LUDWIGSHAFEN (dpa-AFX) - BASF, the world's largest chemical company, sees an improvement after a weaker start to the new year. "The recovery in volumes continued, albeit slowly," said outgoing CEO Martin Brudermüller in a conference call with analysts on Thursday before his last Annual Meeting. Nevertheless, it was not yet possible to speak of a fundamental turnaround. For this to happen, the current positive trend would have to continue in the coming quarters. The share price fluctuated moderately in the morning around the previous day's close.

BASF started the new year with a decline in sales and earnings due to significantly lower prices. Negative currency effects also had a negative impact. Revenues in the first three months shrank by a good twelve percent year-on-year to 17.6 billion euros, as the DAX-listed company announced in Ludwigshafen on Thursday. Brudermüller explained that the fall in prices was mainly due to lower raw material prices. In the agrochemicals business, the company had been able to raise prices slightly. Analysts had expected higher revenues.

Adjusted for special items, operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) fell by 5.3 percent to just under 2.7 billion euros. This was more than analysts had expected. The cost-cutting measures made themselves felt here. The company explained the decline in earnings primarily with higher bonus provisions. Declines in the agrochemicals, coatings and catalysts business also had a negative impact. The bottom line was a profit of just under 1.4 billion euros - after almost 1.6 billion a year earlier. The chemical company confirmed its targets for 2024.

For 2024, BASF is targeting earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and special items of between 8.0 and 8.6 billion euros. In 2023, adjusted operating profit fell by almost 29 percent to just under 7.7 billion euros.

The last Annual General Meeting with CEO Martin Brudermüller will take place this Thursday. Brudermüller will hand over the reins to Markus Kamieth at the end of the shareholders' meeting.

The outgoing BASF Group CEO is leaving a difficult legacy to his successor. At his last presentation of annual figures in February, the manager announced a further cost-cutting program worth billions and further job cuts at the main plant in Ludwigshafen. BASF has been making a loss in Germany for two years. The largest production site in the BASF Group is therefore also to be reorganized.

Specifically, additional annual costs of one billion euros are to be saved at the headquarters of the Dax-listed company by the end of 2026. It is not yet clear how many jobs will be lost in Ludwigshafen. The closure of further plants has not been ruled out either. The focus is primarily on greater profitability. The new Executive Board team intends to present a target picture in the second half of the year. Of the almost 112,000 employees worldwide, almost 39,000 were employed in Ludwigshafen, two thirds of whom worked in production.

As the largest industrial gas consumer in Germany, BASF, like many chemical companies, is suffering from the relatively high energy prices in this country. The BASF management had already announced a cost-cutting program in 2022 due to weak business and more difficult conditions in Europe - including job cuts and the shutdown of energy-intensive plants, for example for ammonia. By the end of 2023, costs had also fallen by around 600 million euros as a result; the final target is 1.1 billion euros. In total, the current and new savings program will result in one-off costs of around 1.8 billion euros.

In order to make the chemical company more profitable again, BASF announced in December that it would be separating the agricultural chemicals, battery materials and coatings businesses from the Verbund system. These are to be transformed into legally independent subsidiaries. These areas are less closely linked to the rest of the Group. However, Brudermüller had rejected the idea of selling the divisions.

In December, BASF also announced the long-awaited sale of Wintershall Dea to the British oil company Harbour Energy, which is to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024. The transaction does not include Wintershall Dea's Russian business or its stake in the gas network operator Wiga. The latter will be sold to the federal government. The transaction is expected to be completed in the summer. BASF holds a good 70 percent of Wintershall Dea. The rest belongs to LetterOne, an investment company./mne/stk