OREANDA-NEWS. BASF maintained its good performance in 2012. The company exceeded the 2011 record levels in sales and income from operations (EBIT) and once again earned a substantial premium on the cost of capital. Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, said at the Annual Press Conference: “The Oil & Gas and Agricultural Solutions segments achieved new records, while development in our chemicals business was weaker than in 2011.”

Sales in the fourth quarter of 2012 were 19.6 billion euro, 9% higher than in the same quarter of the previous year. This increase was mainly due to higher volumes in almost all segments as well as price and currency effects. At 1.8 billion euro, EBIT before special items was 18% above the level of the previous fourth quarter, mainly due to significantly higher volumes in Oil & Gas as well as improved earnings in Polyurethanes and Construction Chemicals.

For the full year, BASF increased sales to 78.7 billion euro, up 7% compared with 2011. EBIT before special items improved by 5% to 8.9 billion euro and EBIT by almost 5% to around 9 billion euro. Net income fell by 1.3 billion euro to 4.9 billion euro, due in part to the higher earnings contribution from Oil & Gas and thus the significantly higher taxes. Furthermore, gains from the sale of BASF’s shares in K+S Aktiengesellschaft in 2011 were predominantly tax-free.

At the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board will propose a higher dividend of 2.60 euro per share. This is an increase of 0.10 euro compared with the previous year. Based on the 2012 year-end share price of 71.15 euro, the dividend yield would be 3.65%.