KTG Agrar AG / Miscellaneous

08.01.2009

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KTG Agrar connects its eleventh biogas plant to the grid: Plant capacity to be doubled within two years

Hamburg, 08 January 2009 - KTG Agrar AG, the listed agricultural company based in Hamburg, continues to expand its Renewable Energies Division. Its eleventh biogas plant has just been started up in Putlitz in the state of Brandenburg. Rated for an electrical capacity of 700 kilowatts, the new plant produces enough energy to cover the annual requirements of some 4,000 people. The heat generated in the process is used to KTG Agrar's own offices and for drying grain. In addition the company is currently installing a local heat distribution grid. The completed grid will supply some 300 single-family homes with economical and ecological heat from the KTG Agrar biogas plant.

KTG Agrar currently farms some 25,000 hectares of land, which makes the company one of Europe's largest agricultural producers. Its eleven biogas plant have a combined electrical power rating of approximately 7.5 megawatts, which is enough to supply some 15,000 households with electricity on a 24/7 basis. Under the company's integrated concept, the renewable feed materials are grown on its own fields in the direct environs of the biogas plants. The fermentation residue from the biogas production is returned to the fields as natural fertiliser. KTG Agrar CEO Siegfried Hofreiter explains: 'Biogas production ideally complements our main activity. Apart from maize silage we feed our plants with grass and straw residues which previously went unused.' KTG Agrar also uses millet which is sown after the harvest in summer and harvested in November. This type of catch crop offers agricultural producers considerable synergies - for example by extending the capacity utilisation, and thereby improving the return on investment, for combine harvesters whose use would otherwise remain confined to a few weeks of the year. Catch crop management also has benefits for the quality of the soil in that it reduces leaching. Says Siegfried Hofreiter: 'Catch cropping can also put an end to the debate whether it is morally permissible to convert foodstuffs into fuels.'

Delivering stable revenues and a good EBIT margin, the generation of electricity and heat has become an important pillar supporting KTG Agrar's organic and conventional farming activities. Wolfgang Bläsi, the company's CFO, explains: 'The regular cash flow expands our financial scope in that it allows us to bridge the post-harvest period in which producers are usually faced with high sales pressure and low prices.' KTG Agrar intends to expand the energy generation activities and double its current capacity of 7.5 megawatts within the next two years. Biogas plants rated for a combined capacity of at least 3 megawatts are to be installed already in 2009; two locations are already at the planning stage.

About KTG Agrar: With cultivable land of approx. 25,000 hectares, KTG Agrar AG is one of the leading producers of agricultural products in Europe. The Hamburg-based company's core area of expertise is the ecological and traditional cultivation of market products such as cereals, maize and rapeseed. KTG Agrar is the market leader for ecological market products in Germany, in terms of cultivable land area. Since 2006, the company has had a third mainstay in the production of bioenergy. At present, KTG Agrar operates 11 biogas plants with a total electrical connection capacity of around 7.5 megawatts. The company mainly produces in Germany but has also operated production in the EU full member state of Lithuania since 2005. In the first half year 2008, KTG achieved a total output of EUR 20.5 million and EBIT of EUR 2.4 million. The company currently has some 170 employees.

Contact: Investor Relations / Press Fabian Lorenz HOSCHKE & CONSORTEN Tel: +49 40 36 90 50-56 E-mail: f.lorenz@hoschke.de

08.01.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP



Language: English
Issuer: KTG Agrar AG
Ferdinandstr. 12
20095 Hamburg
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)40-303 76-47
Fax: +49 (0)40-303 76-799
E-mail: info@ktg-agrar.de
Internet: www.ktg-agrar.de
ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4
WKN: A0DN1J
Listed: Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart; Open
Market (Entry Standard) in Frankfurt

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