BASF: 4 days left...
Things will get exciting for the world's largest chemical producer on Friday (February 28), as the DAX group will then present its final figures for the past year. It is already clear that billions in write-downs, especially for battery materials and restructuring costs, had a negative impact on earnings in 2024.
According to preliminary figures, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell from 2.2 to 2.0 billion euros. The company presented key figures at the end of January. Overall, the burdens amounted to 1.9 billion euros.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, however, rose from 7.7 to 7.9 billion euros in 2024. The increase resulted from higher results from the core business, mainly thanks to higher volumes. Sales fell to an expected 65.3 billion euros, also due to negative currency effects. In the previous year, the company had generated sales of 68.9 billion.
According to recent information, the company is making good progress with its ongoing restructuring measures. In September, BASF CEO Kamieth announced a far-reaching restructuring to lead the chemical company out of the crisis. Just recently, BASF announced the sale of its Brazilian building coatings business for around 1.1 billion euros.
There is also a threat of further closures of chemical plants at the main plant in Ludwigshafen. The latest billion-euro savings program will result in further job cuts, the number of which has not yet been quantified. But it is not just the 112,000 employees worldwide who are facing tougher times, but also the shareholders - BASF's dividend is being cut for the first time since 2010.
The experts surveyed by BASF expect an average operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of 8.4 billion euros for 2025. The bottom line is that shareholders will receive a profit of just under 2.6 billion euros. The experts expect sales to be just under 67.2 billion euros, almost three percent more than in the previous year.
According to Deutsche Bank analyst Virginie Boucher-Ferte, the sale of the Brazilian building painting business is bringing in significantly more than she expected. For the Ludwigshafen-based company, this is a relatively small deal, but it shows that management is consistently and quickly looking for value creation.
Probably more important than the sale is that BASF is also seeking to separate from the remaining coatings activities, wrote analyst Peter Clark of US analysis firm Bernstein Research. The new CEO probably wants to deliver quickly with a view to focusing on the core business. Warburg analyst Oliver Schwarz calculates a value of one to one and a half times sales for the remaining coatings activities. BASF had sales of 4.4 billion euros in the division in 2023.
The situation remains the same: DER AKTIONÄR remains optimistic about the share, which is still valued relatively cheaply in historical comparison. The stop price should be left at EUR 39.00.
Notice of conflicts of interest:
The Chairman of the Board of Management and majority shareholder of the publisher Börsenmedien AG, Mr. Bernd Förtsch, has directly and indirectly taken positions in the following financial instruments mentioned in the publication or derivatives related to them, which can benefit from any price development resulting from the publication: BASF.
Contains material from dpa-AFX
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