BASF, the world's biggest chemicals company, unveiled some record 2010 results Thursday and joined rivals in giving an upbeat outlook for this year despite oil output suspensions in Libya. BASF said its 2010 net profit leapt more than three-fold to 4.56 billion euros ($6.27 billion), though the year-earlier figure of 1.41 billion was in large part a reflection of the global economic slowdown.
Despite production problems in North Africa, chairman Juergen Hambrecht was quoted by a statement as saying it is now "optimistic for the first quarter (of 2011) and the year as a whole." Shares in the group were only slightly higher in early trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange however. Hambrecht acknowledged that "we are concerned about Libya," where BASF's Wintershall oil unit has halted production, leaving only a small group of core workers at its sites.
Meanwhile however, the German group "achieved record sales and earnings in 2010," its boss said, with the former climbing by 26 percent to 63.9 billion euros. Earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) and special items leapt by 68 percent to 8.1 billion euros, the statement added, as BASF continued its integration of the specialty chemicals group Ciba. It also finalised the purchase of Cognis, another small chemicals firm focused on health and nutrition products.
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