Hi Jay: put BASF on your radar screen
Rev (B€)
1998 27.6
2000 35.9
2002 32.2
earnings (B€)
1998 1.7
2000 1.3
2002 1.6
empl (in 1000)
1998 106
2000 103
2002 89
Note: they sold off their pharma in 2001
We may not like cyclicals - it a question of what you believe in I guess - but ... it is a VERY tighly run ship.
They have long-term contracts re oil with Russia (let's put it this way - they own their own oil wells), so when you come to Ludwigshafen, you see oil disapear into the maelstrom of towers, pipes, lines, conveyors, and at the other end (or ends) you have finishedd products coming out - pigments, fibers, composite materials... The word of choice is Verbund (the closest translation would be "comb-integration"...) and the current boss, Jürgen Hambrecht, has some experience with it - he built two such production facilities in Asia, ie China and Malaysia -.
A little story at the end - when Hambrecht was elected president of the club of the plastic producers, he had lunch with his predecessor Kamps - from Rheinland, and they know how to enjoy life -. It was the season so they both had asparaguses as the main dish. Hambrecht had them no-frills, just potatoes, and left nothing on the plate. Kamps asked for extra prosciutto, but left rice and vegies - Which, they say, forced Hambrecht to express his astonishment over the unnecessary waste.
Kamps is not anymore with the club of plastic producers ;)
Disclaimer: this is not to be understood as blah blah blah. And I dont own any of BASF (they're actually called Anylin on the floor, historical reasons). But, I may ... |
