BayWa AG was founded in 1923. It has its head office in Munich, Germany. Agricultural products, building and construction-related products and the energy industry are its prime operational areas where it operates in both the retail and wholesale segments. It has a turnover of approximately €8 billion and about 2,700 sales locations. The major portion of the group’s profits comes from its Agriculture division. It does business of agricultural resources and then supplies the agro products from the field to the food processing industry. BayWa is one of the largest companies in this field and some of its products are exported worldwide. Its Agricultural Equipment business unit is involved with the sale and service of machinery. In the building materials industry ranking in Germany, BayWa stands second.
Business model
The company's main aim is to consolidate its position in the industrial segments it caters to. The business model of BayWa is a branched structure divided into the areas of Agriculture, Building and Energy. Structure of BayWa AG group:
Agriculture
# Agriculture
# Agricultural Equipment
# Fruit
Building Materials
# Building Materials
# DIY and Garden Centres
Energy
# Energy
The sales of BayWa are about €8 billion and it has a cumulative manpower of around 16,000 employees. The three core units of BayWa operate independently in exclusive locations and with dedicated workforce and networks.
Business units
Agriculture
This is subdivided into three units, Agricultural Trade, Agricultural Equipment and Fruit. The trade unit provides the farmers with an assorted supply of various products which are of importance for the agricultural industry right from the sowing of seeds until harvesting the crops. Besides these products, it also gives guidance and counseling to farmers over issues related to agricultural farming and business. In the Equipments business, BayWa provides a range of machinery, from heavy machines to small sized appliances, to a range of customers including farmers, foresters and the general public. Besides, BayWa also takes contracts for planning and building of agricultural facilities. It also provides service for the entire product range. The Agriculture segment makes about 45% of the company’s revenues. The products supplied to the farmers include seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, animal husbandry etc. It also stores and sells the harvest for farmers. In Germany, BayWa has around 500 locations, 16 of them with their own ports, where it provides the services in this segment. As per the 2009 statistics, the revenue of this segment was €3.2 billion.
Building Materials
This segment provides products and services for new constructions, renovation work and entire modernization in both rural and urban areas. It also has two sub units, Building Materials and DIY & Garden Centers. BayWa has its sales centers in Germany. It also operates via franchisees in Germany, Austria and Italy. Future plans include entering the market in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. BayWa is among the largest full line suppliers in this field. This segment forms about 25% of BayWa’s total revenue. Of this, 75% comes from the building materials and only 25% from the garden and DIY unit. There are about 271 locations in Germany and Austria. Around 600 franchised locations are there. Germany is the biggest domestic market. The revenue of this segment was €1.6 billion.
Energy
This segment is particularly involved with the sale of heating oil. Besides, other fuels and lubricating oils are also traded. This is the third largest portion of BayWa’s revenue and generates about 25% of the total revenue. The main articles of concern are heating oil, diesel and Otto fuels, lubricants and solid fuel generally as wood pellets. Main sales areas are Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, the new German federal states and Austria. There are sales offices at several locations. There are about 275 fuel stations owned and operated by BayWa in Germany under the name of BayWa and AVIA. Sales in Austria are done through a group holding GENOL, which supplies fuel to around 500 stations. The major business activities are supplying of local authorities, commerce and mineral oil trade. In the renewable energy segment, BayWa bought 3 companies in 2009. The total revenue in the renewable energy field is 228.5 million, and by 2020, the target is to touch 1 billion Euros. In 2009, the revenue of the energy segment was about 1.8 billion Euros. In 2017, BayWa r.e. Australia acquired renewable energy company Future Energy, and began its venture into Australia's renewable energy market. As of April 2019, BayWa r.e. Australia has wind, solar and hybrid generation farms in Victoria and Queensland. BayWa r.e. Australia, in partnership with Beon Energy Solutions, constructed Karadoc Solar Farm. The solar farm was the largest in Victoria as of February 2019, generating at 112 megawatt-hours. Since launching its renewable energy service in the UK in late 2017, BayWa have amassed 2GW in their solar and wind management portfolio and have almost 100 employees across their three locations. In 2020, BayWa entered into talks with Credit Suisse over the sale of a minority stake in its renewables business for a potential value of 2 billion euros including debt.
Corporate and social responsibility
BayWa has a foundation which was set up in 1997. Through that, it is involved in several projects to facilitate global food supply. The BayWa foundation supports feasible and philanthropic projects, both national and global, in the areas of food, energy and education. The primary aim is to raise the level of life for people who need help. It has promoted education projects in Asia and Africa. In collaboration with the University of Hohenheim, it participated in a project for securing energy supply through a Biogas project in Tanzania. The donations received by BayWa are without fail, given to the foundation. In addition to the BayWa foundation, the company donates to social and cultural facilities and also encourages the involvement of employees in association, political activities and social activities.
