Corona pandemic, war in Ukraine and the explosion in energy prices: The six-year term of office of BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller was characterized by crises.

His successor Markus Kamieth is taking over in uncertain times with profits still falling. "BASF must continue to change," said Kamieth at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting in Mannheim on Thursday, setting out the direction of travel. "We can build on our successes and strengths, but we must also set new priorities for the future." He said he would provide detailed insights into this in a few months' time. The decision to close several plants at the Ludwigshafen headquarters at the beginning of 2023 was the right one, Brudermüller said. "But there will be more to come." This is because basic chemicals are permanently less competitive in Europe due to structurally higher energy prices.

Brudermüller has been CEO since 2018 and worked for the world's largest chemical company for 36 years. In future, he will lead the Mercedes-Benz Supervisory Board. Kamieth must now lead BASF out of the deep crisis in which the chemical industry finds itself. The industry has long suffered from weak demand and high production costs. At the beginning of the year, Brudermüller tightened the austerity measures at the Ludwigshafen headquarters, as BASF has been in the red in Germany for two years. A further billion euros are to be saved each year, and further job cuts are also associated with this. At the beginning of 2023, BASF had already announced plans to cut 2,600 jobs worldwide, almost two thirds of them in Germany. At the end of March, a good 38,400 people were working in Ludwigshafen - around 560 fewer than a year earlier. The Group has just under 111,900 employees worldwide.

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"These are still stormy times for the chemical industry," said Brudermüller in his last speech as BASF CEO to around 5,000 shareholders. "I have never experienced such a prolonged weakness in demand as in recent years." However, there was a slight upturn in the first quarter. "Nevertheless, we cannot yet confirm a fundamental turnaround in the sector's momentum. The prerequisite for this is that the current positive trend continues in the coming quarters."

BASF felt the effects of significantly lower sales prices in the first quarter. Sales fell by a good twelve percent to 17.5 billion euros. Negative exchange rate effects also contributed to this. Adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) shrank by more than five percent to 2.7 billion euros. BASF attributed this primarily to higher bonus provisions. Nevertheless, the result was better than expected by analysts, who on average had forecast a decline to 2.56 billion euros. For the full year, BASF continues to expect an increase in adjusted operating profit to between 8.0 and 8.6 (2023: 7.7) billion euros.

Investors now expect Kamieth to get BASF back on track. Brudermüller is handing over a construction site to him; Ludwigshafen in particular has become a problem since there is no longer any cheap gas there, said fund manager Arne Rautenberg from Union Investment. "You must also set your own priorities in the search for ways out of the misery in Ludwigshafen," he explained to Kamieth. "If conditions remain difficult, it won't be a sprint, but a marathon."

(Report by Patricia Weiß, edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)