(Reuters) – German chemicals giant BASF on Wednesday reported higher-than-expected operating profit for the first quarter, mainly driven by its agricultural division.
Operating profit (EBIT) before special items fell 31.5% to 1.93 billion euros, the group said, higher than the 1.6 billion Vara Research consensus provided by the group.
Shares in the company turned positive following the preliminary results, which come ahead of first-quarter numbers scheduled for April 27.
Sales, meantime, declined 13.4% to just under 20 billion euros in the first three months of the year, below market expectations and driven by considerably lower volumes, the company said.
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(Reporting by Andrey Sychev and Christoph Steitz; editing by Matthias Williams)
