress in the background regarding the introduction of E10 in Austria? Is demand from industry segments showing continued strength? Is it planned to communicate a change in the strategic orientation of the company in the future course of the year as a result of the changes in management? Or is it more gradual development and communication to be expected here?

So sorry, I did not fully catch all of it. Let me just make sure the question was about the status on E10. Is that correct?

I can repeat the question.

Yes, please.

The second question was, is there any progress in the background regarding the introduction of E10 in Austria?

The -- this has been a bit disappointing for us. As you know, we've pushed very hard on it. We've actually had a number of very constructive conversations on this topic. We felt we were close to the government agreeing to it. But unfortunately, with the current coalition government, it's not been possible to get it executed, although it is in the coalition contract, as you know, between the ÖVP and The Greens. It's disappointing not just for AGRANA, but I think also for the environment because, actually, this would be a really good step to reduce greenhouse gases here in Austria. But it's also disappointing from a European perspective. I mean, we see other countries, let me call out here: Sweden, U.K. introducing E10; Germany is currently discussing, introducing E20. But yet in Austria, we're not able to get beyond E5. So it is disappointing. Having said that, we will not give up. We will continue to work with a whole range of other partners. Let me emphasize this. This is not a topic just for AGRANA, this is a society topic in Austria. And we know that there's many partners out there that fully agree that it's absolutely necessary for Austria to adopt E10. So we will continue to work with those partners to push forward.

The next question was, is demand from industrial segments showing continued strength?

Also here, the short answer is yes. We see in the Starch business, particularly from packaging and paper industries, very strong demands. But right across the board in storage demand has been good. We continue to see that progressing through into the next quarters as well. And I mean -- fundamentally, I mean, as you know, the -- in particular, in paper and cardboard segments, those are driven by an increase in demand in online purchasing, which is playing a big, big role here. And we continue to see that trend continuing and possibly even accelerating even more in the future.

The next question was, is it planned to communicate a change in the strategic orientation of the company in the future course of the year as a result of the change in management? Or is it more gradual development and communication to be expected here?

Yes. Look, we've talked already about it a little bit. I mean, as you know, at the beginning, one of the things we said for this new team here, we sort of have 3 priorities, top priorities for this year. Number one, we obviously want to manage a very smooth transition. And always, when you have these management changes, it can create a lot of upheaval. And we want to make it as smooth as possible. Secondly, we said we were going to be focused on a strong execution of '21, '22 and delivering the numbers. And hopefully, we were able to show you that despite a volatile environment, we're on track to deliver on that. And then thirdly, we said we were going to start a strategic review process, and we are well underway on that. We want to take our time, so we don't want to sort of make any quick decisions here. As I alluded to earlier, one of the things we have already seen through our analysis and through our review is that there is actually very good potential in each of our existing segments. We, at this point, do not see the need for any radical changes, but we do see the need for change. I mean, it's quite clear that there's -- in order to go for those potentials, we will have to do some things differently. And we know there's a number of homework to do in each of the segments. We want to improve execution. We want to improve financials. I mean, as we mentioned, I think, in an earlier call, we're not satisfied, content with some of the financial performance. We -- and as we just spoke about in the context also of storage, but there is a great growth in a number of interesting segments. And so we do see a number of changes. I will predict that we will make announcements here and there throughout the year, but I can also tell you that our current time line is to talk to you more in depth about strategic changes, probably more sort of in the June, July time frame. This is -- I mean, to maybe manage also expectations here. I think this is the time that we need to really conclude our strategic review and also then have the right discussions internally with all of our stakeholders. And so I would expect us, as I said, to make announcements or comments as we go along, as we have something new to report. But sort of a bigger discussion probably more in the June, July time frame.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. I hand back to Hannes Haider for closing comments.

Yes. Thank you. As there are no further questions, thank you for your interest in AGRANA Group and your participation. We wish you a successful remaining day, and goodbye.