At the company’s Annual Press Conference, Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, said, “We achieved record sales and earnings in 2010. In the chemicals business, in particular, we were able to take advantage of the strong economic recovery in 2010, which was more dynamic than we all initially expected.”
Positive impulses from all regions contributed to the double-digit sales growth. Compared with 2009, total sales rose 26% to reach €63.9 billion. Income from operations (EBIT) before special items increased 68 % to €8.1 billion. In 2010, BASF again earned a premium on its cost of capital with a record premium of €3.5 billion.
The business environment was also favorable in the fourth quarter of 2010. Sales rose 25 % versus the same quarter in 2009 and with €16.4 billion, they were the highest of any quarter in 2010.
Hambrecht said: “BASF has had a very strong start to 2011. However, we are concerned about Libya. Overall, we are optimistic for the first quarter and the year as a whole. One positive result of this is that the total number of BASF employees will increase by about 2,900 in the current year. The focus is on Asia, but we also plan to hire an additional 800 employees in Germany, thereof approximately 500 at the Ludwigshafen site.”
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