With sales of EUR 59.3 billion in 2019, BASF will allocate 41% of its investment to the Asia Pacific region over the next five years

recently, DrMartin Bruderm?ller, Executive Chairman of the Executive Board of BASF Europe, a global chemical giant, and DrMartin Bruderm?ller, Chief Financial Officer, jointly announced their 2019 financial resultsin 2019, BASF's full-year sales were EUR 59.3 billion, a slight decrease of 2% from last year due to sales volume and price impactEarnings before interest and tax excluding special items were EUR 4.5 billion, down 28 per cent, or EUR 1.7 billion, year-on-year, mainly due to lower earnings in the materials and chemicals business areasCash flow from operating activities was EUR 7.5 billion, down 6% YoY, and free cash flow was EUR 3.7 billion"Basf wants to raise its dividend annually, by 0.10 euros from the previous year, and this proposal will pay BASF shareholders a total of 3 billion euros," he saida proposed dividend of 3.30 euros (2018:3.20 euros) per share for 2019This amount is paid entirely by free cash flow in 2019BASF has again offered an attractive 4.9 per cent dividend yield"
In the fourth quarter of 2019, BASF's sales fell 2% from the same period in 2018 to EUR 14.7 billionSales and prices fell by 1% respectivelyEarnings before interest and tax on special items were significantly higher than 23%BASF's portfolio effect on the transfer of paper and water treatment chemicals to Solihull had a negative impact of 1%, and a favourable exchange rate had a positive impact on sales of 1%1.2019 is challenging and the global economy is going head-to-head
said: "Even in tough times, the company is doing well." The global economy is going against the wind, and 2019 is a challenging year"Trade frictions between the US and China have had a negative impact on the global economy, slowing growth in key sales markets and a lot of uncertainty over BrexitGrowth in industrial and chemical production slowed sharply than expectedCustomer needs in many key industries, especially in the automotive industry, have declined significantlyin a difficult market environment, earnings have improved across all of the company's downstream business areasHowever, this failed to offset the decline in earnings in the base chemicals business segmentEarnings before interest and tax on special items in the materials and chemicals business areas were EUR 1.8 billion, a decrease of EUR 2.2 billionThe significant decline in the price of isocyanate, the decline in profits of the cracking product, and the planned overhaul of the steam cracking unit have all had significant negative effectsin contrast to BASF's significant growth in its downstream business segment compared to 2018: both business units in the Industrial Solutions business area saw significant growth in earnings before interest and tax excluding special items, mainly due to lower fixed costs, favourable exchange rates and profit growthEarnings before interest and tax for special items in the surface treatment technology business also increased significantlyIn the nutrition and care business, earnings before interest and tax excluding special items increased slightly, mainly due to significant growth in the Care Chemicals divisionThere was also a significant increase in eBIT earnings before interest and tax for specific projects in the Agricultural Solutions business area"The asset and business performance from Bayer has been very good, resulting in a significant increase in sales and earnings," Mr Bo said"
in 2019, BASF Group's earnings before interest and tax fell from 6 billion euros to 4.1 billion eurosEarnings before interest, interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 11% from 2018 to 8.2 billion eurosEarnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were EUR 8 billion, compared with EUR 9 billion in 2018 Net income rose to 8.4 billion euros, compared with 4.7 billion euros in 2018, including about 5.7 billion euros in book income from the merger of DEA and Wintershall 2 Streamlined architecture, 3,100 fewer jobs worldwide
BASF has reformed its organizational structure, reduced complexity, optimized management and streamlined processes Most functional services are embedded in business operations As of October 1, approximately 20,000 BASF employees have completed their transformation In addition, BASF has established Lean's corporate headquarters with approximately 1,000 employees The new global business services division has also been operational since 1 January 2020 The division employs approximately 8,800 people and provides demand-oriented in-house services worldwide, such as finance, internal controls, procurement and supply chain This will further enhance BASF's business competitiveness BASF accelerates its "excellence" project, which basfes expect will generate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between 1.3 billion and 1.5 billion euros this year A one-off investment is expected to be between 300 million and 400 million euros and accelerate the streamlining of the organizational architecture BASF announced that it will lose 6,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2021 This target now looks set to be met by the end of 2020 Last year, BASF lost 3,100 jobs worldwide 3.2020 sales target of 60 billion to 63 billion euros
to 2020, BASF expects sales of 60 billion to 63 billion euros, excluding special projects EBIT: 4.2 billion to 4.8 billion euros "All the key steps have been initiated and we have a lot of concrete work to do in 2020," he stressed "
BASF continues to promote the Sustainable Development Goals by setting a goal of maintaining total CO2 emissions by 2030 BASF expects emissions to return to 2018 levels in 2020, partly due to fewer planned repairs and the acquisition of Solvay polyamide At BASF's Ludwigshafen site, the production department is using digital chemicals to coordinate the management of production plants BASF believes that the acquisition of Bayer-related businesses in the Agricultural Solutions business has been a success "In less than a year, business consolidation has been completed," says Engel Sales of the acquired business in 2019 amounted to EUR 2.2 billion, contributing more than EUR 500 million to earnings before interest and tax excluding special items By 2025, we hope this acquisition will generate hundreds of millions of euros in additional sales We are confident that this will be achieved "
it is understood that on January 31, 2020, BASF completed the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide business The purchase price is 1.3 billion euros "Our customers will benefit from a more comprehensive product portfolio, stronger regional impact and a more reliable product offering," says Hans-Ulrich Engel "
BASF has reached an agreement with the LoneStar Fund to divest its chemical building materials division for EUR 3.17 billion, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2020 BASF's global pigment business is being acquired at a price of 1.15 billion euros as part of DIC, a Japanese fine chemicals company, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 in addition , the merger of Wintershall and DEA was completed last year, creating a leading independent exploration and production company in Europe BASF owns 72.7 per cent of Wintershall Dea and LetterOne 27.3 per cent "The merger is progressing well and will be completed by December 2020," said Engel, We expect the merger to generate synergies of at least 200 million euros a year by 2022 An initial public offering is expected to take place as early as the second half of 2020, depending on market conditions "The impact of the 4 Outbreak will continue for a full year
said: "In the first two months of this year, we have experienced the high level of uncertainty facing the global economy The new coronavirus, which became popular at the beginning of the year, has become a major obstacle to economic growth, especially in China Prevention and control measures taken to stop the spread of the epidemic have led to a decline in demand and production disruption in many industries "
BASF predicts that the new coronavirus will have a significant impact globally, especially in the first and second quarters of 2020 This forecast does not currently consider the global spread of the virus, which will not only have a significant negative impact on the global economy in the first half of the year "We think the impact of this outbreak will last a whole year, " Mr Bo said "
BASF therefore forecasts that global economic growth will be 2.0%, down from 2.6% in 2019 The company forecasts global chemical production growth of 1.2%, significantly lower than the 1.8% growth level in 2019 This would be the lowest increase since the 2008/2009 financial crisis BASF forecast the average price of Brent crude oil at $60 a barrel, or $1.15 per euro "Despite the challenging circumstances and high levels of uncertainty, we will continue to strive to increase sales to between 60 billion euros and 63 billion euros," said Mr Bo, "The BASF Group's earnings before interest and tax on special projects are expected to be between 4.2 billion euros and 4.8 billion euros (2019: 4.5 billion euros) The return on capital (ROCE) is expected to be between 6.7 per cent and 7.7 per cent (2019: 7.7 per cent), below the 9 per cent capital cost ratio "We expect a slight increase in most customer sectors, but we expect production in the automotive sector to continue to decline," said Mr Bo, "BASF's outlook for 2020 is based on estimates that trade conflicts between the US and its trading partners will not be further eased and that the UK will not have a significant impact on the economy during the Brexit transition period." Allocate 41 per cent of investment to the Asia-Pacific region over the next five years
and mr Bo also looks ahead to future investments Over the next five years, BASF's planned capital expenditure is 23.6 billion euros More than a third of these will be allocated to key growth areas between 2020 and 2024, namely two large-scale projects in Asia, the integration base in Guangdong, China, the chemical industry cluster in Mondra, India, and investment plans for the battery materials business Globally, BASF is conducting research on innovative positive materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, which is driving electric transportation to a reality
said, "This means that our investment focus will shift regionally." Over the next five years, we will allocate 41% of our investment to the Asia-Pacific region and 34% to Europe By contrast, investment in the Asia-Pacific region will account for 27 per cent of the five-year planning period for 2019-2023, compared with 43 per cent in Europe BASF plans to have capital expenditures of EUR 3.4 billion by 2020 (increases in property, plant and equipment other than acquisitions, IT investments, recovery obligations and right-to-use assets arising from leases) Capital expenditure for 2019 is EUR 3.3 billion