MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals giant BASF said operating income saw a better-than-expected gain during the fourth quarter, boding well for its upcoming dividend policy review, said the company.
Quarterly earnings before interest and tax, adjusted for one-off items, rose 32% to 1.11 billion euros (USD1.35 billion), beating market consensus and slightly above the highest analyst estimate, BASF said in an unscheduled statement on Wednesday, citing preliminary figures.
Quarterly sales increased by 8% to 15.9 billion euros as higher volumes and product prices outweighed the effect of weaker overseas currencies.
“The BASF Group’s operating business performed better than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020,” the company said in a statement.
The company expects to post an EBIT loss in the full year of 2020, mainly due to the non-cash-effective impairments and provisions for restructuring in the third quarter of last year.
As per MRC, BASF says it has chosen BTC Europe as its new distributor in Europe for aromatic isocyanates and polyols for polyurethane applications. The collaboration comes into effect on 1 February 2021 and will comprise BASF’s polyurethane product brands Lupranat, Lupranol, and Lupraphen. The new agreement will enable the company to “react to the wish of our customers of providing the entire product portfolio from a single source,” says Oliver Peter, BASF’s account manager/European isocyanates.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
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.
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