German chemical giant BASF has released its preliminary earnings report for the July-September quarter of 2020. According to the report, BASF’s sales declined by 5% during the period to €13.8 billion ($16.3 billion) from €14.6 billion a year earlier. The company attributed the falling sales to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and adverse currency effects.
EBIT before special items is expected around €581 million ($687 million) falling sharply from €1,056 million in the same quarter last year, but rising from €226 million in the second quarter of 2020. The year-on-year decline was attributed to depressed margins in the company’s upstream Chemicals and Materials divisions. Other divisions also reported weaker earnings contribution, BASF said.
Meanwhile, EBIT stood at minus €2.6 billion ($3.1 billion) in the third quarter of 2020, plummeting from €1.3 billion in the corresponding period in 2019. Meanwhile, net income plunged to minus €2.1 billion ($2.5 billion) from €911 million over the same period partly due to impairments of €2.8 billion ($3.3 billion).
For the full-year 2020, BASF expects weaker demand due to the coronavirus pandemic to decrease its sales to around €57-€58 billion ($67-$69 billion) from €59,316 million in 2019. EBIT before special items is expected at €3.0-€3.3 billion ($3.5-3.9 billion) for 2020, compared to €4.6 billion last year.
