The management board of BayWa remains confident that the group’s restructuring can be completed on schedule by 2028, despite recent setbacks. „It will not be long before we enter a phase in which we return to growth“, chief executive Frank Hiller said at a recent press conference at the company’s Munich headquarters. Profitability, he added, would be higher than in the past.

In October, BayWa achieved an operating margin of 4.0% in its core business after adjusting for one-off items. „That is what we now need to stabilise“, Hiller stressed. This figure – based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) – represents the group’s target through to the planned completion of the restructuring at the end of 2028. Over the first nine months of this year, adjusted Ebitda was a high double-digit million euro amount above the level envisaged in the restructuring plan.

The company is still working on a reassessment of its US business at BayWa r.e. Renewable energy activities are bundled in the unit, which is jointly operated with Swiss partner Energy Infrastructure Partners. The planned sale of BayWa’s stake is intended to sharpen the focus on the core business and reduce the group’s heavy debt burden. In September, BayWa had warned that earnings expectations for BayWa r.e. could be cut due to worsening conditions in the US.

Group revenue fell by 22% in the first nine months to 9.6 billion euros. In the core business alone, sales declined by 15%, Hiller said. The markets had contracted by around 10% due to economic weakness.

By 2028, BayWa is aiming to reduce debt by 4 billion euros. The starting point was 7.6 billions euros in the summer of 2024, when the group’s difficulties became apparent. So far, around 700 million euros of debt has been repaid, noted restructuring board member Michael Baur. The sale of Dutch grain trader Cefetra is expected to contribute 600 millions euros to the deleveraging effort. However, despite a signed contract with a buyer, the transaction collapsed in October.

„The buyer, Peter Goedevolk, was unable to finance the agreed purchase price“, Baur explained. A sales agreement with a consortium of investors is now expected to be signed later this year. Following an investment screening procedure, Baur hopes the transaction can be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

BayWa is not only focused on completing the restructuring by the end of 2028, but is also working through its past. An independent investigation commissioned by the company, including civil and criminal law assessments, has yet to be concluded. Hiller said the supervisory board would present initial findings at the annual general meeting scheduled for mid-July. According to Hiller, a large number of acquisitions with little synergy had left the group financially overstretched. „Management did not do a good job and failed to deliver. It was focused on itself, not on the company“, observed Hiller, who joined the company in March 2025.

The Munich public prosecutor’s office has been investigating three former board members and one current member for some time. The suspicion is that the company’s liquidity position was misrepresented in the 2023 annual report. The current board member concerned is Marlen Wienert, who is responsible for two business segments, marketing and the BayWa Foundation. Asked about Wienert, Hiller said the presumption of innocence applied.