The German chemical corporation, BASF, announced a 12.4% decrease in its first-quarter net income on Thursday, falling to 1.37 billion euros from the prior year's 1.56 billion euros. The earnings per share also witnessed a drop, settling at 1.53 euros compared to the previous year's 1.75 euros.
Year-over-year, there was a 5.6% shrink in EBITDA, totaling 2.66 billion euros. With specific items excluded, the EBITDA stood at 2.71 billion euros, a 5.3% decrease from the previous year. Notably, the EBITDA margin before special items saw an increase, rising to 15.4% from the prior-year quarter’s 14.3%.
The first-quarter sales were reported at 17.55 billion euros, a significant 12.2% drop from the prior year's 19.99 billion euros. This sales decline is majorly attributed to significantly lower prices resulting from decreased costs of raw materials and energy across nearly all sectors, along with reduced precious metal prices in the Surface Technologies segment.
The Board of Executive Directors, along with the Supervisory Board, plans to suggest a dividend of 3.40 euros per share at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting, keeping in line with the previous year's levels.
With a look towards fiscal 2024, the company maintains its EBITDA prediction for before special items, ranging between 8.0 billion euros and 8.6 billion euros.
