BASF further develops its corporate strategy

BASF plans to strengthen its position as the worldwide active chemical company. The company has set itself ambitious goals. The chemicals company forecasts that global chemical production will grow faster than global gross domestic product (GDP) through 2020. In this period, the company expects the global economy to grow by an average of 3 % per year, and thus slightly faster than in the past 10 years, while chemical production is forecast to grow on average by 4 % per year. BASF continues to aim to grow 2 percentage points above chemical production and thus increase sales by an average of 6 % per year until 2020. Overall, the company targets sales of approximately EUR 115 billion and seeks to further increase profitability to achieve an EBITDA of EUR 23 billion in 2020. In 2020, the company expects current emerging markets to contribute 45 % to sales. Investments will boost the company’s future growth. Between 2011 and 2020, BASF plans capital expenditures of EUR 30 billion to EUR 35 billion. More than one-third of this amount will be invested in emerging markets. Afurther focus will lie on topics such as sustainability and innovation. For that, the company continues to develop its portfolio in the direction of customer-focused businesses. By 2020, the business units Functional Materials & Solutions as well as Customized Products should account for 70 % of the portfolio today they account for roughly 50 %.