BASF reports fivefold increase in Q3 net profit to €1.25bn

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–German producer BASF said on Thursday that its third-quarter net profit jumped more than fivefold year on year to €1.25bn ($1.71bn) on the back of a 23% surge in sales to €15.8bn.

Its operating profit for the quarter soared to €2.16bn from €971m in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

“We are now profiting from the favourable economic environment,” said BASF chairman Jurgen Hambrecht.

Demand for BASF’s products remained high in the third quarter, with “hardly any sign of the usual seasonal slowdown”, the company said.

In the first nine months of the year, BASF recorded a net profit of €3.46bn, representing a significant increase from €955m in the same period in 2009, it said.

BASF said it more than doubled its operating profit for the January-to-September period to €6.07bn, with sales recording a 26.5% year-on-year increase to €47.5bn.

Hambrecht said BASF aims for full-year sales of around €63bn and income from operations before special items of more than €8bn.

“We expect to earn a high premium on our cost of capital and thus to increase the dividend,” he added.

($1 = €0.73)

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