BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) is now negotiating with only one potential buyer for its commodity styrenics activities and hopes to complete the sale in the first half of 2008, chairman Jürgen Hambrecht said at the annual results press conference. He declined, however, to identify the bidder. The only company to have publicly expressed interest thus far is LyondellBasell (Rotterdam / The Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com). On completion of the sale, BASF plans to concentrate on styrenics specialities, in particular foams.

Following record earnings in 2007, Hambrecht is optimistic about the outlook for 2008, despite increasingly negative forecasts for the global economy. “The level of orders remains strong and the capacity utilisation rates of our plants are high,” he said. At the same time, the BASF chief said he envisages a “moderate slowdown” in global economic growth and chemical production to 2.8% from 3.5% in 2007. Any downturn in the US is unlikely to last beyond the first half, he predicted.

Figures for 2007 show BASF group sales and income before special items (EBIT) for 2007 at record levels. Sales rose 10% to nearly EUR 58 bn and EBIT climbed 5% to more than EUR 7.6 bn. While the lion’s share of business remained in Europe, Asia’s strong growth led the region to nearly close the gap to North America in terms of turnover. The Plastics segment saw higher volume sales as well as price increases and lifted turnover by 6% to EUR 13.6 bn. EBIT rose 9% to EUR 1.3 bn.

Within Plastics, styrenics sales increased 6% against 2006 to EUR 5.3 bn, with volumes and prices up by 5% each. The commodity side improved, thanks to changes in business models; however, BASF said it does not see “sufficient long-term potential to differentiate ourselves from competitors.”

Performance Polymers lifted turnover by 5% to EUR 3 bn, with volumes up by 5% and prices by 3%. Sales of polyamides and intermediates as well as engineering plastics improved against 2006. Income declined due to capacity expansions for “Ultraform” (POM) and “Ultrason” (PES), higher raw materials costs and plant outages.

Polyurethanes sales gained 6.5% to 5.2 bn, with volumes 9% higher and prices 2% higher. Growth in North America was hit by unplanned outages for MDI and TDI. Operating profit rose again, on the back of higher volumes, and BASF said it was able to pass on the “significantly higher raw materials and energy costs” to its downstream customers.

e-Service:
Report from BASF annual results press conference on 21 February 2008 as a PDF document (516 KB)

BASF annual report 2007 see Plasteurope.com of 20.03.2008