The regional analysis of revenue is presented in the Segment reporting section.

The Group’s top ten customers accounted for 29% of consolidated revenue.

The decrease of € 90,905 thousand in inventories of finished and unfinished goods (prior year: decrease of € 73,264 thousand) occurred mainly in the Sugar segment, at a reduction of € 69,461 thousand (prior year: decrease of € 40,859 thousand), and in the Fruit segment (particularly the juice activities), at a reduction of € 17,504 thousand (prior year: decrease of € 32,086 thousand).

Within other operating income, “other items” represent primarily revenue from the sale of raw materials and consumables.

Additions to the provisions for retirement and termination are reported in staff costs, without their interest component. Net interest expense of € 2,935 thousand (prior year: € 2,810 thousand) arising from these items is included in net financial items.

The average number of employees in joint ventures was as follows (based on 50% of these companies’ total employees):

The impairment charges in the year under review related primarily to a write-down for the sugar quota in the Czech Republic and impairment on equipment in the Starch segment (drum drying plant) and Fruit segment (production line in the USA for chocolate crumbs for mixing with fruit preparations).
Impairment by segment was as follows:

In the 2008|09 sugar marketing year, sugar-producing companies that were allocated quota paid a restructuring levy of € 113.30 per tonne of quota.

Internal and external R&D costs totalled € 13,345 thousand (prior year: € 12,499 thousand).

Within other operating expenses, “other items” included additional expenses from sales of industrial sugar; lease and rental costs; damage payments; waste removal and cleaning; and expenses from the sale of fresh fruit in Mexico.

The costs incurred in the financial year for the auditors were € 306 thousand for KPMG Austria GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft and € 197 thousand for MULTICONT Revisions- und Treuhand Gesellschaft m.b.H. The expenses related entirely to the audit of the consolidated financial statements (including separate financial statements of individual subsidiaries and joint ventures); no other consulting services were provided by the auditors.

Exceptional items had the following effects on items of the income statement in the 2009|10 financial year:

Exceptional items in the year under review related solely to the Fruit segment and consisted of costs for the closure of the holding company in Paris and the goodwill impairment charge in connection with the closing of AGRANA Fruit Bohemia s.r.o. in the Czech Republic.

The share of results of associates in the prior year came from Österreichische Rübensamenzucht Gesellschaft m.b.H., Vienna. From the year under review, this company is carried as a nonconsolidated subsidiary.

Interest income by segment was as follows:

Interest expense by segment was as follows:

The analysis of net financial items (finance income less expenses) is as follows:

In the financial year, net currency translation differences were 75.6% realised (prior year: 1.7%).

Interest expense includes the interest component of allocations to the provisions for retirement and termination benefits. In the financial year, this interest component was € 2,935 thousand (prior year: € 2,810 thousand).

Current and deferred tax expenses and credits pertained to Austrian and foreign income taxes and had the following composition:

Reconciliation of the deferred tax amounts in the balance sheet to the deferred taxes in the income statement:

The nominal tax charge or credit is based on application of the standard Austrian corporation tax rate of 25%.

The Tax Reform Act of 2005 introduced a new concept for the taxation of company groups. In accordance with the provisions of this Act, the AGRANA Group established a group consisting of AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG as the group parent and the following group members: AGRANA Zucker GmbH, AGRANA Stärke GmbH, AGRANA Marketing- und Vertriebsservice Gesellschaft mbH, AGRANA Bioethanol GmbH, Agrofrucht Gesellschaft m.b.H., AGRANA J&F Holding GmbH, AGRANA Internationale Verwaltungs- und Asset-Management GmbH, AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH, Brüder Hernfeld Gesellschaft m.b.H., INSTANTINA Nahrungsmittel Entwicklungs- und Produktionsgesellschaft m.b.H. and AGRANA Juice Sales & Customer Service GmbH.

The tax effects from tax-exempt income relate primarily to the tax incentive for the Hungarian starch company’s capacity expansion.

Deferred taxes are recognised on differences between carrying amounts in the consolidated financial statements and the tax bases of the individual companies in their home countries. Deferred taxes take into account carryforwards of unused tax losses.

In the interest of conservative planning, deferred taxes reflect carryforwards of tax losses only to the extent that sufficient taxable profit is likely to be earned over the next five years to utilise the deferred tax assets. € 12,145 thousand (prior year: € 6,721 thousand) of potential tax assets were not recognised. At the balance sheet date, there were cumulative unused tax losses of € 57,608 thousand (prior year: € 35,592 thousand).

The deferred tax assets and liabilities recognised directly in equity amounted to a net liability of € 1,100 thousand (prior year: net asset of € 1,398 thousand).

¹ Proposal to the Annual General Meeting.

Subject to the Annual General Meeting’s approval of the proposed allocation of profit for the 2009|10 financial year, AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG will pay a dividend of € 27,694 thousand (prior year: € 27,694 thousand).