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BASF profit jumps 15%
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March 14, 2001: 2:19 a.m. ET
Europe's largest chemical firm warns 2001 will be tough, citing U.S. 'risk'
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LONDON (CNN) - Chemicals giant BASF reported a 15 percent jump in annual profits on Wednesday, and a 22 percent gain in revenues, in line with expectations.
Europe's largest chemicals firm said it made an operating profit before one-off items of  3.4 billion ($3.1 billion), while revenues rose to 22 billion. Net profit for the year was virtually unchanged at 1.24 billion.
Juergen Strube, chief executive of the Germany-based firm, said 2000 had not been an easy year for the chemicals industry. Earnings in the final quarter of 2000 were flat compared with profits in the same period of the previous year
The company said the first half of 2001 would be "somewhat subdued", but that momentum would pick up in the second half. The sluggish economies of the United States and Japan "represent a risk", Strube said in a statement.
BASF's earnings were broadly in line with expectations; last week a company source told Reuters that earnings would advance around 15 percent.
The company is in the process of selling its pharmaceutical business to Abbot Laboratories (ABT: Research, Estimates) for $7 billion. 
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