FRANKFURT, July 27 Reuters BASF on Wednesday lifted its guidance for fullyear revenue as it continues to pass on higher raw material and energy prices to customers, but it flagged production outage risks in Europe if Russian gas supplies drop further.
The major chemicals maker also said the effects of the war in Ukraine and any further measures to contain the spread of COVID19 might force it to review its outlook.
The German group added that 2022 sales would be between 86 billion and 89 billion euros 8790 billion, up from a previous target range of 74 billion to 77 billion euros.
Current developments, mainly driven by the war in Ukraine and its impact on energy and raw materials prices and the availability of raw materials, especially in Europe, may lead to additional headwinds, deviating from the assumptions, the company said.
Specifically, it flagged the risk of production stoppages at its European sites as a result of further restrictions to European gas supplies from Russia, which could be partially offset by higher capacity utilization at sites outside Europe.
BASF, which released unscheduled preliminary firstquarter earnings this month, said it is also targeting earnings before interest and tax EBIT adjusted for special items of between 6.8 billion and 7.2 billion euros, lifting the lower bound of the target range from 6.6 billion previously.
That was down from 7.8 billion euros reported for last year.
BASF said on July 11 that its operating income in the…