12% Earnings Rise For BASF In 1995 1st Half

German chemicals and health care company BASF reported a 12% rise in pretax profits at 2.03 billion Deutschemarks ($1.37 billion) in the first half of 1995, on sales up 10.9% to 25.60 billion marks ($17.34 billion), and net profits of 1.20 billion marks, a rise of 181.4%.

Consumer products contributed 4.34 billion marks ($2.54 billion) of sales, declining 3.4%, and this included the group's health care businesses such as Knoll, but to date it has not consolidated its recent acquisition, Boots. Indeed, apart from noting that the integration of Boots would result in costs of around 300 million marks, and so have a negative operational earnings impact on the health care sector, BASF had little to say about its pharmaceutical business that has not already been reported at the quarterly results stage (Marketletter April 3).

BASF noted that it had filed for US approval for its new antiobesity drug sibutramine (Marketletter August 21) this month and in the UK in May, and expressed the view that this was expected to be a major product for the company. However, Jurgen Strube, chairman of the board of executive directors, declined to respond to the Marketletter's questions about the division's performance in the first half of the year. But it was noted that Boots' North American sales for the six-month period amounted to 100 million marks, and that generics expansion was proceeding on schedule.