BASF Answers Skeptics With Estimate-Beating Quarterly Profit
- Profit declines less than expected following asset sale
- Chemical maker keeps full-year forecast in preliminary report
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BASF SE reported quarterly profit that beat analysts’ estimates as the world’s largest chemical maker seeks to alleviate fears its 151-year-old conglomerate business model is finally running out of steam.
Earnings before interest, tax and one-time items dropped 5.4 percent to 1.5 billion euros ($1.66 billion), the Ludwigshafen, Germany-based company said in a statement late Tuesday. Analysts had predicted 1.28 billion euros, it said, citing a poll by Vara Research. The result was 7 percent above Citigroup analyst Andrew Benson’s prediction.