BASF to return lower-than-expected profits in 2011

(ICIS) -- Petrochemicals giant BASF will return lower-than-expected profits in 2011 but remains undervalued on the German bourse, analysts at US-based Bernstein Research said on Wednesday.
BASF's earnings per share (EPS) will be an estimated EUR 6.57 (USD 9.39) in 2011, the Bernstein analysts said, down from the EUR 7.13 they forecast earlier in 2011. They also cut their target share price for BASF by 3.9%, from EUR 77 to 74.

The lower outlook for the company comes after a second quarter in which the company failed to meet analysts' expectations, pushing its share price down 5%.

However, Bernstein believes that the company remains significantly undervalued, and their target share price is well above the EUR 59.76 seen in trading on Germany's DAX on 3 August. Bernstein's earnings forecast remains as much as 10% above other analysts', the research company said, giving BASF's shares an Outperform rating.


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(PlasticsToday) -- Bioplastics supplier Cardia is winning the 2011 Asia Pacific Green Excellence in Technology Innovation Award from Frost & Sullivan and PET preform molder APPE won the 'Beyond the Package' award in the Greener Package Awards for its PET recycling efforts.

Cardio Bioplastics has been presented the 2011 Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Green Excellence in Technology Innovation Award for Eco-Materials. Frost & Sullivan is a technology and growth consultancy.

Frost & Sullivan presents its Green Excellence Awards to companies it says have excelled in green product and technology innovation, and service achievements that promote sustainability. Cardia develops, manufactures and markets plastics derived from renewable resources for packaging and other applications. The company's materials are supplied from its plant in Nanjing, China.

European perform molder and bottle blowmolder APPE, meanwhile, the former Artenius PET Packaging (and before that Amcor's PET processing operation in Europe), has won the 'Beyond the Package' award in the Greener Package Awards for the plastic processor's initiatives in recycled PET production and the 100% remanufacture of the material into packaging applications.

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(Platts) -- Chilean producer Petroquim is expected to restart operations of its 100 KTa polypropylene (PP) plant in Concepcion, Chile, by August 3, after a maintenance shutdown that started on July 25, a company source told Platts Monday.

The impact of the shutdown was 60-70% less volumes of polypropylene to offer to the export market on July and August.

August Chilean offers to Peru and Ecuador went down USD 50-70/mt and they were heard around USD 1.850/mt CFR for homo and at USD 1.950/mt CFR for co-polymer.

For the Chilean domestic market, Petroquim dropped offer prices by USD 70/mt for August reaching levels of USD 1.900/mt CIF homo raffia, injection and film and at USD 2.000/mt CFR for random.

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(ICIS) -- Wacker Chemie's second-quarter net profit increased by 5.4% to EUR 142.7m (USD 203.9m) compared with the same period last year, as sales rose 10.3%, the Munich-based, worldwide chemical company said on Tuesday.

Sales for the second quarter rose to EUR 1.33bn from EUR 1.20bn in the same period in 2010, mainly due to higher sales volumes generated by sustained customer demand.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the second quarter rose 5.2% to EUR 324.8m, compared with the same period last year, Wacker added.

Wacker said that although it was able to negotiate higher prices in its silicones and polymers segments, a negative impact from currency exchange-rate effects and higher raw materials costs had dampened earnings performance.

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(The Linde Group) -- The technology company The Linde Group has been commissioned to build and operate two large air separation plants to supply gases on site to the Chinese company Yantai Wanhua in Shandong (East China). The contract for the project, which will involve investment of around EUR 130 m, was signed on 26 July 2011.

The two plants, which are to be built by Linde's Engineering Division, each have a capacity of 55,000 normal cubic metres of oxygen per hour. They are expected to come on stream between end 2013 and at the start of 2014, when they will supply oxygen and nitrogen to Yantai Wanhua's production plants. In addition, Linde will produce liquefied products for the open market in the Shandong region. The project includes the construction of a 20-kilometre pipeline in the Yantai Economic and Technology Park.

Yantai Wanhua is the only Chinese company which has the technical know-how to produce MDI. MDI is an intermediate product in the manufacture of polyurethane, which is used in large quantities for example in the construction and automobile industries. China is in the process of becoming one of the principal markets for MDI. The Shandong province in the east of China is the third largest province in China in terms of gross domestic product.

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