Moderate Performance for Covestro in First Quarter of 2025

As expected, Covestro made a moderate start to the 2025 fiscal year. Sales in the first quarter remained at the previous year’s level (3.51 billion euros) and amounted to 3.48 billion euros. This was 0.9% below the previous year’s figure. As expected, Ebitda fell by around 50% compared to the previous year. However, at 137 million euros, the result was still at the upper end of the start-of-the-year guidance and slightly above the market expectation of 125 million euros. The net income for the first three months of the year was -160 million euros (previous year, -35 million euros), while free operating cash flow (FOCF) amounted to -253 million (previous year, -129 million euros).

“The first quarter of the new fiscal year shows that we are remaining on course in a very challenging economic environment – with stable sales but continued pressure on earnings. This encourages us to consistently drive forward our transformation and resolutely continue to implement our ‘Sustainable Future’ strategy,” said Markus Steilemann, Chief Executive Officer of Covestro. “Whoever hesitates in these turbulent times loses. But whoever acts prudently now can shape the future. That is precisely what we are doing – with full conviction, high speed and a clear vision.”

In the first quarter of 2025, the focus was on the continued systematic implementation of the “Sustainable Future” strategy. At the same time, the company is systematically driving the transformation towards a fully circular and climate-neutral production, a key lever of which is increasing energy efficiency. By 2030, Covestro aims to reduce energy consumption per metric ton manufactured by 20% compared to 2020 levels, saving the equivalent of 550,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions. The goal represents a major milestone on the journey to achieving operational climate neutrality by 2035. As for the results, in the Performance Materials segment, sales amounted to 1.7 billion euros and therefore matched the previous year’s level (1.7 billion euros), while the Solutions & Specialties segment recorded a decline in sales of 1.2% to 1.7 billion euros (previous year, 1.8 billion euros).

Due to increasing geopolitical uncertainties as a result of ongoing trouble spots and new trade tensions caused by the US government’s tariff policy, the forecast for global economic growth in 2025 has been revised downward from 2.8 to 2.6%. Covestro now expects Ebitda of between 1 billion and 1.4 billion euros and a FOCF unchanged between 0 to 300 million euros, while the target range for greenhouse gas emissions at all environmentally relevant locations remains at 4.2 million to 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents.