On balance in securities markets, the defining trend of the 2010 calendar year was a growing normalisation after the crisis year 2008 and the soaring rebound of 2009. As a result of recurring debate over the high government debt levels in some countries, international stock markets were volatile. Very positive sentiment drivers were upward revisions in economic forecasts and corporate earnings guidance, improved labour market data and the sustained low-interest policies of central banks. Generally, 2010 saw the return of cautious optimism to international financial markets, including Wiener Börse. In Vienna, the ultimate outcome of this improvement in sentiment and the calmer market was that the ATX, Wiener Börse’s blue-chip stock index, gained 18.0% over AGRANA’s 2010|11 financial year.

AGRANA’s shares started the 2010|11 financial year at a price of € 72.37. On reduced trading volume of about 2,200 shares per day based on single counting, the shares saw a significant price movement on 26 May 2010 (triggered by the adjustment of the MSCI benchmark index) and on 17 September 2010 (as a result of the September expiration date of the share options). June and October, respectively, brought corrections of these effects. At the balance sheet date, AGRANA’s share price was € 79.20, representing a gain of 9.4% for the financial year completed.

The market capitalisation at 28 February 2011 was € 1,124.8 million, with an unchanged 14.2 million shares outstanding. Since 21 June 2010, AGRANA has been a constituent of the VÖNIX, the Austrian Sustainability Index. This equity index comprises 22 stocks out of a base universe of 60 companies that are leading in social and environmental performance.

In addition to its listing in 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 exchanges.

AGRANA’s investor relations and public relations activities are based on the key principles of pro­viding comprehensive information, a high level of transparency and constant communication with investors and analysts. At the press conferences presenting the annual and half-year results, the financial and industry media were provided with detailed information on the financial results and business performance. In addition, the Management Board gave numerous one-on-one interviews to financial, agricultural and other journalists and kept the public informed on current developments through press releases. Journalists were also invited to join tours of production facilities in Austria and Russia.

At several road shows and investor conferences held in Austria and abroad, 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. This dialogue was supplemented by numerous individual conversations and conference calls on quarterly and full-year results. In the 2010|11 financial year AGRANA also hosted an international Capital Markets Day. In February 2011, institutional investors and analysts were invited to visit the fruit preparations plant in Serpuchov and inform themselves regarding the expansion of the Russian facility. Private shareholders had the opportunity to learn about new developments in AGRANA’s current business performance directly from the Management Board at the GEWINN trade fair.

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, voting rights notifications, directors’ dealings disclosures and investor presentations are available as soon as they are published. In August 2010 the AGRANA website was relaunched to make the Internet presence even more user-friendly and functional. AGRANA endeavours to make the same information available to all market participants at the same time.

The following national and international investment houses published research on AGRANA in the 2010|11 financial year: Raiffeisen Centrobank, Erste Bank, Berenberg Bank and Goldman Sachs. An overview of the current analyst ratings can be found on the Internet at www.agrana.com > Investor Relations > The AGRANA Share > Research.

¹ Proposal to the Annual General Meeting.

AGRANA is committed to a long-term policy of sustained dividends. At the Annual General Meeting on 1 July 2011, in view of the positive financial results in the year completed, the Management Board will propose payment of an increased dividend of € 2.40 per share, which is also in line with the Group’s long-term policy of maintaining a dividend payout ratio of approximately 40%. Based on 14.2 million shares, the proposal represents a total dividend payout of € 34.1 million; the corresponding Dividend yield, based on the share price of € 79.20 at the end of February 2011, is 3.03% (prior year: 2.72%). Shareholders with dividend rights will be paid the dividend on 6 July 2011 by their custodian.

AGRANA has a stable core shareholder structure. In the 2010|11 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 one year earlier. 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 (“Südzucker”), Mannheim, Germany and 50% owned by Zucker-Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H. (“ZBG”), Vienna. The following five Vienna-based entities are shareholders of ZBG: „ALMARA“ Holding GmbH (a subsidiary of 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 partners in the syndicate have certain mutual rights to appoint members of each other’s management board and supervisory board. Accordingly, Johann Marihart has been appointed by ZBG as a management board member of Süd­zucker, and Thomas Kölbl has been appointed by Südzucker as a management board member of AGRANA Beteiligungs-AG. Neither individual receives compensation for serving in this respective capacity.

The other 24.5% of the share capital are free float. In February 2011, British financial group Prudential plc (based in London) and some of its subsidiaries increased their combined ownership interest in AGRANA’s share capital beyond the supervisory disclosure threshold of 15%.