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BASF site in Ludwigshafen
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
Last year, billions in write-downs on its stake in the oil and gas group Wintershall Dea surprisingly pushed BASF into the red.
The bottom line is that, according to preliminary figures, the Dax company has accumulated a loss of around 1.4 billion euros, as announced on Tuesday after the stock market closed.
In 2021 it had made a profit of 5.523 billion euros.
The high loss is mainly due to impairments on Wintershall Dea in the amount of 7.3 billion euros, because the subsidiary is splitting off the Russia segment and revaluing it.
In addition, write-downs were incurred on Nord Stream AG.
In the fourth quarter alone, depreciation at BASF amounted to 5.4 billion euros.
According to the information, Wintershall Dea is planning a complete withdrawal from Russia in compliance with the legal provisions.
The current business was also rather gloomy.
Before special items and before interest and taxes, BASF earned around 6.88 billion euros in 2022, a good eleven percent less than in the previous year.
Due to high costs, especially in Europe, the group had already announced an austerity program.
Chemical companies had to struggle primarily with the sharp rise in gas prices as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Analysts had recently expected a little more operating profit at BASF.
Sales, on the other hand, grew by eleven percent to 87.3 billion euros due to higher prices and currency effects.
dpa/Reuters/mgo
