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Food, drink and fibre processing

Sugar mill financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a sugar miller and refiner, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

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We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Crushes growers' cane through the crushing season into raw sugar for export and domestic refining, pays growers under the cane payment formula, and sells molasses, bioethanol and renewable electricity from bagasse cogeneration.

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours: its structure and its inputs, ready for your own figures.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Sugar mill sample model.xlsx
The How It Works sheet of the sample sugar mill model

The sample describes no real business. Yours is calibrated to your own figures, so its results are your business’s.

How it works

How the model works for a sugar mill.

  1. How it earns revenue2 formulas
    Processed product sales · All plants
    Processed product salesProduct 1 salesProduct 2 salesProduct 3 sales
    By-product and co-product credits · All plants
    By-product salesRaw material intakefrom raw material intake and processing yieldsBy-product value per unit
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Farm and forest raw material purchases · All plants
    Farm and forest raw material purchasesRaw material intakefrom raw material intake and processing yieldsAverage purchase price per unit
    Direct labour · All plants
    Direct labourFixed labourVariable labour (production × cost per unit)
    Maintenance · All plants
    Maintenance costFixed maintenanceVariable maintenance (production × cost per unit)
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Plant capex and depreciation · All plants
    Plant capital expenditureSustaining capexGrowth capex
    Plant capex and depreciation · All plants
    Plant depreciationDepreciation of existing assetsDepreciation of sustaining additionsProject 1 depreciation (from commissioning)from from commissioningProject 2 depreciation (from commissioning)from from commissioningProject 3 depreciation (from commissioning)from from commissioning
    Plant capex and depreciation · All plants
    Closing net book valueOpening net book valuePlant capital expenditurePlant depreciation
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

27 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Exchange rate (US dollar)Exchange rate by financial year
  • Operating expensesHeadcount build by function
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Dividends and distributionsPayout of net profit
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • Commodity price deckFlat real pricesPrice paths for the farm, fish and forest commodities in the model — grain, oilseeds, cotton, sugar, beef, lamb, pork, wool, milk, fish, logs, fertiliser and feed — that sales and cost methods read as indices.
  • Seasonal conditions and climate riskSeason type by yearA season factor that scales yields, carrying capacity, receivals, input demand (or, for ski resorts, snow and skier visits) for drought, average and good years.
  • Seasonal and maturing stockInventory daysFood and beverage stock built up seasonally or held to mature — cheese, wine vintages, spirits in cask, sugar and frozen meat — and the cash it ties up.
  • Interest-rate hedgingHedged share at a fixed rate
  • Key-metric summaryLast-twelve-month and run-rate metrics
  • Covenant tests and headroomLVR, gearing and ICR for property
  • Case selectionStackable stress toggles
  • Discount rate (WACC)CAPM at target gearing
  • Raw material intake and processing yieldsCapacity × utilisation × conversion yieldFarm or forest raw material received by a processing plant — head of livestock, litres of milk, tonnes of cane, grain or seed cotton, cubic metres of logs — and the products it yields.
  • Processed product salesOutput × price by productSales of meat, dairy products, sugar, flour, malt, oils, lint, sawn timber, pulp and paper from a processing plant.
  • By-product and co-product creditsBy-product value per unit processedRevenue from by-products of food processing — hides, tallow, meals and offal, whey, bran, pomace.
  • Farm and forest raw material purchasesIntake × price per unitThe cost of livestock, milk, cane, grain, cotton or logs bought from farmers, growers and forest owners under the sector's pricing system.
  • Capacity and productionNameplate capacity × utilisation
  • Direct labourFixed plus variable labour
  • MaintenanceFixed plus cost per unit
  • Plant capex and depreciationSustaining capex plus growth projects
  • Energy and carbonEnergy intensity × price
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01cane crushed
  2. 02CCS
  3. 03raw sugar produced
  4. 04crush weeks
  5. 05ICE No. 11 price
  6. 06milling margin per tonne
  7. 07cogeneration exports
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The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.