“Despite the continued high raw materials and energy prices, we again achieved strong earnings in the second quarter,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, presenting the results for the second quarter of 2022 together with Chief Financial Officer Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel. BASF had already released preliminary figures on July 11.
The BASF Group increased sales by €3.2 billion compared with the prior-year quarter to €23.0 billion. This rise of 16.3 percent was primarily due to the significant price increases that BASF was able to introduce in almost all segments.
At €2.3 billion, income from operations (EBIT) before special items reached the level of the strong prior-year quarter. Agricultural Solutions and Nutrition & Care considerably increased earnings, while earnings in the Industrial Solutions segment rose slightly. EBIT before special items significantly improved in Other. By contrast, the Chemicals and Materials segments generated considerably lower EBIT before special items. In the Surface Technologies segment, EBIT before special items also declined significantly.
EBIT rose by €34 million to €2.4 billion. Income from operations before depreciation, amortization and special items (EBITDA before special items) rose by €76 million to €3.3 billion and EBITDA increased by €197 million to €3.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022.
The Materials segment increased sales considerably by 29.9 percent compared with the prior-year quarter to €4.9 billion. This was primarily the result of strong sales growth in the Monomers division. The Performance Materials division also recorded a considerable increase. The positive sales performance was mainly due to significantly higher prices from passing on the increase in raw materials prices. At €668 million, EBIT before special items decreased considerably compared with the second quarter of 2021. In both divisions, higher margins were unable to offset the increase in fixed costs.
BASF Group outlook for 2022
Current developments, mainly driven by the war in Ukraine and its impact on energy and raw materials prices and the availability of raw materials, especially in Europe, may lead to additional headwinds, deviating from the assumptions presented above. In particular, risks could arise from production stoppages at major European sites as a result of further restrictions to European gas supplies from Russia. In this case, the loss of European capacities could be partially compensated for by higher plant capacity utilization at sites outside of Europe. Further risks could arise from the future course of the coronavirus pandemic and new measures to contain the number of infections. Opportunities could arise from continued high margins, even in the case of an economic slowdown. BASF is responding to the economic slowdown with cost reduction measures.
