Basf Se S/Adr

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of BASF, I would like to welcome you to our conference call on the first quarter 2023 results. Throughout today's recorded presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. If you have any difficulties hearing the conference, please press the star key followed by zero on your telephone for operator assistance. This presentation contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current estimates and projections of the Board of Executive Directors and currently available information. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the future developments and results outlined therein. These are dependent on a number of factors. They involve various risks and uncertainties, and they are based on assumptions that may not prove to be accurate. Such risk factors include those discussed in Opportunities and Risks of the BRSF Report 2022. BRSF does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this presentation above and beyond the legal requirements. With me on the call today are Martin Brudermuller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, and Hans Engels, Chief Financial Officer. Please be aware that we have already posted this speech on our website at bsf.com slash Q1 2023. Now, I would like to hand over to Martin.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Hans Engel and I would like to welcome you to our analyst conference call for the first quarter of 2023. Two weeks ago, BASF released preliminary figures as we had a better start to the year than expected on average by analysts. Today, we will provide you with further details regarding our business development in the first three months of the year. Let's start with the development of global chemical production. Based on currently available data, global chemical production stagnated in Q1 2023 compared with the prior year quarter. Compared with Q4 2022, chemical production recovered by around 2% globally, excluding seasonal effects. From a regional perspective, chemical production grew only in China at almost 8%. However, this was due to a low baseline in Q1 2022. Chemical production declined in all other regions. The decline compared with Q1 2022 was most pronounced in Europe, followed by Asia excluding China and North America. From the second quarter of 2022 onwards, high inflation and record energy prices levels reduced consumer demand, particularly in Europe. Globally, demand from BASF's key customer industry in the first quarter of 2023 was rather disappointing with two exemptions. Global light vehicle production grew by an expected 5.7% compared with Q1 2022. Global agriculture production also continued to grow moderately in the first quarter of 2023. Moving on to BASF sales development, sales decreased by 13.4% in Q1 2023 to around 20 billion euros. This was mainly due to a decline in volume by 12.8%. All segments recorded lower volumes except for agricultural solutions where volumes will remain stable. Sales prices decreased by 0.7% overall. While prices in the chemicals, surface technologies, and material segments declined, we increased prices, especially in the agricultural solution segment, but also in the nutrition and care and industrial solution segment. Portfolio effects had a slightly negative impact on sales and were mainly due to the sales of the cow lean minerals business. Until the end of September 2022, this business had been part of the performance chemicals division. Current effects were slightly positive and mainly related to the US dollar. Let's move on to our earnings development by segment. The decline in BSS Group EBIT before special items largely resulted from considerably lower contributions from the chemicals and materials segment. In Q1 2023, these two segments contributed 484 million euros to BASF's group EBIT before special items compared with 1.6 billion euro in the prior year quarter. This decline was mainly due to considerably lower volumes and margins on the back of significantly lower demand overall. In nutrition and care industrial solutions, earnings also decreased considerably. In both segments, EBIT before special items declined mainly due to lower volumes resulting from lower demand. The service technology segment recorded EBIT before special items almost at the level of the prior year quarter. The agricultural solution segment achieved considerably higher earnings, reaching around 1.3 billion euros in the first quarter, an increase of almost 400 million euros. Let me provide you with further details regarding the very strong performance of our agriculture solution segment. We had a good start to the season in the northern hemisphere and showed a strong presence in South America. In the first quarter of 2023, sales increased by 14.5% to 3.9 billion euros. We increased prices across the portfolio, in particular for fungicides and herbicides. All regions contributed to the positive sales development, especially North America and Europe. Overall, volumes remain stable compared with Q1 2022. This was due to lower volumes in Europe compared with the strong prior year quarter volume growth in this region. We raised volumes in all other regions. As already mentioned, EBIT before special items increased to almost 1.3 billion euros. The sales growth more than compensated for higher raw material and energy prices. Crop commodity prices are trending lower in 2022, but remain higher than the average of the last five years. The automotive-related business of BASF also developed well. As mentioned earlier, global light vehicle production increased by 5.7% in Q1 2023, according to IHS Markit. Volume growth was most pronounced in Europe and North America, with 17 and 10% respectively, while the market in China declined by 8% due to weak demand. In the first quarter of 2023, BFF sales in the automotive industry, excluding sales in precious metal trading and precious metal sales, in the mobile emission catalyst business amounted to 1.9 billion euro, again an increase of 5.7%. Excluding precious metal trading activities, EBIT before special items in the service technology segment increased considerably. This was driven by significantly higher earnings contributions from the automotive catalyst business and a strong increase in EBIT before special items in the coatings division. In coatings, this was mainly due to price-driven higher margins. The 2023 outlook for the automotive industry remains favorable. For the full year, global light vehicle production is expected to grow by 3.8% according to IHS markets. And now I hand over to Hans for further details on our financial performance.

Thank you, Martin, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, also from my side. In the following, I will provide you with further details of BASF Group's financial figures in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the strong prior year quarter. I will start with EBITDA before special items, which decreased by 23.5% and amounted to 2.9 billion euros. EBITDA amounted to around 2.8 billion euros, a decrease of almost 900 million euros. At 1.9 billion euros, EBIT before special items declined by 31.5%. Special items in EBIT amounted to minus 65 million euros, compared with minus 34 million euros in the first quarter of 2022. Special items were mainly related to the carve-out of the recently established BASF Environmental Catalyst and Metal Solutions Unit, and BASF Group's cost savings program with focus on euro. EBIT decreased by 33% to 1.9 billion euros in Q1 2023. Net income from shareholdings increased from minus 797 million euros to plus 183 million euros in Q1 2023. In the prior year quarter, net income from shareholdings was negatively impacted by non-cash effective impairments resulting from the Russia-related business of InterSaldea. Net income rose by 27.9 percent to 1.6 billion euros in the first quarter of 2023. Let's turn to the development of energy prices and the financial impact on BASF. Compared with Q1 2022, energy costs came down from very high levels, but nevertheless remained considerably above the level of the first quarter of 2021. In the first quarter of 2023, BASF's global energy costs were around 700 million euros lower than in the prior year quarter. Of this amount, 600 million euros were related to lower natural gas costs. Most of the reduction in natural gas costs was achieved in Europe due to lower natural gas prices and lower production volumes compared with Q1 2022. Let me add that in Q1 2023, European natural gas prices were still trading at 53 euros per megawatt hours more than three times higher than the 2015 to 2020 average of 16 euros per megawatt hours. To mitigate these higher costs, we have implemented and will continue to implement measures to reduce our natural gas consumption. We already presented several such measures as part of our full year 2022 reporting in February. Let's now look at the details of our cash flow development in Q1 2023. Cash flows from operating activities amounted to minus 1 billion euros, a decrease of 725 million euros compared with the prior year quarter. Net income improved by 340 million euros compared with Q1 2022, which had included non-cash effective impairments of 1.1 billion euros on the equity accounted shareholding in Wintersaldea. Excluding the equity results, which are connected via miscellaneous items, net income declined by 579 million euros year over year. This was the main driver for the decline in cash flows from operating activities. Cash flows from investing activities amounted to minus 703 million euros in the first quarter of 2023, after minus 579 million euros in the prior year quarter. Payments for property, plant and equipment and intangible assets rose by 44% to 867 million euros in Q1 2023. Cash flows from financing activities amounted to plus 1.8 billion euros, a decrease of 877 million euros compared with Q1 2022, mainly caused by lower net additions to financial and similar liabilities. Free cash flow declined by almost 1 billion euros to minus 1.9 billion euros in Q1 2023. The equity ratio remains strong and increased to 48.8% compared with 45.3% at the end of the prior year quarter. And with that, back to you, Martin.

Thank you, Hans. BASF's group outlook for the full year 2023 published on February 24 remains unchanged. We anticipate only moderate growth in the majority of our customer industries in 2023. We forecast BSF Group to generate sales of between 84 billion and 87 billion euros in 2023. EBIT before special items is expected to decline to between 4.8 billion and 5.4 billion euros. We continue to expect a weak first half of 2023 followed by an improved earnings environment in the second half of the year due to recovery in the global economy driven especially by more dynamic demand development in China. Based on the weaker earnings and a slightly higher cost of capital basis, forecast for BSF Group in 2023 compared with 2022, we anticipate a rosy of between 7.2 and 8.0 percent. We expect CO2 emissions of between 18.1 million and 19.1 million metric tons as a result of moderate growth in production and slightly higher capacity utilization at emission-intensive plants. I would like to provide you with one additional piece of information. We further trimmed our capital expenditures for this year compared with the figures we announced at the end of February. Instead of the 6.3 billion euros, we now expect capex of around 6.0 billion euros for the BASF Group in 2023. Let me conclude by reiterating the measures we are currently implementing to not only safeguard but also improve our global competitiveness. We have launched a cost savings program with focus on Europe and are smartly adapting our Forbund structures in Ludwigshafen. Together with the initiatives already underway in our global service units, we will reduce our fixed costs by around 1 billion Euro by the end of 2026. These measures are part of the continuous improvement BASF is driving, and we are convinced that this will position BASF well for future profitable growth. Thank you, and now Hans and I are ready to take your questions.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to open the call for your questions. If you wish to ask a question, please press the star followed by one on your touch-tone telephone. For the best sound quality, we kindly ask you to be sure to unmute your phone and use your headset when asking your question. Since time is rather short today, before our annual shareholders' meeting, please limit your questions to only one or two at a time so that everybody has a chance to ask their questions. And we already have 10 analysts that want to ask a question. We will now start with Christian Feitz, Kepler-Chevreux. After him, it's Matthew Yates and then Mubasher Chaudhry. So now Christian Feitz, Kepler-Chevreux. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you, Stephanie. Good morning, everybody. Two quick questions, please. First of all, what caused you to cut your CapEx plans by around 300 million versus your CapReview? And then, thanks for providing your energy price delta. Question on that. It looks like your energy supply mix has not really changed year to year as gas costs are down almost to the same amount as your overall costs. Is that the correct assumption? And what measures are you taking, particularly short-term, to become less gas-dependent? I mean, I'm obviously aware of your cracker electrification projects and the gas-intensive plant shutdowns. Thanks for that. And before I forget it, Hans, all the best for your post-PSF time. And thanks for the good discussions we had over all these years.

So maybe I take the first question about the CapEx question. If I understand you, you wanted to get some background for the 300 million customers. So it is a mixture. It is, on one hand, that the orders that are coming in and the offers that are coming in for the China project are lower than we expected. So I think this is a very positive message. We have also the one or the other project timescale delayed, so it's a quarter back and forth, also in battery materials. And this, I would say, are the major two components. But as you can imagine, I think this is the signal we want to send is, like we always said, we look into our capex expenditure and in the optimal let's say, rundown of our broad shakes all the time. So this year, a little bit bigger contribution in this difficult environment, which comes from the two big investment areas, battery materials and China.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Christian, first of all, for your kind words. And I think there is some reciprocity, so I always enjoy the conversations with you. On your question with respect to energy prices and natural gas prices, in fact 700 million less than last year quarter. Out of that roughly 600 million coming from natural gas and there again predominantly from our European activities. If I look at the split between impact from volume and impact from Prices, considering the significant price decreases, there's a bit more coming from price than from volume overall. Gas consumption reduced to prior year quarter order of magnitude roughly by 20%. And that gives you, hopefully, the answer to the questions that we had.

Yeah, very helpful. Thank you, Hans.

So we move on to Matthew Yates, Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you, Stephanie. Just one question. Perhaps this will be a topic of conversation at the AGM later today, but I'd like to ask you about the restructuring that was announced with the full year results and the plan to reduce headcount by 2,600 jobs. I think that equates to just over 2% of your workforce. This week, I actually saw Dow announce a 2000 headcount reduction, which is more like 5% of their workforce. So in the context of the challenges European chemicals face to be competitive, does the Dow announcement suggest that BFF actually isn't being radical enough in its restructuring? Your 1 billion euro fixed cost target is not really so different to their 1 billion dollar target. And they're obviously a much smaller company than you. So I'd appreciate any further thoughts on that. Thank you.

Matthew, I think we explained our plans with respect to the restructuring that we intend to do. The $1 billion is a figure that's related to the program in itself. As always, ongoing cost reduction is part of blocking and tackling. That's something that you do on an ongoing basis. What we've provided you with is really this restructuring package and related cost reductions that we're expecting and the related headcount reductions. So from my perspective, I think, as mentioned, this is a program, but it is supported by a number of additional initiatives that you keep doing on an ongoing basis as an enterprise.

Thanks for taking the question.

So now it's Mubasher Chaudhry from Citi. We will then have Chita Nudeshi and then Marcus Meyer. But now Mubasher Chaudhry, Citi. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Just a couple. I assume that the gas price assumption for the year was a little bit higher at the start when you provided the guidance of 4.8 to 5.4. I just wanted to get a feel for how that gas price assumption is moving for FY23 and how we should be thinking about that for the full year positive impact if it is lower year on year, which I assume it is. And then the second question is around the price increases in ag chem. How much of those price increases should we expect to stick in the coming years? Or is that mainly driven by tightness in the market and therefore we should expect an unwind should the crop prices come down? Thank you.

On your gas price, as you know, we don't guide on the gas price. In fact, gas price in Q1 is lower than what we had expected going into the first quarter. Does that have, considering all the uncertainty that we have currently, Does that have an impact on our guidance at this point in time? No, it will not. You saw that we left the guidance unchanged, and I think that's a reasonable move considering, as I said, the overall uncertainty.

Masha, pricing power in the group, I mean, minus 0.7 now in Q1, but you see then also that this is fairly unequal distributed also between the segments. I mean, The major price decreases came from the upstream part, which is very much demand-related. I mean, you know how the game is over there.

The question is particularly on AgChem.

AgChem. AgChem. Okay, sorry. Okay, AgChem. Well, I think in AgChem, I think we have a good environment from the market perspective. I think it will be a solid year if you take out the Surprisingly, it could come from weather. I think from the crop price side, this is a little bit down from the high, but above average. That means farmers have a good income. So for that reason, I think that the price increases they have brought through without pushing volume too much because volume is basically flat. I think we have a good chance that this is actually the price increases are sticking for the rest of the year.

Thank you.

Okay, so now Chita Nudeshi, JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, thanks. I will ask three quick questions. First one is just looking at Q2. Can you maybe help us get some flavor of what you see in Q2 as regards to versus the low base of demand in Q1? I think the question is, We all know that there is a seasonality in the ag business where Q2 typically is lower than Q1. But X that seasonality, would you expect the BSF earnings in Q2 to be better than Q1 or any sort of color on Q2 versus Q1 would be useful in terms of trajectory? The second question, and just going back to Mubasher's point, but If I do my math, it seems on a BSF group level, the net pricing, what I mean by net pricing is just the selling price minus the raw material cost seems to have been rather flattish. And in general, BSF is seen to be one of those chemical companies where there is very limited pricing power. I'm just curious, is there a difference in how you manage or are you managing the business here? in the current environment, maybe to demonstrate better pricing power as a group than in the past? Or is it just a function of temporary benefit from lower energy prices that you think you will have to eventually pass through in the current context? And last quick question on cash flow. The working capital is up almost 3 billion euros, which is a similar increase that we saw in Q1 last year. Of course, the environment today is far weaker. So can you talk about why we did not see a much milder seasonal working capital increase in Q1? Thank you very much.

Peter, maybe I'll try a little bit on the Q2. I mean, in the guidance we gave, we said a weak first half year and a better second half year. That includes Q2 to be part of the first half year. I would say it is a challenging quarter coming ahead because If we look a little bit in the macro environment and we tested the ground also with all our divisions, I would say if you look in the media, you hear that, let's say, mood is getting a little bit better. But if you look in the details and also what consumers do, and I think this is true for around the world, there's very much a focus on services and less on buying goods. So the GDP part is very much driven by the service part, which is not helping us. If you go through the different industries, I would say the overall consumer demand is still cautious. You see retail sales going up in China now, but also there, if you ask people, still a little bit cautious in spending. If you look on the supply chain, I would say several supply chains are still a little bit higher loaded with also finished goods than actually normal. So I think it takes a little bit more to flow out until basically people start to order and then start to produce again. So I would say don't expect too much on Q2. It is a challenging quarter. So we hope actually that the China dynamics are catching up already in Q2. I think it might take Q3, so it will be a little bit more induction time. So, for that reason, we do not expect that we see a major demand increase in Q2. With that, Q2 is a challenge because, as you rightfully said, we cannot repeat the AP performance, which is very much seasonally driven. So, I would say, don't expect too much for Q2. We then think we see more of the effect than in Q3. So, this is the other two points.

Yeah, Citan, first of all, your question with respect to price, I mean... Pricing in the current environment obviously a key topic and a difficult one because the demand is significantly lower in most of our businesses than where we were last year around this time. So with that you see also a different kind of pricing power. than where we were in Q1 of last year in particular, but also in the second quarter of last year. Do we manage the businesses in a different way? I'd say no. We continue with a very diligent approach that we are taking. On your working capital question, with respect to inventories, we are sitting at almost exactly the same level of inventories where we were at at the end of December. Are we satisfied with our inventory situation? No, we are clearly not, and we are addressing this. With respect to accounts receivable, you see the usual increase that we have in Q1 due to the seasonality of the ag business, but you also see another effect when you look back to Q4. Q4 was a very weak quarter and compared to that you see some improvement and Q4 weak in BASF's business also has to do with the seasonality but again also in Q4 we experienced a low demand so from that perspective the increase there in the accounts receivable I think is at least nothing that worries me. In particular, if I compare March 31 of last year, where we were at $15.4 billion, we're currently at $14.3 billion. So that's a billion one lower than where we were at the end of the prior year quarter. So from that perspective, accounts receivable in line with overall business development lower than last year around this time. On the inventory side, we are taking the measures to bring the inventories down.

Very good. Thank you.

So now it will be Markus Meyer, Barda Helvea. He will be followed then by Laurent Favre and Andrew Stott. But first now, Markus Meyer, Barda Helvea.

Yeah, good morning. Two questions from my side. Firstly, again, on Q2, you said challenging Q2 ahead. Regarding the destocking you had in Q1, do you see that now this destocking has ended and that basically the underlying demand has not yet increased? started to recover or is it still ongoing de-stocking you still see in Q2? That would be my first question. The second one is on the adaption of the boon structure. If you meanwhile any kind of view on the timing of the plant closure? That's all from my side.

So Markus, on the de-stocking, I mean this is always difficult because you have to rely on what customer tells you. Normally you have to go into their shops and look how many pallets are in there. As I mentioned already, I think on the chemicals raw materials side, I don't think that there's so much space for these stocking anymore for the customer industries. But I'm not so sure about the finished goods. And they have to flow out also first before they start really the production. So I mean, I think in the consumer area, as I said earlier, I think it's still a little bit above the normal average like it's filled. And this is most probably also why it needs to do to really pick up again. And this is why we are a little bit cautious and have our question marks when it comes to Q2. It is not really super transparent in the moment. That's why it's more prudent with my statement. What was the second? Timing of plant closure.

Timing of plant closure.

So, I mean, I think we mentioned that basically The last part will be in 2026, but there is some plans that all actually are down now. So TDI is down, ammonia is down, and that depends then on how you do that. But I would say the major contributions are basically down now.

Okay, understood. Thank you.

Okay, so now Laurence Favre, BNP.

Thank you, Steffi. First, I'd like to echo the comments of Christian. So all the best for your retirement, Hans. On the first question for you, I guess, on ag, can you give us a bit more color on the dynamics between seeds and crop protection, please? So the price and volume, I guess, details you've given us at divisional level, is it the same for seeds and crop protection? And the second question is for Martin. Can you talk a little bit more about the carve-out of AutoCatalyst and metals management? I'm assuming this must be close to completion now. What are the intentions for the business? Have you started a sale process? Thank you.

Hello, thanks to you and all the best also to you. I'll address your ad question. We've seen actually similarly strong developments in both parts, both in the seeds and in the crop protection business. So both very satisfying in the first quarter. And also now going into Q2, this is looking overall Good. But as always, we'll look at the full six months for the Northern Hemisphere to assess the overall development. But again, in both parts of the business, good, strong development.

Well, when it comes to the automotive catalyst, I think you're right. We are getting closer to finalizing the car parts. I think it was Wonderful job done from both sides, from the new team, but also from our team. I mean, we have some experience when you think about construction chemicals and all that, how actually to handle that. They are on a lighter footing because we have really, when we decided about the carve-out and the conditions they have, I think we brought a setup that makes them very agile on the market and very well positioned. Actually, the business It's developing very nicely, I have to say, from a volume side, certainly with a little bit lower precious metal prices. But overall, I think the business is very well positioned. We have not started anything about sales, and I don't want to comment further because the prime focus we have now is that they can walk on their own foot. and really optimize and get the maximum out of this business. And I'm very confident that the team does this. They're highly motivated people under the circumstances now, and I think the business numbers speak for themselves. Thank you.

Okay, so now it's Andrews.UBS. We will then have Georgina Fraser and then Andreas Heine. But now, Andrews.UBS. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Stephanie, and morning to Martin and Hans. A couple of questions, please. First of all, can you comment at all on plans for winter shawl at this stage? And then a very specific question on nutrition. I see nutrition volumes are down 16%, which just looked like a particularly large drop. Could you just sort of detail that? Are there any sort of production-related issues there? And then just to finish off with a similar comment, Hans, thank you very much for the dialogue over the years and best wishes for the future.

And maybe let me also thank you. Andrew, it was always a pleasure. All the best to you. On Winter Saldea, have plans changed? No, plans have not changed. Strategic decision is crystal clear. Implementation requires, as you know, a solution for the Russian part of the business, and that is what Winter Saldea is working actively on.

Okay. On the volume development in the nutrition and care, I would say basically almost everything um suffered a bit from weaker demand except the personal care element so i don't think that there is anything uh related with our production situation we are ramping up our vitamin a volumes again the plants are all fine but i would say it is really a strong drop also on the on the pricing side with vitamins which makes us cautious also to play how we play with the volume and the price So I would say there is no BSS-specific element in there. I would say it's generally a very weak market. Thank you.

So now, Georgina of Grazer, Goldman Sachs, your turn.

Hi, thanks, Steffi. Good morning, Martin. Good morning, Hans. Andrew asked almost exactly the questions that I had for you, so maybe one a little bit more medium term on nutrition and care. Do you think that part of the reason for the pricing weakness is also that we're seeing your competition now appearing kind of larger capacities in China? And how do you think the production landscape for the vitamin supply chains will look five to ten years from now? Do you think we'll still have such a Europe-centric base or is that something that is also going to kind of shift to other regions? Thanks.

Well, I think if you look into Q2 for nutrition care, I think it still stays rather soft. I think when it comes to the demand, don't expect that there's a huge pickup on that. When it comes to volumes, I think fair to say we also contributed ourselves with higher vitamin A capacities, which certainly stressed the market a bit when it comes to supply and demand. And it's also true that certainly, and this is also something I think going on over years, that there is also pressure certainly from Asia with additional capacity. It has been traditionally in the past always been a European business. Basically, all the capacities have been in Europe. So that changed quite a bit, but I think it's also fair to say that the consumption pattern changed. It has also a lot to do with habits of people. meat consumption. That is always a major part for the vitamins, which is also not very strong in this moment. So I would say overall, yeah, that might be a little bit stressed, but I think the main component is here the demand, which is still at least as much we can see in Q2 still a little bit soft. I hope that helps.

That's great. Thank you. And also thank you and best of luck to you, Hans. Cheers.

Thanks a lot.

So now Andreas Heine-Stiefel, and then we have two more analysts. It's Sebastian Breyer and Jaidit Pandya. But now, Andreas Heine-Stiefel, please go ahead.

Yes, thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. The first is on agro. If I look on the increase in the first quarter, in relative terms, it's obviously most difficult to increase earnings in the seasonal strength category. If I look to the wording for Q2, which is also strong, and that the second half is rather light in earnings, then I would assume that overall with these trends, the earnings increase might be even higher percentage-wise as what we have seen in the first quarter. Maybe you can comment on this. And then secondly, on battery materials, I was surprised to see that battery materials saw lower earnings. I thought that this is a business with strong growth and that basically each and every year Maybe you can give me an update where you stay here on opening up the facilities and the trading conditions you see in the battery materials in 2023.

Andreas Bissanz, I'll start with your battery material question. Now, on battery materials, we had strong impact from favorable lithium supply in the first quarter of last year, which we don't have in the same way. in the first quarter of this year. That's one reason. The second reason that we have is the, in particular, the Chinese battery materials business was weaker in Q1 of this year than it was in Q1 of the last year. And that goes hand in hand with the production figures for both light vehicles and, in particular, EV in China, where penetration has gone clearly up, but the production numbers in Q1 were relatively low. So that's battery materials. Was your question with respect to earnings development? Did I understand that correctly? That was an ag-related question? Yeah. So ag, very strong Q1. What's going to happen now in Q2 frankly remains to be seen. You know my view of the world. I always say you need to look at ag in the first half of the year, not just in the first quarter. There's always seasonality in that business. I give you one thing here, which is our sales in Eastern Europe were significantly higher in Q1 of last year. than they were in Q1 of this year, in particular in Ukraine. This year it looks like the sales will be closer to the actual application time. Last year we saw a certain amount of pre-buying, which I think had to do with the assessment of the overall situation in Ukraine. Last year's farmers just came to the conclusion to buy earlier than they do under normal circumstances. So everything else, as you know, in seasonal northern hemisphere will depend on weather developments overall. The northwestern part of Europe, eastern Europe, looks pretty good in particular with respect to the fungicide business. Southern Europe very dry at this point in time. remains to be seen what kind of an impact that has. So lots of moving pieces, which lead me to say very strong first quarter, no indications really for a decline other than seasonal decline of the business now in the second quarter, soft commodity prices are holding. So from that perspective, I would think that should be a good business environment for ag also in the second quarter.

Thanks a lot, and of course, also all the best from my side as well.

Okay, thanks, Andreas. Always a pleasure.

Okay, so now Sebastian Brey, Bärenberg.

Hello, and thank you for taking my questions and all the best, Hans. I have two, please. The first is on seeds pricing in agriculture. I don't think seeds have ever been more expensive than they are now, and historically it's been quite rare to see deflation. But if we go back to an environment, and I appreciate corn is not really relevant for BSF, but let's say we have $4 a bushel corn. Can the company invest in a scenario where seed pricing turns significantly deflationary? My second question is on the battery facilities, and it builds on Andreas's early question on the performance of the business. When exactly are these battery facilities coming online? There's a precursor facility that I believe was delayed in Finland recently. When is the CAFO facility now due to be completed and start adding to earnings? Thank you.

Sebastian, on the second one, yeah, there will be some delay in the Finland plan, which has also to do with something with permitting situation. But that is not hindering the in-time operations in Schwarzheide. We will have one of the lines coming up actually now in the next weeks and one or two months. And then the second line towards the second half of the year. And basically, these facilities are finished in construction, and they are preparing for the startup. They will be then fed this PECOM from other sources, from our basically global supply grid, and not out of Finland. So that will not have any impact on the operations in Schwarzheide.

Now, on your seat prices question, Sebastian, I don't have all the details in front of me here, but if I look at this, as I said, long business there, driven also by pricing you're talking to with respect to deflationary developments remains to be seen. I think, as mentioned before, soft commodity prices stay on what I would call, if you look at the five-year average, last five years average, stay on an elevated level, that should provide a good background. If that changes significantly, that may then obviously have an impact on seed prices too, but I don't want to speculate here. We're operating in a nice environment currently. Thank you for taking my questions. It's helpful. Thank you for your kind words.

Okay, so now we have Jaideep Pandia, and in the meantime, one more final question will then come from Peter Clark, but first now Jaideep Pandia on field research.

Thanks. The first question, I guess, is for Martin. More on China longer term, we sort of see significant increase in sort of the plant size for several products, you know, right from crude to chemicals to caprolactam to acrylic acid So how do you see the profitability of European asset in this context? I know you have already taken some steps to address this, but as you build your China cracker, do you think that in the longer run you will have to reduce or rather shift focus more downstream for the European asset? That's my first question. The second question is a little bit more short term around the price versus raw material dynamic for downstream. As raw materials are trending down, Do you see further margin expansion scope in your downstream businesses, including Ag, if sort of volumes stabilize at Q1 levels and don't drop further? And then lastly, thanks a lot for your help and wisdom, Hans, and definitely you will be missed.

Yeah, Charlie, let me try to elaborate. I mean, first of all, let me say that all the capacities we build in China are really for the Chinese markets. So there's nothing planned to be exported. It will actually even stay within the province of Guangdong. You know that it's a similar situation in Nanjing that basically 85% of the stuff is consumed not far further away than 200 kilometers around the site. So we expect basically the similar thing in Guangdong. We have looked at the pre-marketing and for the plans and the business plans. actually not only about the volumes, but we have really looked volumes per customer. So the customer base is actually there and we have also partially negotiated pre-contracts and whatever. So I'm not really worried on the product you have mentioned. Acrylic acid is maybe a prominent one, which is also a prominent one for our plant in Golden Island. I'm not really worried that we cannot sell this stuff over there because there's actually very strong large consuming customers around there's also not so much flowing of the volume overall i mean the the major point i think for for europe is on one hand energy prices and i mean it's it's gas prices and raw material prices which we have to consider and then it's which is more let's say concerning and where we have to look where the direction goes to is actually what our customers doing how competitive our customers are with their business And upon the customer side, there is most probably more going into the global market. That is not always easy for us to see when we sell them to hear where they actually sell their product. So I would say generally, I mean, Europe, has to work hard on its competitiveness. I mean, if energy prices are not coming down anymore, which we know structurally they will be higher, we have to look on other factor costs, we have to look on efficiency, we have to look on productivity to partially compensate this. So I would leave it with that, that we have these two logics, and I'm not too much worried that now our products are spreading and, you know, we build excellent China for China. So when it comes to this theoretical thing, which we always say textbook, so downstream you have different pricing mechanisms, so you don't have formula prices, but you have quarterly and half-year prices, where actually you sell also by value added, then yes, this is normally that when the raw materials go down, that you then have margins increase. That is also, I think, which we have proven many times actually in the past. If you now are in a period where you have low demand and a customer gives you only the volume, if you also reduce your selling price, then this is a little bit more cumbersome and difficult environment. So the crucial part is really that we see in the second half the pickup of the demand because then actually the mechanism is really working that you have this long-term fixed prices for certain periods, independent from the raw material development. So hard to predict, but I would say overall, I expect that from a margin side, that is not so much pressure on the downstreams, as I said, is the mechanism we have. I hope that helps.

Can I just ask one short follow-up on the first question? With regards to your customers, especially on automotive products, Could you give us some color, you know, these days, how strongly have you penetrated into the, you know, Chinese OEMs versus your traditional customers, you know, in Europe and the U.S.? Like, has that share increased significantly for BSF, just to your point?

Yeah, it got stronger. I mean, when we went to China, actually, we went with the European OEMs and all the international OEMs building up their facilities in China because we have been established suppliers. Over the recent decade, I would say, we have reached out very much to the local ones. And they have actually been very eager and interested in working with us because they also expected that from us they get actually inroads into innovation of the industry and what the other OEMs are doing. So we have actually stepped up our share in the local ones very significantly. I think we are basically moving in this direction even stronger because I think What is also visible when it comes to electric cars, the traditional OEMs, the Europeans, are more challenged than actually the combustion engines. So we see that in the numbers of BYD, and BYD actually replacing Volkswagen as the strongest producer in China. So I'm not so much worried, but we have to push that most probably going forward even further. we are having customer relationships and selling to basically the major Chinese OEMs already today in a quite significant part. And you know that even in China, our share in automotive is a little bit higher than in the global basis.

Thank you so much.

Good, so now Peter Clarke, and again, one more participant, but then I would say I'll close the analyst list, so another one from Charlie Webb, please now answer ideally one question only. Peter Clarke, Societe Generale.

Yes, good morning, everyone, and thank you all for all your help over the years, Hans. It's a quick question on the outlook, really. You're very clear, you see a weaker first half, improvement second half, but when I turn that around and look at AutoEM, Obviously, you've had a very strong help in the first quarter in things like surface tech on the coaching side. I think the build rate suggests, obviously, a good second quarter. But the second half, there might be more questions over that. So how do you see the AutoAM demand driver in the context of your group outlook? Thank you.

Maybe answer on that. I mean, overall, we have a moderate growth of light vehicles. I think we mentioned the number, I think 3.7 was the number roughly from a global perspective. That's why we gave you also on Q1 actually the regional numbers. I mean, the weakest part was actually China because some of the tax incentives went out. So I would expect that then that China will have a bigger share actually than in the second half. But I think we made this very clear. We are not so much worried about automotive customer base this year. It is more the other customer industries, which I have pointed out, also the consumer area. I mean, also construction is not very strong currently with the high interest rates all over China. So I think the worry is not just the automotive. It will change a little bit from the regional perspective. Q1 was very strong in Europe and in North America. That will balance out a little bit going forward.

So now a question from Charlie Webb, Morgan Stanley.

Thank you, Steffi. Thank you for squeezing me in. So just the one question. Just following up on your point, Martin, mentioning Europe needs to work on its competitiveness. We've obviously been hearing lots about industrial power pricing and there's been lots of commentary in the German media, I guess, around supporting industry more. Just wondered what your kind of thinking on that is in terms of conversations you're having. Do you expect some action to come there? It would be really insightful. And likewise, Hans, all the best, as everyone else has said. Thank you for all the help you've given us over the last few years.

I mean, not so easy to give a quick answer on that. I mean, let me say it started with the IRA coming out that I saw as a separate president, but I'm proud of people being more nervous because I think the IRA was very clear that it's an attack from the U.S. on competitiveness. I was on Monday. Maybe you have seen that on this North Sea. conference where actually seven state leaders and 120 business people have been meeting when it comes to use the North Sea as the largest wind energy producing region in the world, actually stepping up to 130 gigawatts by 2030 and more than 300 gigawatts. by 2050. So that the countries get now together, they see that they have a more European policy, how actually the countries can facilitate to strengthen themselves. So I would say there is a high awareness that the energy part and the renewables actually have to step up. So I'm a little bit more positive on the European politics side that they counteract and engage also in finding the right answers for Europe. And also, particularly for the largest country, industrial country here in Germany, to step something up. So we need some more time, but I would say I'm not pessimistic about Europe. And usually, I have to say, don't mess on Europe and don't give up Europe. In the last meters, they usually also come and defend themselves. That's also what I expect this time. That's actually helpful. Yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, yeah, before we close today, I would briefly like to hand back to Martin.

Yeah, so several of you have mentioned, but I would like to take a minute to farewell our vice chairman and chief financial officer, because after 35 years now at BASF, Hans Ulrich will retire from the board of executive directors today. I think very fair to say, since joining the board in 2008, Hans has become instrumental for BASF in engaging with the capital market. And we all know that he's highly regarded and respected for his knowledge. I would like to thank Hans sincerely for the close and trusting cooperation during all these years and the personal friendship. And I can only tell you all the best CFO and vice chairman you can imagine. And it was a pleasure and an honor to having had him on my side for so many years. So I would like to thank you, Hans, for all that time together. You might know from the one or the other private talk that Hans is an avid soccer fan, and he's also a superb, excellent tennis player and skill. So, Hans, I really hope that you don't have to look every day in the morning when you get up on the share price of BASF. have now more time to really do these hobbies and enjoy them. So all the best for you and your family and thanks for a great time together.

Thank you very much, Martin. And again, also thanks to everyone in the audience for your kind words. Always appreciated it. Good discussions over the years. And Martin, working with you was obviously also a big pleasure. Thanks to everyone, and thanks to you in particular.

So with that, we are now at the end of today's conference call. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the BASF IR team. BASF's annual shareholders meeting will be held starting at 10 a.m. Central European Summer Time. This year, BASF is hosting the meeting in person at the Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim after three years in a purely virtual format. Many shareholders have already arrived at the venue. We will present our second quarter results on July 28th. Thank you for joining us this morning, and goodbye for now.