5 – Other operating income and expenses

Other operating income (million €)

 

 

1st Half

 

 

2017

2016

Income from the adjustment and release of provisions recognized in other operating expenses

 

26

14

Revenue from miscellaneous activities

 

92

83

Gains from foreign currency and hedging transactions as well as the valuation of LTI options

 

205

170

Gains from the translation of financial statements in foreign currencies

 

14

48

Gains on divestitures and the disposal of fixed assets

 

42

185

Income on the reversal of valuation allowances for business-related receivables

 

22

24

Other

 

507

224

Other operating income

 

908

748

Other operating expenses (million €)

 

 

1st Half

 

 

2017

2016

Restructuring measures

 

163

143

Environmental protection and safety measures, costs of demolition and removal, and project costs not subject to mandatory capitalization

 

195

207

Amortization, depreciation and impairments of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment

 

128

130

Costs from miscellaneous activities

 

89

67

Losses from foreign currency and hedging transactions as well as from the valuation of LTI options

 

134

174

Losses from the translation of financial statements in foreign currencies

 

27

18

Losses from the disposal of fixed assets and divestitures

 

32

8

Oil and gas exploration expenses

 

24

60

Expenses from the addition of valuation allowances for business-related receivables

 

32

48

Expenses from the use of inventories measured at market value and the derecognition of obsolete inventory

 

86

72

Other

 

371

412

Other operating expenses

 

1,281

1,339

The net result from foreign currency and hedging transactions and from the valuation of long-term incentive (LTI) options improved by €75 million, from minus €4 million in the first half of 2016 to plus €71 million in the first half of 2017. This was mainly the result of income from the release of LTI provisions, which were partly offset by negative currency effects for derivatives.

The decline in gains on divestitures and the disposal of fixed assets was largely attributable to the previous year’s disposal gains on the sale of the polyolefin catalysts business to W. R. Grace & Co., Columbia, Maryland. Income in the first half of 2016 had also resulted from the sale of BASF’s OLED intellectual property assets to UDC Ireland Limited, Dublin, Ireland.

Other income rose compared with the first half of the previous year, predominantly through the insurance compensation received for the business interruption caused by the fire at the North Harbor in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Write-ups on property, plant and equipment in the Functional Materials & Solutions and Oil & Gas segments also led to an increase. By contrast, higher natural gas prices led to lower income from the Argentinian government’s price compensation to gas producers, which was introduced in connection with the New Gas Price Scheme (NGPS) in response to lower, partly locally regulated gas prices.