AarhusKarlshamn: AAK – All Time Record High Operating Profit

Regulatory News:

AarhusKarlshamn (STO:AAK)

· All time record high operating profit in the third quarter 2013, driven by strong volume growth in Food Ingredients and an expected start of a significant recovery in Chocolate & Confectionery Fats.

· Operating profit reached SEK 303 million (273), an improvement of 11 percent. Operating profit at fixed exchange rates and excluding acquisition costs improved by 16 percent.

· Volumes increased by 8 percent. For comparable units, organic growth in volumes was 7 percent.

· Food Ingredients – reached a record high third quarter operating result of SEK 211 million (190), an improvement by 11 percent. Operating profit at fixed exchange rates improved by 12 percent.

· Chocolate & Confectionery Fats – improved strongly by 19 percent and reached SEK 105 million (88). At fixed exchange rates the improvement was 22 percent.

· Technical Products & Feed – improved by 9 percent at SEK 24 million (22).

· Earnings per share increased by 19 percent, from SEK 4.08 to SEK 4.86.

· Strong ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) at 16.0 percent (rolling 12 months).

"Based on AAK’s customer value propositions for health and reduced costs, our customer product co-development and solutions approach, and the AAK Acceleration program, we continue to remain prudently optimistic for the future. The main drivers are expected to be the continued strong underlying development in Food Ingredients, however, with a slightly lower operating profit during the fourth quarter 2013 compared to last year, because of the exceptionally strong result in the fourth quarter 2012 for this Business Area. Further, Chocolate & Confectionery Fats is expected to continue its significant recovery”, said Arne Frank, CEO and President.

The information is that which AarhusKarlshamn AB (publ) is obliged to publish under the provisions of the Stock Exchange and Clearing Operations Act and/or the Trading in Financial Instruments Act. The information was released to the media for publication on October 30, 2013 at 08.15 am CET.

AarhusKarlshamn is one of the world’s leading producers of high value-added speciality vegetable fats. These fats are characterized by a high technological content and are used as substitute for butter-fat and cocoa butter, transfree solutions for fillings in chocolate and confectionery products, and in the cosmetics industry. AarhusKarlshamn has production facilities in Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Uruguay and the US. The company is organised in three Business Areas; Food Ingredients, Chocolate and Confectionery Fats and Technical Products & Feed. Further information on AarhusKarlshamn can be found on the company’s website www.aak.com.

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