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BASF at a turning point: 800 jobs gone – the transformation begins!
BASF continues to plan job cuts in Ludwigshafen. CEO Kamieth talks about transformation steps and financial challenges.
BASF at a turning point: 800 jobs gone – the transformation begins!
BASF, the world's largest chemical company by sales, is facing major challenges at its headquarters in Ludwigshafen. The group cut over 800 jobs in the 2024 financial year and closed numerous plants because the location has been in the red for years. CEO Markus Kamieth explained that the location was not yet profitable and emphasized that the transformation was only just beginning. This reports az-online.de.
The company's figures make you sit up and take notice: Sales fell from 68.9 billion euros in the previous year to 65.3 billion euros in 2024, due to falling prices and currency influences. Although operating profit (EBITDA before special items) increased slightly to 7.9 billion euros, it remained below expectations of 8 billion euros. Nevertheless, the result after taxes of 1.3 billion euros is significantly better than the 225 million euros in the previous year, primarily due to the sale of Wintershall Dea's assets. For 2025, EBITDA is expected to be between 8.0 and 8.4 billion euros ludwigshafen24.de reported.
The renovation continues
The savings are part of a comprehensive savings program that aims to reduce annual costs by 2.1 billion euros by 2026. By the end of 2024, around one billion euros are expected to have been saved. The company plans to only operate economically profitable facilities in Ludwigshafen. The continuation of the restructuring will involve one-off costs of around 900 million euros. According to BASF boss Kamieth, the work is only at the beginning and the next steps have not yet been clearly communicated. “We’ve only just started,” explained Kamieth. These changes are urgently needed because high energy costs, weak demand and increasing import pressure are putting a significant strain on BASF's business merkur.de.
Further job cuts cannot be ruled out for the main plant in Ludwigshafen, which currently has 33,700 employees. Kamieth makes it clear that it is important to support the chemical industry in Europe with a strong location. The question remains how many of the total 1,800 jobs will actually be lost in the first phase of cuts and how the market will react to these carefully planned steps.
In summary, BASF is in a critical phase. The transformation of the company will have a significant impact on the next few years and could determine the fate of the location in Ludwigshafen.