BASF Group reported robust financial performance for the second quarter of 2026, considerably surpassing analyst expectations, reinforcing guidance upgrade for the full year. The growth in net income was generally led by a major €3.5 billion after-tax disposal advantage from the confirmed sale of its Coatings business to Carlyle on June 30, 2026.
The Group’s Q2 2026 revenue spiked 16% year-over-year to €17.2 billion, outpacing the preceding year’s quarter by €2.4 billion. This significant growth was typically driven by a sturdy 11.5% boost in pricing alongside a strong 7.3% expansion in sales volumes.
Higher prices in Chemicals, Surface Technologies, Materials, and Industrial Solutions drove overall price rises, offsetting declines in Agricultural Solutions and Nutrition & Care. While sales volumes increased across around every segment Surface Technologies experienced a minor dip. Also, unfavorable currency conversion rates weighed down revenue performance across the whole company.
Income from operations before depreciation, amortization and special items (EBITDA before special items) improved by €854 million compared with the prior-year quarter to €2.4 billion.
EBITDA accelerated to €2.0 billion, as compared with €1.3 billion in the last-year period. EBITDA included special items in the amount of minus €484 million in the second quarter of 2026.
“We further reinforced BASF’s position within the market and accomplished major progress with our restructuring as well as portfolio measures,” stated BASF CEO Dr. Markus Kamieth when providing the company’s half year outcomes, together with CFO Dr. Dirk Elvermann.
BASF Group’s business development in the first half of 2026
Compared with the first half of 2025, BASF Group’s sales increased by €1.9 billion to €33.2 billion, specifically due to outcome of positive volume and price impacts. Volumes rose by 5.7% compared with the prior-year period, while the prices were up by 4.8%. Currency impacts had a reducing impact on sales in all segments.
The BASF Group’s EBITDA before special items improved in the first half of 2026 by €715 million to €4.8 billion. EBITDA improved to €4.2 billion, as compared with €3.4 billion in the earlier-year period. At €2.2 billion, EBIT was up by €644 million from the level of the pervious-year duration. Income before income taxes within the first half of 2026 rose by €645 million compared with the pervious-year period to €1.9 billion.
Income after taxes expanded significantly to €5.1 billion, compared with €945 million in the previous-year period. This included a disposal benefit after taxes of €3.5 billion from the divestiture of the Coatings business to Carlyle. Net income was €5.1 billion, as compared with €887 million in the previous-year period.
Major progress on “Winning Ways” strategy attained
In February, BASF presented the priorities for 2026. “We are making every good progress and are successfully carrying out our ‘Winning Ways’ strategy,” stated Kamieth. “We have decreased our costs, brought down our capital expenditures and accelerated capacity utilization at our plants. Our team in Zhanjiang successfully expanded up the new Verbund site. And the sale of our Coatings activities marks an crucial step forward in our value-enhancing portfolio measures.”
BASF is continually reinforcing its competitiveness. Kamieth: “We have once again increased efforts to streamline our organization and make it more efficient. In the first half of 2026, we already decreased more positions than in the previous 2-years integrated.” From January 2024 until the end of June 2026, BASF decreased the number of employees global by around 7,000. This figure excludes both the reductions as a resulting from divestitures and the workforce buildup related to the Zhanjiang Verbund site. Moreover, in May 2026, the number of full-time equivalents at BASF SE in Ludwigshafen was delivered under 30,000 – for the first time since 1954. “This is an essential and necessary step toward to restoring the site’s competitiveness,” Kamieth stated.
The company has also made considerable progress with the essential asset restructuring in Ludwigshafen. Since 2024, the share of highly aggressive manufacturing units on the site has expanded from 78% to 88%. In addition, plant utilization rates improved amid the supply disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.
BASF Group outlook for 2026
BASF has adjusted its assumptions concerning the global economic environment for 2026 as follows (previous assumptions from the BASF Report 2025 are in parentheses):
Growth in gross domestic product: 2.5% (2.7%)
Growth in industrial manufacturing: 2.0% (2.3%)
Growth in chemical manufacturing: 1.8% (2.4%)
Average euro/dollar exchange rate of $1.17 per euro ($1.20 per euro)
Average annual oil price (Brent crude) of $80per barrel ($65 per barrel)
In light of the higher-than-anticipated business development, the BASF Group’s outlook for EBITDA earlier than special items for the 2026 business year published in the BASF Report 2025 has been adjusted (previous forecast from the BASF Report 2025 in parentheses):
EBITDA before special items of between €6.9 billion and €7.7 billion (€6.2 billion to €7.0 billion)
Free coins flow of among €1.5 billion and €2.3 billion (unchanged)
CO2 emissions of between 17.2 million metric tons and 18.2 million metric tons (unchanged)
