The world's largest chemical group, BASF, is expecting a significant decline in operating earnings this year.
The high level of uncertainty from last year as a result of the war in Ukraine, high raw material and energy costs in Europe, rising prices and interest rates will persist in 2023, the Dax group announced on Friday in Ludwigshafen.
Ludwigshafen - All of this will weigh on global demand.
The company is therefore assuming only moderate growth for the global economy this year.
For the current year, the chemical company is aiming for sales of 84 to 87 billion euros.
In the previous year, BASF had achieved sales of a good 87 billion euros.
In terms of the operating result (adjusted EBIT), BASF expects EUR 4.8 to 5.4 billion.
That would be a decrease of up to 30 percent compared to the previous year.
BASF expects a weak first half of the year.
The earnings situation should improve in the second half of the year with catch-up effects, particularly in China.
Meanwhile, despite a loss last year, BASF wants to pay out just as much money to shareholders as it did in 2021. The board of directors is planning a dividend of EUR 3.40 per share, BASF said.
Last year, a loss of 627 million euros was incurred due to billions in write-downs on the subsidiary Wintershall Dea.
That was significantly less than BASF had announced in January.
At that time, the company had assumed a loss of almost 1.4 billion euros.
The reason for this is somewhat lower depreciation on Wintershall Dea, it said.
The BASF subsidiary complains that its holdings in Russia have been expropriated and is planning a complete withdrawal from the country.
A year earlier, BASF had earned around 5.5 billion euros.
dpa