The performance of international financial markets in the past financial year was adversely affected by the worldwide economic slowdown and the financial crisis. The resulting uncertainty in the world’s financial markets also affected the ATX (Austrian Traded Index), the blue-chip index of the Vienna Stock Exchange, which lost 60.5% over AGRANA’s 2008|09 financial year. The AGRANA share price (ISIN code AT0000603709) fell by 35.4%. The high for the financial year was € 73.50, with a low of € 36.50 and a closing price at the end of the financial year of € 47.50. Market capitalisation based on the year-end price was € 674.6 million. The average daily trading volume in AGRANA was approximately 4,600 shares (single-counted), which was below the level of the previous years.

In addition to its listing on the Prime Market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange, AGRANA is traded on the floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the Stuttgart and Berlin-Bremen exchanges. AGRANA’s Prime Market stock index weight at the balance sheet date of 28 February 2009 was 0.7%.

AGRANA’s investor relations and public relations activities are based on the fundamental principles of providing comprehensive information, a high level of transparency and constant communication with investors and analysts.

The financial and industry media were provided with detailed information on the performance of the business at the press conference presenting the annual results. In addition, the Management Board took part in numerous one-on-one interviews with financial and agricultural journalists and kept the public informed through press releases on current developments. Journalists were also invited to the official openings of the plants in Pischelsdorf, Austria and Brčko, Bosnia-Herzegovina. In addition, individual guided tours of the plants were regularly held for interested journalists.

The Management Board of AGRANA provided Austrian and international institutional investors and analysts with information on the company’s performance and the prospects for the AGRANA Group at several road shows and investor conferences that were held in Austria and abroad. This dialogue was supplemented by numerous individual conversations and conference calls on quarterly and full-year results. In conjunction with the June 2008 Capital Market Days, institutional investors and analysts were able to visit the bioethanol plant in Pischelsdorf and to receive information about the actual situation. Private shareholders had the opportunity to learn about AGRANA’s current business performance directly from the Management Board at the GEWINN trade fair and the Börse-Express road show in Vienna.

An important element of the investor relations activities is the regular updating of the AGRANA website (www.agrana.com), where all financial reports, financial news items, ad-hoc announcements and investor presentations are available as soon as they are published. AGRANA endeavours to provide the same information to all market participants.

In June 2008, Erste Bank initiated equity research coverage of AGRANA. At the same time, Morgan Stanley ended its coverage for lack of internal resources at the investment bank. Five Austrian and international investment houses now publish research on AGRANA: Raiffeisen Centrobank, Erste Bank, Goldman Sachs, Berenberg Bank and Sal. Oppenheim. UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking suspended recommendations on AGRANA for the time being due to an internal reorganisation at UniCredit. An overview of the current analyst ratings can be found on the internet at www.agrana.com > Investor Relations > The AGRANA Share > Research.

AGRANA’s dividend policy is to pay constant dividends. As a result of profitable operations in the 2008|09 financial year, and based on the assumption of a recovery in 2009|10, the Management Board will recommend the distribution of an unchanged dividend of € 1.95 per share to the Annual General Meeting on 10 July 2009. Based on 14.2 million shares, the total payout will be € 27.7 million, giving a Dividend yield of 4.1% (up from 2.7% in the prior year) on the share price of € 47.5 at the end of February 2009. Entitled shareholders will be paid the dividend on 15 July 2009 by their custodian. AGRANA is thus demonstrating its shareholder-friendly dividend policy even in hard times.

AGRANA has a stable core shareholder structure. In the 2008|09 financial year, Z&S Zucker und Stärke Holding AG (Z&S), based in Vienna, held 75.5% of the share capital of AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG, the same amount as last year. Z&S, the majority shareholder, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vienna-based AGRANA Zucker, Stärke und Frucht Holding AG, which, in turn, is 50% owned by Südzucker AG, Mannheim/Ochsenfurt, Germany (“Südzucker”) and 50% owned by Zucker-Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H., Vienna (“ZBG”). The following five Vienna-based entities are shareholders of ZBG: Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich Wien registrierte Genossenschaft mit beschränkter Haftung; Marchfelder Zuckerfabriken Gesellschaft m.b.H.; Estezet Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H.; Rübenproduzenten Beteiligungs GesmbH; and Leipnik-Lundenburger Invest Beteiligungs AG.

Under a syndicate agreement between Südzucker and ZBG, the syndicate members have certain rights to appoint members to AGRANA’s Management Board and Supervisory Boards. Accordingly, Johann Marihart has been appointed by ZBG as a management board member of Südzucker and Thomas Kölbl has been appointed by Südzucker to the Management Board of AGRANA. Neither are remunerated for these positions.

Prudential plc, London, together with certain of its subsidiaries increased its shareholding in AGRANA to above 10%.