BASF: Sales in the second quarter are expected to drop by 25%, lowering this year’s performance forecast

The global chemical giant BASF announced preliminary financial data for the second quarter of 2023, and at the same time significantly lowered its performance expectations for this year.

According to data released by BASF, its sales in the second quarter are expected to fall by 25% to 17.305 billion euros, mainly due to the sharp decline in prices and sales, and the negative impact of exchange rate factors also caused a decrease in sales.

At EUR 1,007 million, EBIT before special items is expected to be 57 percent lower than in the same period last year (Q2 2022: EUR 2,339 million). The Chemicals & Materials segment contributed particularly weakly to earnings compared with the same period last year.

EBIT is expected to be EUR 974 million, down from the same period last year, and net income is expected to be EUR 499 million, down from the same period last year.

BASF does not expect global market demand to weaken further in the second half of 2023, mainly because the inventory of chemical raw materials in the customer's industry has been significantly reduced. However, as the global market demand for consumer goods will be lower than previously expected, BASF expects only a temporary recovery, so profit margins are still not optimistic.

According to this calculation, BASF expects sales in 2023 to be between 73 billion euros and 76 billion euros. Amount of 87.327 billion euros. The company also lowered its full-year profit guidance. It expects earnings before interest and taxes, excluding special items, to be between 4 billion euros and 4.4 billion euros in 2023, compared with a previous estimate of 4.8 billion to 5.4 billion euros, which is also lower than analysts' consensus expectations. 4.883 billion euros, significantly lower than 6.878 billion euros in 2022.