BASF at the turning point: 800 jobs away - the transformation begins!

BASF at the turning point: 800 jobs away - the transformation begins!

BASF, the largest chemical company in the world after sales, faces major challenges at the headquarters in Ludwigshafen. The group dismantled over 800 jobs in the 2024 financial year and closed numerous plants because the location has been writing red numbers for years. CEO Markus Kamieth explained that the location was not yet profitable and emphasized that the transformation was only at the beginning. This reports az-online.de .

The company's numbers attract attention: 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. The operational profit (EBITDA before special influences) rose slightly to 7.9 billion euros, but it remained under the expectations of 8 billion euros. Nevertheless, the result after taxes at 1.3 billion euros is significantly better than the 225 million euros in the previous year, especially through the sale of assets from the Wintershall DEA. For 2025, an EBITDA is expected between 8.0 and 8.4 billion euros, such as Ludwigshafen24.de reported.

The conversion continues

The savings are part of a comprehensive savings program that aims to reduce annual cost reductions of EUR 2.1 billion by 2026. Around one billion euros are said to have been saved by the end of 2024. The company plans to only operate economically profitable facilities in Ludwigshafen. The continuation of the restructuring is linked to one -time 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 just started," said Kamieth. These changes are urgently necessary, because high energy costs, weak demand and the increasing import pressure are considerably strain on BASF's business, so merkur.de .

For the main plant in Ludwigshafen, which currently has 33,700 employees, further job cuts is not excluded. 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 1,800 jobs in the first phase of the mining actually remain on the track and how the market will react to these carefully planned steps.