Chemicals & Ingredients: Brenntag Starts on a Strong Note: Disruption Driving Q2 Upside Amongst Upstream Chemicals

Research evidence excerpt

Chemicals & Ingredients: Brenntag Starts on a Strong Note: Disruption Driving Q2 Upside Amongst Upstream Chemicals

Equity Research

23 June 2026

Chemicals & Ingredients

Brenntag Starts on a Strong Note:

Disruption Driving Q2 Upside

European Chemicals & IngredientsAmongst Upstream Chemicals

NEGATIVE

Brenntag’s strong Q2 beat (~+35% YoY EBITDA) highlights European Chemicals & Ingredients

Katie Richardsdisruption-led margin and volume upside, but upgraded

guidance still implies a cautious H2. +44kathryn.richards@barclays.com(0)20 3555 0315

Barclays, UK

Yesterday evening, Brenntag became the first name in the Chemicals sector to issue a positive Anil Shenoy

Q2 profit release, pointing to operating EBITDA of ~€450m in Q2, up ~35% YoY as well as +91 (0)22 6175 2487

increasing FY26 guidance to €1.25-1.4bn versus €1.15-1.35bn previously. The strong Q2 result anil.shenoy@barclays.com

implies ~20% potential upside versus Bloomberg consensus estimates for €374m and exceeded Barclays, UK

even the highest Bloomberg analyst estimate of €412m, underscoring the strength of the Alex Sloane

quarter. Brenntag attributed this beat to "robust current demand" (no mention of panic buying +44 (0)20 3555 0645

or a slowdown so far) and improved margins, with management explicitly highlighting market alexander.sloane@barclays.com

disruptions linked to the Middle East crisis. Barclays, UK

Setu Sharda

Both upstream chemical producers e.g. BASF and distributors were expected to benefit + 91 (0)22 6175 1934

from the Middle East disruption, with Brenntag representing the clearest near-term setu.sharda@barclays.com

beneficiary amongst the distributors given its higher exposure to commodity chemicals, Barclays, UK

which have seen the greatest impact from the disruption.