Burdened by the difficult environment, chemicals retailer Brenntag suffered declines in both sales and earnings in the first quarter.
However, the DAX group was able to improve its gross margin. The Essen-based company confirmed its forecast for the full year.
According to the announcement, sales fell by a tenth to 3.662 billion euros in the three months. Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell somewhat more by almost 14 percent to 306 million euros. In terms of net profit after taxes and third parties, Brenntag reported 98 million euros, compared to 135 million in the same period last year. The gross margin climbed slightly by 0.9 percentage points to 25.9 percent.
Analysts’ consensus had expected sales of 3.62 billion, an operating EBITDA of just 300 million euros and a net profit of 98 million.
“We increased our gross margin through our active price management and delivery reliability under the volatile market conditions in the first quarter of 2026,” CFO Thomas Reisten is quoted in the statement. At the same time, Brenntag continues to focus on reducing costs. “Our cost reduction program achieved savings of 27 million euros in Q1 and is therefore on track for the full year,” said the manager. Brenntag remains on track to achieve savings of 200 to 250 million euros by 2027.
In the 2026 financial year, Brenntag continues to expect operating EBITDA of between 1.15 and 1.35 billion euros.
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