MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF SE reported a 25% rise in net profit for the fourth quarter, boosted by strong growth in its chemicals businesses, said the company in its press release.
The world’s largest chemicals company said net profit for the three-month period ended Dec. 31 was EUR1.42 bn (USD1.59 bn), compared with EUR1.13 bn a year earlier. Analysts had predicted a net profit of EUR922 mln, according to a recent poll by The Wall Street Journal.
Sales declined 0.6% to EUR18.05 bn, damped by falling sales prices due to low oil prices. The company’s closely watched earnings before interest and taxes before special items rose 2.8% to EUR1.46 bn, a result of higher profit margins in the petrochemical and agrochemical units.
But the company was held back by a sharp earnings decline in its oil and gas business, a result of the plunge in global oil prices. Fourth quarter EBIT before special items at the unit fell 40% to EUR347 mln.
BASF’s wholly owned oil and gas division, Wintershall AG, generates roughly 30% of the group’s cash flow. A shift up or down in the annual price of Brent crude oil by USD1 a barrel impacts EBIT at Wintershall by EUR15 mln, according to BASF.
BASF said it expects a slight increase in sales for 2015 and for EBIT before special items to match the level it achieved in 2014, at EUR7.36 bln.
As MRC wrote before, BASF started up of its first production plant for polymer dispersions in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. This production plant is built at the existing BASF production site, located in the Pasir Gudang Industrial Park of the Johor Free Trade Zone. The plant is BASF’s third polymer dispersions plant in ASEAN, complementing the existing dispersions plants in Jakarta and Merak, Indonesia.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC