BASF Group Unveils First Quarter 2023 Preliminary Figures

Germany: BASF has announced its preliminary sales figures for the first quarter of 2023. Sales dropped by 13.4%, reaching €19,991 million in Q1 2023 (as opposed to €23,083 million in the same period of 2022), due mainly to notably lower volumes. The sales figures for the first quarter of 2023 (Vara: €21,819 million) were below the analysts' average estimates.

The BASF Group's EBIT before special items was €1,931 million in the first quarter of 2023, reflecting a 31.5% decrease from the same quarter of the previous year (Q1 2022: €2,818 million), but surpassing the analyst consensus for the first quarter of 2023 (Vara: €1,599 million).

In the first quarter of 2023, Agricultural Solutions exceeded average analyst estimates for EBIT before special items. The analyst estimates were surpassed by the Chemicals, Materials, and Surface Technologies segments. The EBIT before special items of the Industrial Solutions and Nutrition & Care segments fell slightly and significantly below the analysts' average estimates, respectively. Analysts also expected stronger EBIT figures before special items for another segment, which turned out to be weaker than expected.

BASF Group's EBIT for Q1 2023 came in as expected at €1,867 million, which is lower than the previous year's figure of €2,785 million. However, it has exceeded analyst consensus with Vara estimating €1,533 million. Net income for this quarter was €1,562 million, significantly higher than the figures for Q1 2022 (€1,221 million) and the average analyst estimates for Q1 2023 with Vara estimating €1,081 million. The previous year's quarter had seen a burden on net income due to impairments on BASF Group's participation in Wintershall Dea.