By Ludwig Burger and Kirsti Knolle
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s BASF came out for the second time this year with better-than-expected quarterly earnings ahead of schedule and improved guidance for the remainder of the year, as it continues to raise prices.
The chemicals group said it now expects 2021 earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), adjusted for one-off items, to come in at between 7.0 billion and 7.5 billion euros ($8.3 billion to $8.9 billion), where it had previously predicted 5.0 billion to 5.8 billion euros.
It sees sales in a range of 74 billion to 77 billion euros this year, up from previous guidance of 68 billion to 71 billion euros.
Second-quarter EBIT jumped to 2.32 billion euros on sales of 19.75 billion euros, well above an analyst consensus of 17.16 billion, BASF said.
It marked up prices by 35%, while volumes rose 28%, more than offsetting negative currency effects of 7%.
In April, the chemicals giant surprised markets with forecast-beating first-quarter figures, passing on higher raw material costs to its industrial customers as the global economy recovered quickly from the coronavirus pandemic.
BASF shares closed 3.5% higher at 65.74 euros on Friday.
The company is due to publish detailed second-quarter figures on July 28.
($1 = 0.8427 euro)
(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle and Ludwig Burger in Berlin; Editing by Thomas Escritt and Matthew Lewis)
