BASF SE on Friday said that it is implementing further cost-saving measures at its Ludwigshafen facility as the German chemical company seeks to cut costs after a year which saw earnings fall.
BASF
BAS,
said it was implementing structural measures at its production site in Ludwigshafen designed to lower costs by more than 200 million euros ($211.9 million) a year by the end of 2026.
That measure is in addition to a previously announced cost saving program BASF is implementing to save EUR500 million annually by the end of 2024, the company said.
BASF said it made a EUR4.88 billion ($5.16 billion) net loss in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with EUR898 million in the last quarter of 2021, on sales that declined 2.3% to EUR19.32 billion.
The company proposes a dividend EUR3.40 per share and separately said that it has terminated its share buyback program ahead of schedule.
BASF said that for 2023 it is expecting to make between EUR84 billion and EUR87 billion in sales and between EUR4.8 billion and EUR5.4 billion in earnings before interest and taxes before special items.
Write to Pierre Bertrand at pierre.bertrand@wsj.com
