BayWa Battles on Two Fronts: A Rival Moves In as Branch Closures Pile Up

BayWa closes Bavarian stores, revenue plunges 36%, faces criminal probe and BaFin censure; shares hit 10-year low.

BayWa is caught between an aggressive competitor and its own shrinking operational base. Agravis, a major northern German agribusiness, is pushing into southern Germany to strengthen its wholesale position in seeds and feed — a region long considered BayWa’s home turf. The move comes as BayWa retreats from small-town Bavaria, closing stores and cutting jobs in a restructuring that now has clear physical consequences.

The company has confirmed the closure of two additional Bavarian outlets. The Hersbruck market will shut its doors on 30 September 2026, with staff transferred to the Berg-Meilenhofen and Fürth branches. Of the six employees affected, five are expected to relocate. The future of the Regen site, which focuses on building materials, has also been decided, though no formal date has been set. One report has flagged the end of June as a potential closure date, but the company itself has not confirmed that timetable.

These closures are not isolated events. BayWa plans to shut 26 of its roughly 400 locations by 2027, eliminating 1,300 full-time positions. Last year, the group already pulled the plug on branches in Scheßlitz, Neu-Ulm, Obertraubling, Kronach and Schwandorf. The move comes as the construction sector — a key driver for building materials — remains in the doldrums, a factor the company freely acknowledges.

Pressure on the top line is severe. First-quarter 2026 revenue slid to €2.3 billion from €3.6 billion a year earlier. Stripping out portfolio disposals, the underlying decline was 18.2%. The company blames poor weather, geopolitical uncertainty and a cautious customer base unnerved by the ongoing saga around its renewables subsidiary BayWa r.e. On a brighter note, adjusted EBITDA came in above the targets laid out in the restructuring plan, helped by the removal of lower-margin products.

But the improvements at the operating level have done little to shield BayWa from a deepening legal storm. Munich’s public prosecutor is investigating former chief executives Klaus Josef Lutz and Marcus Pöllinger on suspicion of breach of trust and false presentation in the 2023 annual accounts. Both men deny the allegations and the presumption of innocence applies. Offices were raided in January. Separately, law firm TILP is gathering shareholder claims for damages after the German financial regulator BaFin formally censured BayWa for failing to disclose details of a billion-euro credit line and refinancing risks on a €500 million bond. The regulator says the omissions were in the 2023 management report. Anyone who bought BayWa stock between January 2022 and January 2026 may be eligible to join the action. BayWa has appealed the BaFin ruling.

The stock market has delivered its own verdict. On 27 May, the shares hit an 11.50 euro trough — a ten-year nadir. The last trade was at 11.75 euros, representing a weekly loss of 16.07%. The year-to-date decline stands at 29.85%, while the twelve-month slide is 40.05%.

Time is running out on the financial side as well. BayWa is operating under a standstill agreement with its lenders that runs until autumn 2026. The group needs to present a revised restructuring concept by then, after the original mid-term plan for BayWa r.e. had to be overhauled. The delay means the 2025 annual and consolidated accounts cannot be published on schedule. The company now expects to release the 2025 group financial report on 30 October 2026. Dates for the half-year report, third-quarter filing and the 2026 annual general meeting have yet to be set.

BayWa is trying to steady a ship that is taking on water from multiple sides. Whether the restructuring can hold without further branch closures — or a serious concession from creditors — remains the central question as autumn 2026 approaches.